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In the process of setting up an encrypted Windows partition along with a dual booting Ubuntu, I have had to install the GRUB bootloader onto a partition /dev/sda1 instead of the MBR. In this setup /dev/sda1 is a Dell recovery partition.

It actually works fine believe it or not. I have written basic pointers.

To a point. On the system I was testing this on, I ended up with GRUB installed on two partitions, sda1 and sda2. Is there a way to remove the GRUB blockfiles from one of these?

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You mean removing the grub boot sector so that it won't boot from it? It is just the first sector in your drive or partition.

Backup, be very cautious!

$ dd if=/dev/sda1 bs=512 count=1 of=sda1.bootsector.backup
$ dd if=/dev/zero of=/dev/sda1 bs=512 count=1
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  • Aha I think that's what I'm looking for. Am I right in thinking this should have no effect on the partition itself, as long as it is not windows (ie. Dell system recovery partition)?
    – Rqomey
    May 9, 2012 at 16:02
  • yes, filesystems should not be using the boot block in any event.
    – johnshen64
    May 9, 2012 at 16:14
  • +1 for recommending to back it up before doing anything with it. I've seen people in IRC say "oops" then fight with it for a while. Definitely easier to say dd if=/home/user/backups/sda1.boot.bkup of=/dev/sda1 bs=512 count=1 and have it fixed.
    – Rob
    May 9, 2012 at 16:35

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