2

I have an Ubuntu when booted it has the root system is stored under /dev/sdb1, as can be shown with df command:

enter image description here

the fdisk -l looks like this:

enter image description here

My question is how can I change the root system from /dev/sdb1 to /dev/sda2? And when boot also goes to /dev/sda2

Improve this question
9
  • In other words you want the otjher device /dev/sda2 to boot rathan the current one or you want to move the OS from /dev/sdb1 to the new location?
    – George Udosen
    Nov 14, 2018 at 7:26
  • @GeorgeUdosen That's right!
    – littleworth
    Nov 14, 2018 at 7:27
  • bro please be very clear what you want, to move the current OS to a new location or ask the system to boot from else where?
    – George Udosen
    Nov 14, 2018 at 7:33
  • 1
    Why exactly do you want this? It may be possible in theory, but one mistake and you will mess up your machine big time.
    – Jos
    Nov 14, 2018 at 7:52
  • 1
    Leave your root partition where it is (as long as it is large enough to fit the software) and store your data on an external disk. That is very easy.
    – Jos
    Nov 14, 2018 at 7:58

2 Answers 2

Reset to default
3

Reinstalling the OS on sda would be the safe way, but isn't really needed. Since you have a filesystem on sda2, either:

  • if you can use it entirely for you data, create a mount point on your sdb1 filesystem here you want the data, and mount it there (add to /etc/fstab).

  • otherwise, mount it (under root or else, still by adding to /etc/fstab), create a directory in it for your data, and create a soft link to it from where you want need your data to be.

Improve this answer
1

To change mount points, we must edit the fstab file (see link above), so let's open it and have it fork to the background with the & symbol. For Ubuntu, open a terminal and run:

gksudo gedit /etc/fstab &

Locate the entry you want to change. Let's say you discover that the device is /dev/sdb1. Then you will change the line in fstab from something like

/dev/sdb1       /media/disk2    ext3    defaults,errors=remount-ro  0  2

to

/dev/sdb1       /mnt/backup     ext3    defaults,errors=remount-ro  0  2

Source: https://help.ubuntu.com/community/MoveMountpointHowto

Improve this answer
1
  • does this method also boots on /dev/sda2 ? I want all the software (e.g. Apache, MySql, etc to be installed in /dev/sda2 ). In short to use /dev/sda2 it as main device.
    – littleworth
    Nov 14, 2018 at 7:29

You must log in to answer this question.

Not the answer you're looking for? Browse other questions tagged .