So I have a SSD that I connect to a few machines that I boot into, but it seems something happened to the boot loader. The partitions seem intact: (1:FAT - EFI System (...not sure)) (2: Ext4 - OS) (3:Swap). I'm able to see the files in the OS partition, so it all looks good (FYI: it's mint 17).
How to I fix the boot loader by connecting it to another machine without having the current machine effected or point to each other in any way (want to make sure each is the only boot option to their own)?
What exactly is the error message you're getting when you try to boot the SSD? Can you please list the contents of your EFI partition(and the directories within)? Thanks.
Most tools will auto-detect all discs so disconnect what you don't want for each as you set up, and you may have to be in this state for updates too.
Look into chroot, this will allow you to boot on a live version of the OS, then type some stuff in to start running stuff from you HDD pretty much as if you'd booted it.
I have never used this too: https://sourceforge.net/projects/boot-repair-cd/?source=recommended
The error message varies between motherboards, but basically 'OS not found' (as if I plugged in a bank disk).
Here's a link to what's in that EFI partion: (removed, not sure if that partition contains anything security related)
here's the listing:
~/EFI $ cd ubuntu/
~/EFI/ubuntu $ ls
grub.cfg grubx64.efi MokManager.efi shimx64.efi
Does the EFI partition tie the disk to specific system? In noticed my other Linux disks don't have it. I'm thinking maybe a recent update caused it. I remember getting a prompt to disable uefi that I declined.
You removed your EFI partition? Well, that explains it. If you installed Linux on a UEFI system it should have formatted your partition table as GPT and created an EFI partition which contains your boot loader. If you removed your EFI partition, you have deleted your boot loader.
Systems that don't support UEFI cannot boot from GPT-partitioned disks.
No, just the link to a compressed file of the contents of what's in the partition. Not sure what's in those .efi files or if there's anything sensitive, like cached data (I'm not familiar with what that partition contains....).
On that note, does EFI prevent me from just taking a disk with an OS and taking it from one x86 system to another? I've been doing that with my Linux disks for a while without issue. This is the first time I've noticed an EFI partition (note sure if a recent update caused this or if I just didn't notice it until now when I installed mint 17.3). If it was a recent update that caused it, is there way to revert it back to a non-uefi based boot?
Update: ya, looks like the UEFI has the OS locked down to one system and not an issue of the boot loader be corrupted. Anyway to make the disk independent of what system I have it plugged to? (FYI, it's Linux Mint 17.3)
Problem solved. Needed to go to the BIOS Boot option and select "File browser add boot option" and select the grubx64.efi. I'm new to UEFI, normally I can just plug in a drive and it would boot without needing to specify where things were. All my other disks just have an OS partition and swap space; no UEFI.