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2 alternating lvm luks encrypted ssd drives with a USB booting issue

cn flag

I hope everyone is healthy and safe.

I have one lvm luks encrypted ssd let's call it "A" and it is the main drive inside the laptop, and one lvm luks encrypted ssd on USB let's call it "B".

"A" boots no problem and I can access "B" on USB when "A" is booted up after issuing vgrename new_name and de-crypting "B"

However, I need to be able to switch these each out - "B" as main and "A" on USB for transferring files between the two.

If I take "A" out of internal slot and put in "B", the laptop does not boot, but will if I replace it with "A".

I'm wondering if some fancy grub commands can make this work and also wondering if I can make this happen automatically depending on which ssd occupies the laptop's main slot.

"B" has a fully functional Ubuntu 20.04 system but is unable to boot after "A" occupied main laptop ssd slot.

Thank you and any help much appreciated.

Nmath avatar
ng flag
What do you mean by *"I need to be able to switch these each out"*? Can you be more specific? The extra layer of abstraction in your question really makes it difficult to understand what you are asking. It's generally better if you provide actual details
jeffschips avatar
cn flag
Need to insert "A" ssd card into laptop, boot, do work. Also need to remove "A", put in "B" and work on laptop with only "B" as OS. Finally, need to have 1 ssd card present in the laptop's internal slot whilst the other is on USB. Currently, only "A" will boot. Both ssd card's have 20.04 and "B" used to boot, but after inserting "A" into internal slot only "A" boots. Maybe grub needs to be reconfigured each time when switching cards? Perhaps group memberships need tweaking because the only way I can access "B" on USB when "A" is OS is by renaming "B's" group membership
jeffschips avatar
cn flag
I think if I can have two boot up options in grub that stay persistent even if one of the cards is not present that could be a solution. Thoughts?
jeffschips avatar
cn flag
Update: trying to boot from the "B" usb-connected device with Ubuntu 20.04 lvm luks install on that sd card, drops the display into initramfs. Suggestions?
Nmath avatar
ng flag
Ubuntu is installed to both? There are two different operating systems? This scenario still makes absolutely no sense to me. Again, the abstraction layer is confusing. I don't understand what you want to do or why you need to do it. What task necessitates doing this?
jeffschips avatar
cn flag
One lvm luks encrypted ssd boots fine, the other lvm luks encrypted ssd with identical 20.04 OS on USB is accessible on this scenario (gparted, decrypt USB attached device). Reverse everything. Nothing boots, drops to grub, despite the SSD that was on the dongle (in first sentence, above, accessiable) has a fully operational OS that 1) was accessible in first scenario and 2) used to boot fine on this laptop. As far as abstraction is concerned I don't understand what you mean. I can't make it any clearer. I'm here to find solutions with questions from others with more experience. thanks.
jeffschips avatar
cn flag
I fail to see how my initial comments are unclear. I stated: "B" has a fully functional Ubuntu 20.04 system. That answers your question if both have Ubuntu on them since I also stated in the original post "I have one lvm luks encrypted ssd let's call it "A" and it is the main drive inside the laptop, and one lvm luks encrypted ssd on USB let's call it "B". I also stated in my second post the "other lvm luks encrypted ssd with identical 20.04 OS" So, yes, both have Ubuntu. I fail to see how that is not clear.
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cn flag

SOLVED: with help from the knowledgeable folks at linuxquestions.org, who pointed me to a very useful StackExchange solution: so indeed, all roads do lead to StackExchange.

https://unix.stackexchange.com/questions/445652/how-to-mount-and-de-encrypt-a-luks-encrypted-partition-to-recover-files

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