Mikkel, one pure kubuntu on usb, no disk reordering. I believe this is kubuntu 6.06 dapper, but done via debootstrap methods, which i just followed recipe found on web in dec 2006. It was first working on scsi, but then copied to usb I had to revive it, bc my fc5copy files were in top dir on usb. I redid the kubu debootstrap on usb; first set up on usb on dec22 2006 first mv'd out the fc5copy files to /mvfc5 2nd mv'd back kubu debootstrap files into top dir of usb this booted fine, so my mv out and mv back no problems, and kubuntu is on sdc, no reordering of disks. This may well not be what you wanted bc of the special debootstrap stuff but it is a case that is "pure" kubuntu, on sdc1, no reordering (I also currently have kubuntu 6.06.1 LTS from Install/live CD, which I somehow managed to install on scsi, in sdb5, also in dec 2006 --it is an install, i am certainly not booting off of CD. It still boots from scsi sdb5. I was hoping to get this booting on usb, but so far it is failing, in part bc of some glitches in my backup tools.) here is data showing debootstrap version usb booting on sdc1 root@kubu:/# uname -a Linux kubu 2.6.15-26-386 #1 PREEMPT Thu Aug 3 02:52:00 UTC 2006 i686 GNU/Linux root@kubu:/# I believe this kubuntu 6.06 dapper root@kubu:/mnt# df -kh Filesystem Size Used Avail Use% Mounted on /dev/sdc1 233G 14G 220G 6% / varrun 1014M 40K 1014M 1% /var/run varlock 1014M 4.0K 1014M 1% /var/lock udev 1014M 180K 1014M 1% /dev devshm 1014M 0 1014M 0% /dev/shm /dev/sda1 21G 6.5G 13G 34% /fc5hold tmpfs 1014M 0 1014M 0% /dev/shm /dev/sdb1 99M 23M 72M 24% /mnt/sdb1 root@kubu:/mnt# root@kubu:/# cat /proc/partitions major minor #blocks name 8 0 35843686 sda 8 1 21494938 sda1 8 2 3911827 sda2 8 3 10434217 sda3 8 16 35843686 sdb 8 17 104391 sdb1 8 18 2048287 sdb2 8 19 104422 sdb3 8 20 1 sdb4 8 21 8193118 sdb5 8 22 8193118 sdb6 8 23 17197551 sdb7 8 32 244198584 sdc 8 33 244196001 sdc1 253 0 21494938 dm-0 253 1 3911827 dm-1 253 2 10434217 dm-2 253 3 104391 dm-3 253 4 2048287 dm-4 253 5 104422 dm-5 253 6 8193118 dm-6 253 7 8193118 dm-7 253 8 17197551 dm-8 253 9 244196001 dm-9 cat /etc/fstab /dev/sdc1 / reiserfs defaults 0 0 /dev/sda1 /fc5hold ext3 defaults 1 2 devpts /dev/pts devpts gid=5,mode=620 0 0 tmpfs /dev/shm tmpfs defaults 0 0 proc /proc proc defaults 0 0 sysfs /sys sysfs defaults 0 0 /dev/sda2 swap swap defaults 0 0 /dev/cdrom /mnt/cdrom udf,iso9660 noauto,owner,kudzu,ro 0 0 from grub.conf : title kubuntu dapper usb debootstrap ### root (hd0,0) #### pick up kernel,initrd from sda1,works root (hd1,0) ### sdb1, only kubufiles cp from kubuinstall,works ### root (hd2,0) ### doesnt work kernel /boot/vmlinuz-2.6.15-26-386 ro root=/dev/sdc1 initrd /boot/initrd.img-2.6.15-26-386 So, is this useful as proof that kubuntu does not reorder usb to sda? or is this debootstrap business too tricky to say anything about a pure standard install? Jack