Save boot record before writing to the dest_drive

Save boot record before writing to the dest_drive

[James Courtier-Dutton]

Hi,

I think this would be a good feature, because if nothing else, I
permits the user to "uninstall grub" if they so wish.
So, if a user has installed Linux, so that their system now dual boots
Windows and Linux, and they then decide to uninstall Linux and return
to a Windows only setup.
It should be possible to return them to a setup that gets them
straight back into Windows, without any boot loader menus from grub.

Kind Regards

James

Re: Save boot record before writing to the dest_drive

[Lars Nooden]

James Courtier-Dutton wrote:
> I think this would be a good feature, because if nothing else, I
> permits the user to "uninstall grub" if they so wish.

I would disagree with the use case described, but agree that having the
ability to roll back to the previous boot record could possibly be of
value.

-Lars

Re: Save boot record before writing to the dest_drive

[James Courtier-Dutton]

2009/9/22 Lars Nooden <lars.curator@gmail.com>:
> James Courtier-Dutton wrote:
>> I think this would be a good feature, because if nothing else, I
>> permits the user to "uninstall grub" if they so wish.
>
> I would disagree with the use case described, but agree that having the
> ability to roll back to the previous boot record could possibly be of
> value.
>
> -Lars
>

So, if one did a dd backup of the boot sector and the embedded area
before the first partition, is there a tool that can replace those
sectors but do it safely. E.g. Only replace the number of sectors that
fit before the first partition, and preserve the current partition
table, and not use the partition table from the dd backup.

Re: Save boot record before writing to the dest_drive

[Lars Nooden]

James Courtier-Dutton wrote:

> So, if one did a dd backup of the boot sector and the embedded area
> before the first partition, is there a tool that can replace those
> sectors but do it safely. E.g. Only replace the number of sectors that
> fit before the first partition, and preserve the current partition
> table, and not use the partition table from the dd backup.

dd plus as shell script fit nicely in busybox

-Lars

Re: Save boot record before writing to the dest_drive

[kashyap garimella]

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Hi !,

On Wed, Sep 23, 2009 at 12:52 AM, James Courtier-Dutton <
james.dutton@gmail.com> wrote:

> 2009/9/22 Lars Nooden <lars.curator@gmail.com>:
> > James Courtier-Dutton wrote:
> >> I think this would be a good feature, because if nothing else, I
> >> permits the user to "uninstall grub" if they so wish.
> >
> > I would disagree with the use case described, but agree that having the
> > ability to roll back to the previous boot record could possibly be of
> > value.
> >
> > -Lars
> >
>
> So, if one did a dd backup of the boot sector and the embedded area
> before the first partition, is there a tool that can replace those
> sectors but do it safely. E.g. Only replace the number of sectors that
> fit before the first partition, and preserve the current partition
> table, and not use the partition table from the dd backup.
>
>
There is already a thread discussing this topic.
http://www.mail-archive.com/grub-devel@gnu.org/msg12829.html
The patch saves the exact places in embed region, which are overwritten.
And it restores the mbr+embed region safely.

-Kashyap Garimella Jagannadh
(irc:garimella)
Undergraduate Student,
IIT Madras, India

>
> _______________________________________________
> Grub-devel mailing list
> Grub-devel@gnu.org
> http://lists.gnu.org/mailman/listinfo/grub-devel
>

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Re: Save boot record before writing to the dest_drive

[Robert Millan]

On Tue, Sep 22, 2009 at 07:57:23PM +0100, James Courtier-Dutton wrote:
> Hi,
> 
> I think this would be a good feature, because if nothing else,

Please could you reply in the same thread?

-- 
Robert Millan

  The DRM opt-in fallacy: "Your data belongs to us. We will decide when (and
  how) you may access your data; but nobody's threatening your freedom: we
  still allow you to remove your data and not access it at all."

Re: Save boot record before writing to the dest_drive

[Robert Millan]

On Wed, Sep 23, 2009 at 07:38:59AM +0530, kashyap garimella wrote:
> There is already a thread discussing this topic.
> http://www.mail-archive.com/grub-devel@gnu.org/msg12829.html
> The patch saves the exact places in embed region, which are overwritten.
> And it restores the mbr+embed region safely.

Your patch has some indentation issues.  Please can you run the indent
program on it?

Also, please include a ChangeLog entry.

-- 
Robert Millan

  The DRM opt-in fallacy: "Your data belongs to us. We will decide when (and
  how) you may access your data; but nobody's threatening your freedom: we
  still allow you to remove your data and not access it at all."