2 GRUBS - specific EFI System Partition x non-specific, can I remove one Disk?
I have three disks on my computer. One HDD, two SSD's.
ON HDD - it's only free space now. In the past I had Ubuntu there.
On SSD1 - there is Windows + EFI System Partition (which -probably- is where GRUB is installed. In the past, used this partition to dual-boot the old Linux install on the HDD with the Windows one)
Now, I bought a new SSD and installed Ubuntu. Let's call it SSD2.
ON SSD2 - Ubuntu only (not specific EFI System Partition) + partition for windows files.
On the install, in the "Device for bootloader installation" option I've chosen:
"/dev/nvme0n1p4" > format: ext4 Same partition that I've installed the whole system, not a specific EFI System Partition.
So here I have two questions. 1- do I have two GRUB's installed? I mean, if I remove the SSD1, will I be able to boot into the Linux only using SSD2? 2- Is there any practical consequences to install the bootloader on the system partition (like i did on SSD2) instead of some specific EFI Partition (like I Did on SSD1)?
Did some research, and was still a bit confused, however, got some commands that can be useful to clarify my current situation to you:
sudo fdisk -l
Disk /dev/nvme0n1 (SSD2 - New): 232,91 GiB
Device Start End Sectors Size Type
/dev/nvme0n1p1 34 32767 32734 16M Microsoft reserved
/dev/nvme0n1p2 32768 253513727 253480960 120,9G Microsoft basic data
/dev/nvme0n1p4 254513152 488396799 233883648 111,5G Linux filesystem
Disk /dev/nvme1n1 (SSD1 - Old): 119,25 GiB
Device Start End Sectors Size Type
/dev/nvme1n1p1 2048 249659391 249657344 119G Microsoft basic data
/dev/nvme1n1p2 249659392 250068991 409600 200M EFI System
lsblk
sda (HDD) 8:0 0 931,5G 0 disk
└─sda6 8:6 0 7,2G 0 part
nvme0n1 (SS2 - New) 259:0 0 232,9G 0 disk
├─nvme0n1p1 259:1 0 16M 0 part
├─nvme0n1p2 259:2 0 120,9G 0 part
└─nvme0n1p4 259:3 0 111,5G 0 part /
nvme1n1 (SSD1 - OLD) 259:4 0 119,2G 0 disk
├─nvme1n1p1 259:5 0 119G 0 part
└─nvme1n1p2 259:6 0 200M 0 part /boot/efi
sudo efibootmgr -v
BootCurrent: 0000
Timeout: 0 seconds
BootOrder: 0000,0002,2001,2002,2003
Boot0000* ubuntu HD(2,GPT,giant_number)/File(\EFI\ubuntu\shimx64.efi)RC
Boot0002* Windows Boot Manager HD(2,GPT,giant_number)/File(\EFI\Microsoft\Boot\bootmgfw.efi)WINDOWS.........x...B.C.D.O.B.J.E.C.T.= (giant_number)......
Boot2001* EFI USB Device RC
Boot2002* EFI DVD/CDROM RC
Solution 1:
I can see only one instance of grub installed on your system and this instance is installed to your EFI System Partition /dev/nvme1n1p2
(SSD1 - OLD
).
If you remove the drive which holds the EFI System Partition you will be unable to boot either OS on this machine.
Installing an instance of Grub to the OS-partition does only make sense in legacy-mode, but not in UEFI-mode. In UEFI-mode the installer will try to install Grub to an existing ESP (the installer searches itself for a valid ESP) and ignores the choice of bootloader location you made.