Missing Your menu.lst? You've Got Grub2!

If you're like me, you'd have been taking advantage of the popularity of Virtual Machine software to try out new Linux distributions. Or if you have a dual-boot (with Windows on one end and a Linux favorite on the other), you've been content at upgrading Linux from version to version without doing a full reinstall. Then there comes the confusion when doing a fresh install and you realize you don't know what that heck happened to the /boot/grub/menu.lst file on your Grub.

Since Ubuntu 9.10, Grub 2 has become the default boot loader. If you are looking for the menu.lst file that used to be what you edited to specify which OS to boot into by default, then I'm telling you it is gone. In Grub 2, the file that closely resembles its functionality is /boot/grub/grub.cfg, but that isn't supposed to be edited. You need to edit something else and then update grub.cfg. Here's how to do it in Ubuntu and Linux Mint, 2 of the distros I usually end up installing.

After installing Ubuntu or Mint and rebooting for the first time, take note of the menu entries. They usually follow the following pattern:

Ubuntu, linux *kernel_version_here*

Ubuntu, linux *kernel_version_here* (recovery mode)

Memory Test (memtest86+)

Memory Test (memtest86+, serial console mode)

Windows OS

Here's a sample of how it looks like on my desktop, Linux Mint as it were:

Now note that the default entry is "0", which points to the first option in the list above. That is to say your linux distro in normal mode is "0", your linux distro in recovery mode is "1" and so on. Counting from 0, Windows is then option 4 as listed above. Now as a sample, let's edit it so it boots to the Windows OS by default:

1. Open a terminal and type in "sudo gedit /etc/default/grub" (without the quotes). Type in your root password when asked:

2. Edit the entry GRUB_DEFAULT=0, replacing zero with the option you want to boot by default. In our sample way above, Windows is number 4:

3. Save the file and close it.

4. To update /boot/grub/grub.cfg with the new settings, go back to the terminal and enter the command “sudo update-grub” (without the quotes). Type in your root password if asked:

5. Reboot to test.

There you have it. Now if you'd want to go further and tweak the heck out of Grub2, you can go to the following links for very detailed instructions:

Ubuntu Grub2 Community Documentation - https://help.ubuntu.com/community/Grub2
Ubuntu Forums Grub2 Tweaks Thread - http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=1287602
Ubuntu Forums Grub2 5 Common Tasks - http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=1302743

Hybrid Drives - A Cost Effective SSD Alternative

I've posted before about SSD's as an interesting way to boost your computers performance OS-wise. Well, a lot of people scoff at the high price versus the actual storage that SSD's offer. Seagate just came up with a viable alternative to you speed junkies out there with a major upside -- substantial storage.
Hybrid Drives have been around for a while. Windows Vista was actually launched with this technology as one of its optimization features along with ReadyBoost. With ReadyBoost, Windows will use a USB or other flash device to boot up faster, storing frequently used applications and data on the flash memory to make Vista boot faster. Hybrid drives work in a similar fashion by allotting flash memory built-in to the drive to store and deploy frequently used data. The result is faster boot times and near instant response when launching applications. Recent developments it SSD technology have overshadowed that, as a pure flash-based solution is definitely faster.

So it was a pleasant surprise to find Seagate actually moved forward in R&D and produced the Momentus XT, a hybrid notebook drive that bridges the performance difference between SSD's and spindle (mechanical) hard drives. I first saw a reference to this in Anandtech and read the spec sheets at Seagate. I saw the drives were available at Amazon and thought Seagate is pushing a whole-hearted marketing strategy to niche the Momentus XT as a value proposition (at least performance-wise) to SSD's.

Reading the Anandtech article, I wasn't convinced it would be as fast. They revealed it was apparent from the first boot, as the drive had to "learn" what data the user usually launched to have that reside in the faster flash memory before you saw a performance boost. Seagate calls this Adaptive Memory technology. Anandtech’s testing revealed it really did perform halfway between a super-fast SSD and a mechanical hard drive once it "learned". Boot time increased and so did launching apps. The drive learned fast too. They tested its best speed just after 2 reboots.

But OverclockersClub.com posted benchmarks that really blew me away. They achieved near-parity performance with SSD's by RAIDing 2 Momentus XT drives. It makes a whole lot of sense once you think about it. Using RAID 1 to write simultaneously to 2 drives will practically double the speed of the whole set-up.

Now say you have a desktop that could use a speed boost. Get 2 250 GB Momentus XT drives, mount them using bracket adapter like the Silverstone SDP08 Bay Converter. That bracket allows you to mount 2 notebook drives and use just one 3.5 " drive bay in a desktop case. RAID the pair and use it as a boot drive and you'll have spent $223.23 on it. Compare that to $244.73 you have to pony up if you go with a Kingston SSDNow V Series 128 GB, one of the cheaper SSD options. That's almost equal performance speed and almost four times more storage for the same price. The price difference is even more obscene if you go for the 320GB or 500GB Momentus XT’s and compare that to equivalent capacity SSD’s.

These Hybrid Drives are definitely a win-win proposition for anyone seeking a performance boost on their computer without it costing a small fortune. All I need now is to convince the missus this is a ‘need’ and not a ‘want’ upgrade :-)