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Re: Dual Boot Two Debian Versions

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On 6/10/19 7:04 AM, Stephen P. Molnar wrote:
> My Debian platform has four drives:
> 
> NAME MAJ:MIN RM SIZE RO TYPE MOUNTPOINT
> sda 8:0 0 465.8G 0 disk
> ??????sda1 8:1 0 457.9G 0 part /
> ??????sda2 8:2 0 1K 0 part
> ??????sda5 8:5 0 7.9G 0 part [SWAP]
> sdb 8:16 0 1.8T 0 disk
> ??????sdb1 8:17 0 1.8T 0 part /sdb1
> ??????sdb2 8:18 0 1K 0 part
> ??????sdb5 8:21 0 7.9G 0 part
> sdc 8:32 0 465.8G 0 disk
> ??????sdc1 8:33 0 465.8G 0 part /sdc1
> sr0 11:0 1 2K 0 rom
> 
> sda is a 500 GB SSD, currently the boot drive, running Stretch
> sdb is a 2 TB mechanical hard drive, used for storage and
> sbc is a 500 GD SSD, containg a number of computational chemistry 
> applications that I use for my research.
> 
> I am planning on adding a 1 TB SSD to the system to be dedicated to 
> Buster (currently Testing).
> 
> I know that if I select the new drive (for the purpose of this note, 
> sdd) for Buster during the installation process from the iso DVD, that 
> Buster will be installed on sdd and grub will show that as the boot 
> drive. There would also be an entry in grub for Stretch on sda.
> 
> Herein lies the problem, sda is the boot drive, but Buster would not be 
> a grub entry. Whenever I reboot the system, Buster will be hidden. A 
> workaround would be to hit the appropriate key during the initial stages 
> of the boot process to open the Bios and then manually select Buster to 
> boot.
> 
> Couple of questions:
> 
> Will installing Buster on sdd do anything to make Stretch unbootable?
> Is there a way that I can add Buster to the Stretch Grub Boot Screen? 
> Perhaps grub-customizer?
> 
> I know this is rather convoluted, but it is essential, for non technical 
> reasons to keep Stretch available while I am using Buster.
> 
> Thanks in advance.

HDD's, SSD's, USB flash drives, optical drives, etc., fail.  I have 
dealt with more than a few lately.  It sounds like you are getting the 
point where you should consider redundancy.


I prefer small (16+ GB), single SSD's or USB flash drives for system 
disks.  Redundancy consists of periodic and on-demand images, daily 
backups, and keeping configuration file changes in a version control system.


I partition my Debian and FreeBSD system drives with 1 GB boot, 1 GB 
swap, and 10 to 12 GB root:

1.  I can use 16+ GB USB flash drives, HDD's, and SSD's for system 
images.  All are readily available and inexpensive.

2.  One device is easier to administer than two devices in a mirror, and 
only requires one bay and one port.

3.  I use lowest-common denominator partitioning schemes (MBR) and boot 
loaders (BIOS), so that any image on any device can boot in any machine.

4.  The small size makes it practical to take images on a regular basis, 
and to retain a few copies for each system.


I use large, enterprise HDD's in a mirror for data.  (Unused/ old stock 
enterprise SATA disks are surprisingly affordable.)


For your situation, I would forget the 1 TB SSD, get another 2 TB HDD, 
and rebuild/ migrate into one or two computers:

1.  Alternative #1 -- one computer:

     a.  Install Stretch onto a high-quality 16 GB USB 3.0 flash drive. 
Install virtual machine software.

     b.  Set up the two 500 GB SSD's as a mirror.  Build a Stretch VM. 
Build a Buster VM.  Create a directory that is shared into both VM's. 
Install the chemistry software there.

     c.  Set up the two 2 TB HDD's as a mirror.  Create a directory that 
is shared into both VM's.  Install data there.

2.  Alternatively #2 -- two computers:

     a.  Workstation with 16 GB USB flash drive, two 500 GB SSD mirror, 
Stretch VM, Buster VM, and chemistry software, as above.

     b.  File server with Stretch on 16 GB USB flash drive and data on 
two 2 TB mirror.  Share data via Samba.


Make sure you have several large HDD's for backups.  I have three 
desktop 3 TB drives in a rotation scheme for backups, archives, and 
images.  Docking bays and drive drawers are especially useful:

 
https://www.startech.com/HDD/Mobile-Racks/Black-Serial-ATA-Drive-Drawer-with-Shock-Absorbers-Professional-Series~DRW115SATBK


David

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Thread

Dual Boot Two Debian Versions "Stephen P. Molnar" <s.molnar@sbcglobal.net> - 2019-06-10 16:10 +0200
  Re: Dual Boot Two Debian Versions Pascal Hambourg <pascal@plouf.fr.eu.org> - 2019-06-10 20:10 +0200
  Re: Dual Boot Two Debian Versions David Christensen <dpchrist@holgerdanske.com> - 2019-06-11 04:50 +0200
  Re: Dual Boot Two Debian Versions songbird <songbird@anthive.com> - 2019-06-11 13:40 +0200
    Re: Dual Boot Two Debian Versions Pascal Hambourg <pascal@plouf.fr.eu.org> - 2019-06-11 20:30 +0200
      Re: Dual Boot Two Debian Versions "Stephen P. Molnar" <s.molnar@sbcglobal.net> - 2019-06-11 21:50 +0200
        Re: Dual Boot Two Debian Versions Pascal Hambourg <pascal@plouf.fr.eu.org> - 2019-06-12 21:20 +0200

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