Ubuntu
grub package

Removing Grub from a disk containing multiple volumes

Asked by iain_m

Hi,

I installed Ubuntu on a USB drive whilst keeping my dual boot Windows installation on one of the hard drives (hd0) in the PC.

I installed Grub during the Ubuntu setup onto hd0.

Now I have to keep the USB drive connected to the PC, even if I want to access my Windows dual-boot menu, in order for Grub to let me access anything at all! :-/

I understand from reading other posts that "fdisk /mbr" will remove Grub.

But my concern is that this might damage the partition information on hd0, since it has two volumes on it.

Unfortunately, my backup disk is being repaired at the moment, so I'm worried about changing the mbr.

In short - what is a 100% safe method of removing Grub from a disk containing multiple volumes?

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Ralph Janke (txwikinger) said : 		#1

While there is never any 100% guarantee, I have changed the MBR back to the windows version with fdisk /mbr before and never had any problems.

Also, what you intended to do, you should have the /boot directory in its own partition on your built-in HD. This doesn't take up a lot of space, but give it enough that you can have multiple linux kernels in it, since they would be installed there.

In this way, you can boot grub and windows without having the usb-disk connected.

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iain_m (iain-iainmorland) said : 		#2

Hi - thanks for the fast response.

Regarding your suggestion about the /boot directory, can I just clarify that:

- Grub itself wouldn't go in the /boot directory, it would still go in the disk's MBR?

- With /boot on the internal HD, the rest of Ubuntu could still be installed on an external drive?

- If I created a partition for /boot, then I could reinstall Ubuntu and get Grub working without needing the USB drive connected? I.e. I don't need to start completely over by fixing the MBR.

Thank you again.

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Ralph Janke (txwikinger) said : 		#3

Only the first stage of grub is in the MBR. The following stages are in the /boot folder (i.e. the menu.lst, the linux kernel etc).

Yes. with the /boot folder on the internal drive, all the rest of ubuntu still be installed on an external drive. Just make sure you /etc/fstab file is correctly configured (if you want to access the /boot folder when in linux it must have its own entry then).

You don't need to reinstall anything. You can just create the partition on the internal drive, copy the /boot folder into that partition, make sure the grub configuration is adapted if necessary (/boot/grub/menu.lst). And finally, you need to setup grub onto the MBR in the way that it looks at your new partition instead of the one on the external drive.

Some help for this you can find at:

http://tldp.org/HOWTO/Linux+Win9x+Grub-HOWTO/index.html

and

http://tldp.org/HOWTO/Multiboot-with-GRUB.html

I hope this helps, let us know

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Best iain_m (iain-iainmorland) said : 		#4

Thank you, I restored the MBR using the Norton Ghost recovery environment and all was well.

I have decided to install Ubuntu onto one of the internal drives but am having a problem accessing one of those in Ubuntu. However, to keep things simple I'll open that issue as a new question.

Thanks for the help so far! :)