Update Mint Rescue Disk Feature

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ASmith

Update Mint Rescue Disk Feature

Post by ASmith »

Linux Mint has a Create rescue floppy disk feature found here:

Control Center > StartUp-Manager > Advanced > Misc. 'Create rescue floppy'

However only the oldest of PC's and Laptop's have a floppy disk.

The Linux Mint user that clicks on 'Create rescue floppy' immediately see's 'Formatting Floppy' regardless if they have a physical or virtual floppy device on that system.

My suggestion is for that the Linux Mint StartUp-Manager code be rewritten with more options such as CD,DVD,USB based Pendrives AND the code looks for the media to be present, mounted and then prompts the user if it should proceed with formatting that CD/DVD,USB Pendrive etc.

Also Include:

In the Linux Mint Installed Programs: Grub-Rescue-PC

The Grub-Rescue PC package contains three GRUB rescue images that have been built for use
with the traditional PC/BIOS architecture:

- grub-rescue-floppy.img: floppy image.
- grub-rescue-cdrom.iso: El Torito CDROM image.
- grub-rescue-usb.img: USB image.

AND include that option as well as updating the Mint Rescue Disk feature to cover as many problem scenero's which could quickly be corrected using that feature.

Reference:

Linux Community Members can Vote on this Suggestion to be implemented via this link:
http://community.linuxmint.com/idea/view/2367
ASmith

Re: Update Mint Rescue Disk Feature

Post by ASmith »

Thank-you for your support on this suggestion to update the Linux-Mint Rescue Disk feature.

I further suggest the Linux Mint update coders include the following direct disk (DD) features/commands to enhance the Linux Mint Rescue disk and features:

The following Linux Mint Terminal Commands determine which drive devices are designated, bootable and which partitions carry your linux or other OS systems. These help you set the device variable which the following Save and Restore commands require. Run these commands then record which /dev/sba your system is mounting:

sudo blkid
sudo fdisk -l
sudo fdisk -l -u

To Save the MBR to a file (this contains the partition table too):

sudo dd if=/dev/sda1 of=sda1-mbr-full bs=512 count=1

To Save the MBR, without the partition table, to a file:

sudo dd if=/dev/sda1 of=sda1-mbr-nopart bs=446 count=1

To Restore the MBR plus the main Partition Table:

sudo dd if=sda1-mbr-full of=/dev/sda1 bs=512 count=1 (RESTORE Entire Master Boot Record Plus Partition Table)

To Restore only the Master Boot Record (MBR):

sudo dd if=sda1-mbr-nopart of=/dev/sda1 bs=446 count=1 (Restore Only Master Boot Record Not Including the Partition Table)

Linux sfdisk command can also quickly and easily make a backup of the primary and extended partition table as follows. It creates a file that can be read in a text editor, or this file can be used by sfdisk to restore the primary/extended partition table.

To back up the Linux Mint based disk Partition Table /dev/sda, enter:

sudo sfdisk -d /dev/sda > /tmp/sda.bak

To Restore the Linux Mint based disk Partition Table on /dev/sda, enter:

sudo sfdisk /dev/sda < /tmp/sda.bak

Note: Adjust the actual drive/device to what you find with the sudo blkid,
sudo fdisk -l or sudo fdisk -l -u output.

Note: To quickly and easily back-up the whole of the first track (the first 63 sectors on the hard drive) since various other boot managers and DDO can spill onto more that just the very first sector - called the MBR. For this you could use ...

sudo dd if=/dev/sda of=/media/fd0/backups/mbr63.dat bs=512 count=63

The tiny size files these backup's of the MBR really makes it a no excuse to fully use them. A quick backup of the MBR for a WinX-Linux dual boot BEFORE Grub modify's the MBR is quick and cheap insurance that user won't blow up their Windows partition boot information. AFTER Grub is successfully installed, the corresponding MBR and Partition Table files again are very small in size yet utterly priceless in regards to backups.

I suggest these scripted tools all be made fully available for the new Linux Mint installers and experienced users to safeguard their systems. Should their bootloader get corrupted down the road, in a matter of moments, the MBR can be restored, same with the entire partition tables should they become corrupted.

Should the new install of Linux Mint corrupt that person's Win-X partition or mess up their MBR, having copys of the original would allow them to restore them in a matter of moments and in so doing help build a great deal of trust in adding and trying the Linux Mint distro's even on fully loaded Win-X systems.
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