On 9/13/19 5:43 PM, golinux@??? wrote:
> On 2019-09-13 16:24, Hendrik Boom wrote:
>> Haven't replaced /dev/hdb yet.
>> Is there some way of getting it ignored in the following scenario?
>>
>> I started aptitude.
>> It told me it hadn't been cleanly shut down last time, and recommended
>> I do
>>     dpkg --configure -a
>> before I do anything else.
>>
>> I do that, and the system apparently does some cleanup, generating
>> initrd images, and then starts to update grub.
>>
>> Update-grub stalls on block 51 of device /dev/hdb, trying to do
>> something with it over and over (as presented on the main system
>> console, which is *not* the one I'm trying to run aptitude on)
>>
>> Now evidently /dev/hdb is not working and will need to be replaced.
>>
>> But isn't there some way to tell grub to ignore /dev/hdb?
>> What is it that controls which drives grub tries to work with.
>> It must get this from somewhere.  I did not specify or mention /dev/hdb
>> anywhere in my dpkg --configure -a.  And there are several other drives
>> I could use to install grub and a boot record.  I can even use the
>> grub-install command to do so.  So why, oh why, does it pick on
>> /dev/sdb?
>>
>> -- hendrik
>>
>>
>
> Open the case and unplug it?
>
> (golinux ducks and runs)


Golinux beat me to it.

update-grub (grub-mkconfig) uses black magic to find all the bootable
systems within reach. I read that somewhere in the comments in one of the
grub scripts. (Note: It won't find encrypted systems except for the one
that's running update-grub.)

It... wait... what? hdb? I hope that's a typo.

If the disk is dying, make sure you have everything you want off of it
before you unplug it.

fsmithred