From mboxrd@z Thu Jan 1 00:00:00 1970 Return-Path: Received: from lists.gentoo.org (pigeon.gentoo.org [208.92.234.80]) (using TLSv1.3 with cipher TLS_AES_256_GCM_SHA384 (256/256 bits) key-exchange X25519 server-signature RSA-PSS (2048 bits)) (No client certificate requested) by finch.gentoo.org (Postfix) with ESMTPS id 96239158041 for ; Tue, 27 Feb 2024 11:40:29 +0000 (UTC) Received: from pigeon.gentoo.org (localhost [127.0.0.1]) by pigeon.gentoo.org (Postfix) with SMTP id 5A9BDE2A7A; Tue, 27 Feb 2024 11:40:22 +0000 (UTC) Received: from smarthost01b.sbp.mail.zen.net.uk (smarthost01b.sbp.mail.zen.net.uk [212.23.1.3]) (using TLSv1.3 with cipher TLS_AES_256_GCM_SHA384 (256/256 bits) key-exchange ECDHE (prime256v1) server-signature RSA-PSS (4096 bits) server-digest SHA256) (No client certificate requested) by pigeon.gentoo.org (Postfix) with ESMTPS id 0FFFEE29D4 for ; Tue, 27 Feb 2024 11:40:21 +0000 (UTC) Received: from [82.69.80.10] (helo=cube.localnet) by smarthost01b.sbp.mail.zen.net.uk with esmtpsa (TLS1.3) tls TLS_ECDHE_RSA_WITH_AES_256_GCM_SHA384 (Exim 4.95) (envelope-from ) id 1revoq-000lAL-NU for gentoo-user@lists.gentoo.org; Tue, 27 Feb 2024 11:40:20 +0000 From: Peter Humphrey To: gentoo-user@lists.gentoo.org Subject: Re: [gentoo-user] Re: How to set up drive with many Linux distros? Date: Tue, 27 Feb 2024 11:40:20 +0000 Message-ID: <2723035.mvXUDI8C0e@cube> In-Reply-To: References: Precedence: bulk List-Post: List-Help: List-Unsubscribe: List-Subscribe: List-Id: Gentoo Linux mail X-BeenThere: gentoo-user@lists.gentoo.org Reply-to: gentoo-user@lists.gentoo.org X-Auto-Response-Suppress: DR, RN, NRN, OOF, AutoReply MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7Bit Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii" X-Originating-smarthost01b-IP: [82.69.80.10] Feedback-ID: 82.69.80.10 X-Archives-Salt: eccd7915-c9c6-4908-bc0c-b4ac594dc02e X-Archives-Hash: e5c274f78b9f702a37a75dc30edb83e2 On Tuesday, 27 February 2024 00:12:07 GMT Mark Knecht wrote: > I have no experience beyond three operating systems on a single machine > but if you grabbed just 2 or 3 USB flash drives then I would think you > could test it pretty easily. I believe the UEFI boot procedures are > storing a unique ID for the disk or the partition you are requesting. If you > have a unique ID that's different for each flash drive it would (hopefully) > find the one you're looking for which should be relatively simple. > > I would suggest you use the boot ordering feature and make the > system hard drive last in the list. If no USB devices are plugged in > it would default to your system drive. If a flash drive is plugged in > it should find its ID and boot that first. > > I do not know if, for instance, you had 20 different drives listed in > your BIOS whether it would be a lot slower to boot but you could > test that yourself. My experience is that the BIOS will discard any boot devices that are not present at the time of booting. I don't know whether that's typical or just what I've found. -- Regards, Peter.