Re: Does grub have to write to the boot device to boot a system?

[walt]

Paul Albrecht wrote:
> Hi,
>
> A question: Does grub have to write to the boot device to boot a system?
> If not, is there an option to inhibit grub from writing to the boot
> device?

Well, by definition a machine boots from the boot device, but the boot
device doesn't need to be a hard disk if you want to avoid writing to
it.  I have a USB stick and a floppy disk with grub installed that I
keep around for booting emergencies.

If I knew your motivation for asking perhaps I could give you a better
answer.

Something must load grub into memory and start it running.  That's what
the first sector on the boot device does after the BIOS loads it.  What
else did you have in mind that could do the same job?