Arch Linux

badfrog88

Member

Registered: 2010-08-13

Posts: 43

Following the boot process, How often is /boot accessed?

I'm considering setting up a dual boot windows7/ Arch on my netbook and installing grub and /boot to a SD card. My netbook is capable from booting from my SD card slot. My thinking is that with the SD card removed the computer boots to windows normally with no indication I have another OS installed (at least to the casual observer).

My question is following the boot process how often if the /boot partition accessed? I'm wondering if a standard SD card would work or should I use one of the faster SDHC cards?

karol

Archivist

Registered: 2009-05-06

Posts: 25,440

Re: Following the boot process, How often is /boot accessed?

I think the regular SD card will be enough (just be sure to mace copies of it ;P), IIRC cards wear mostly by read-write cycles, no by reads alone.

I recall a similar thread some time ago, let's see if I can find it.
Edit: Found it: https://bbs.archlinux.org/viewtopic.php?pid=799586

Last edited by karol (2010-09-17 20:13:54)

badfrog88

Member

Registered: 2010-08-13

Posts: 43

Re: Following the boot process, How often is /boot accessed?

Thanks.  I've googled and searched the forums here, but I didn't see anything. 

I didn't think about the wear issue...

karol

Archivist

Registered: 2009-05-06

Posts: 25,440

Re: Following the boot process, How often is /boot accessed?

Thanks.  I've googled and searched the forums here, but I didn't see anything. 

I didn't think about the wear issue...

I never had any problems with too slow pendrives / SD cards - they always show up in time - but I've been only using them to boot liveUSB distros, not Arch.
Maybe you can increase the timeout if you run into problems like 'device not found'. Give it a spin and we'll see :-)