this post was submitted on 23 Jul 2025
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Linux is a family of open source Unix-like operating systems based on the Linux kernel, an operating system kernel first released on September 17, 1991 by Linus Torvalds. Linux is typically packaged in a Linux distribution (or distro for short).
Distributions include the Linux kernel and supporting system software and libraries, many of which are provided by the GNU Project. Many Linux distributions use the word "Linux" in their name, but the Free Software Foundation uses the name GNU/Linux to emphasize the importance of GNU software, causing some controversy.
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There's not many things that are happening at boot: the UEFI Boot Manager points to GRUB which boots your system.
It's almost certainly one of them. The Boot Manager's entries can be fixed with efibootmgr
Most likely you'll also have an issue after it boots because of the swap from being on /dev/sda to /dev/nvme0n1. Your home directory or swap file from the USB drive probably in the fstab like:
Now /dev/sda doesn't exist anymore, because you're on an NVME drive. Now those directories will be at /dev/nvme0n1p3 and /dev/nvme0n1p4. You'll have to edit fstab manually to fix this. If fstab is using UUIDs then it'll work as-is since the partition UUIDs would have been part of the image.
e:
Unless you did
Then you're probably fine.
Wait wait, I just double checked.
Apparently my 128GB is a SATA M2.
Fuck I'm still learning this new hardware. 🤦♂️
In almost all cases it'll be the same situation. The boot manager is pointing the wrong way. You added the entry to the 100GB drive when you (or whatever Mint uses to install) ran grub-install. You also have an existing entry for the OS on the 128GB drive.
The only way it would have worked seamlessly is if you plugged the 128GB drive into the same connection that the 100GB drive was on AND both the original OS and Mint both use grub AND install it in the same location.
It's an easy fix once you know what to look for (just run efibootmgr --unicode and you'll see the boot entries).
I hear ya there, but..
I be getting really confused when one config boots from /dev/sda, but when I have my backup drive attached (not the boot device), it boots from /dev/sdb
Hell I dunno, I probably confused the hell out of my laptop plus myself with my cutout mod reconfiguration, but it's happy to boot from almost anything now.
Almost...
Hey, at least I know how to restore to my previous state from backup via dd 👍
You probably just have multiple boot entries and some are higher priority, so if you plug in a drive it's boot config is higher in the boot order and since it is available it'll boot that.
Just run
You can see all of the entries and their boot order.