Perform a dd backup on the main drive and ensure the backup isn't accessible for booting.
Perform a dd backup on the main drive and ensure the backup isn't accessible for booting.
I performed a complete backup of my root and home partitions onto a USB drive before the system upgrade. If I power on the computer while the USB is active, it boots from that drive. To avoid this, you should remove the /boot folder from the backup drive. This will ensure the correct installation path is used during the next boot.
Make sure your BIOS starts from the internal storage right away... Keep the device connected isn’t necessary. The goal is to protect your backup, not to rely on it being powered on.
The BIOS boot sequence remains unchanged; the primary SSD is listed first, while the USB drive isn't included in the order. The boot flag setting in GParted hasn't been adjusted. I decided to keep the drive active despite my usual preference, since I had recently moved other file systems there and then restarted overnight. It was an accidental oversight that took some time to catch and fix. Ideally, it would be better if this option wasn't available at all.