how to install the bootloader

[Reinhard Kotucha]

Hi,
I'm running Gentoo Linux and used rsync in order to create backups on
another disk.  The content of the backup disk is exactly the same as
on my working disk.  And I installed a boot loader on the bachup disk
so that I can simply swap the disks if necessary.

Some time ago I noticed that the backup disk didn't boot anymore
though I didn't change anything.  I tried to install the bootloader
again.  grub-install didn't complain but the disk didn't boot and
there was no error message.  Nevertheless, the backup disk was quite
useful though, I could at least restore files I removed accidentally.

Now my main disk seems to be broken.  The system still works but I get
zillions of I/O-errors on /dev/sda3 and /dev/sda4.

I bought a new disk now because I don't want to modify anything on my
backup disk.  Now the new disk contains an exact copy of the backup
disk.

When I try to boot the new disk, I end up in a grub shell.  This is
much better than the blinking cursor I've always seen in the past.

The first step seems to work:

  grub> root (hd0,1)
  Filesystem type is ext2fs, partition type 0x83

This is correct.  The first partition /dev/hda1 (hd0,0) is the swap
partition and /dev/hda2 (hd0,1) contains the operating system as well
as the /boot/grub directory.

When I try to install the bootloader

  grub> setup (hd0)

I get the error messages

  Checking if "/boot/grub/stage1" exists... no
  Checking if "/boot/stage1" exists... no

  Rerror 15: File not found

Why? /boot/grub/stage1 definitely exists on (hd0,1).

What do I miss?

Regards,
  Reinhard

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Reinhard Kotucha                            Phone: +49-511-3373112
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