[Add] Blog post describing steps to recover GRUB (#20)

* [ADD] Adding blog post describing steps to restore broken GRUB.

Author: ultimatecoder

_posts/2017-08-28-how_to_repair_a_broken_grub_in_ubuntu.md

@@ -0,0 +1,154 @@
+---
+layout: post
+title: "How to repair a broken GRUB in Ubuntu?"
+date: "2017-08-28 13:35:42 +0530"
+tag:
+  - Ubuntu
+  - GRUB
+  - How-to
+excerpt: Steps to restore your GRUB if you have formatted boot partition mistakenly
+---
+
+![How to repair a broken GRUB]({{
+site.url}}/assets/images/how_to_fix_broken_grub/grub_title.png)
+
+## Background story
+
+Yesterday, I was having some free time after lunch. I decided to complete a long
+term plan of checking the compatibility of few [Freedom Operating
+Systems][freedom] with my workstation. From [this list][freedom_oses], I decided
+to check [Trisquel][trisquel] OS first.  [Trisquel][trisquel] is freedom clone
+of world-famous OS Ubuntu. The simplest option was to prepare a live USB drive
+and boot the [Trisquel][trisquel] from it. I inserted the USB drive and
+instructed the [Gparted][gparted] to format it. Bang!  That simple step ruined
+my entire Sunday evening. Instead of formatting my USB drive, I mistakenly
+formatted the boot partition! Without putting any extra measures, I formatted my
+root partition which is also a type [FAT][fat]. I was lucky enough to identify
+that I have formatted the partition from my SSD and not the USB drive. After
+taking advice from the people of [##linux][linux_irc_channel] I found, I will
+not be able to re-boot because the [GRUB][GRUB] is lost. In this post, I will
+describe the steps I followed to restore the [GRUB][GRUB].
+
+
+## Procedure of restoring the GRUB
+
+
+You can restore your [GRUB][GRUB] using three methods:
+
+* Using GUI utility [“Boot-repair”][boot_repair]. This is the simplest step to
+follow first.  Unfortunately, I was not able to fix my [GRUB][GRUB] using this
+method.
+
+* Boot from a live operating system, mount the infected boot partition and
+perform the steps of restoring the [GRUB][GRUB]. Since I identified the problem at an
+early stage, I didn’t restart my system until I was sure that nothing is
+broken.
+
+* Last is to run the steps of restoring the [GRUB][GRUB] from the command line
+if you haven’t reboot your system after formatting the boot partition. I will
+describe the steps of restoring your [GRUB][GRUB] using this method in this
+post.
+
+If you had rebooted and are unable to start the system then I will request to
+follow the steps described at [How to geek][how_to_geek] post rather than
+continuing here. If you are using Legacy BIOS rather than UEFI type then this
+post might not work for you. To identify which type your system has booted with,
+[follow this steps][bios_or_uefi].
+
+## So let’s start!
+
+* **Identify the type of your boot partition:** You can use GUI utilities like
+[GParted][gparted] or any other of your choice. The boot partition is the very
+first partition of the drive you are using for booting your operating system.
+
+  ![Identify boot partition using gparted]({{
+  site.url}}/assets/images/how_to_fix_broken_grub/gparted_identification_parition.png)
+
+  In my case, it is `/dev/sda1`. This partition should be either [FAT32][fat32]
+  or [FAT16][fat16].  If it is anything other than that you should format it to
+  [FAT][fat] version of your choice.
+
+* **Assert `/boot/efi` is mounted:** Run below command at your terminal.
+
+  ``` sudo mount /boot/efi ```
+
+  Sample output
+
+  ```
+  $sudo mount /boot/efi/
+  mount: /dev/sda1 is already mounted or /boot/efi busy
+         /dev/sda1 is already mounted on /boot/efi
+  ```
+  If it is mounted, it will throw a warning indicating that the partition is
+  already mounted. If it isn’t mounted, then the prompt will come back without
+  any warning message.
+
+* **Next, restore and update the [GRUB][GRUB]:** Run below command at your terminal.
+
+  ``` sudo grub-install && update-grub ```
+
+  Sample output
+  ```
+  $ sudo grub-install && update-grub
+  Installing for x86_64-efi platform.
+  Installation finished. No error reported.
+  ```
+
+  If there is any error, I will advise to not move further and try other
+  options I mentioned above for restoring your [GRUB][GRUB].
+
+* **Finally, replace the UUID of the formatted partition:** Find the **UUID** of
+your boot partition. Once you format the partition, the **UUID** of the
+partition is changed. You have to update the new **UUID** value at `/etc/fstab`
+file. Use below command to get the latest **UUID** of your boot partition.
+
+  ```sudo blkid /dev/sda1```
+
+  ![Identifying UUID of boot efi]({{
+  site.url}}/assets/images/how_to_fix_broken_grub/uuid_blkid_shell.png)
+
+  Copy the value of **UUID** which is between the double quotes.
+
+  Open the `/etc/fstab` file with your desired editor and update the value with
+  the existing **UUID** of `/dev/sda1`. I am doing this procedure using the
+  [vim][vim] editor.  You can choose any editor of your choice.
+
+  ```sudo vim /etc/fstab```
+
+  ![Updating the UUID to the etc fstab file]({{
+  site.url}}/assets/images/how_to_fix_broken_grub/vim_etc_fstab.png)
+
+  You will require the root privileges for writing to this file.
+
+We are done! Now when you will run `sudo ls -l /boot/efi`, you should able to
+identify the files beneath that directory. It is time to confirm by rebooting
+your system.
+
+## Vote of Thanks!
+
+I would like to thank [ioria][ioria] and [ducasse][ducasse], member of
+[#ubuntu][ubuntu_irc_channel] at Freenode, who invested a great amount of time
+to guide me in fixing this problem. [#ubutu][ubuntu_irc_channel] has great
+members who are always willing to help you.
+
+*Note: While mentioning the GRUB in this post, I actually mean the GRUB2.*
+
+
+###### Proofreaders: [Dhavan Vaidya](http://codingquark.com/), Pentode@##linux(Freenode), parsnip@#emacs (Freenode)
+
+[GRUB]: https://www.gnu.org/software/grub/
+[trisquel]: https://trisquel.info/
+[gparted]: http://gparted.org/
+[fat]: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File_Allocation_Table
+[fat32]: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File_Allocation_Table#FAT32
+[fat16]: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File_Allocation_Table#FAT16
+[linux_irc_channel]: https://freenode.linux.community/
+[boot_repair]: https://help.ubuntu.com/community/Boot-Repair
+[vim]: http://www.vim.org
+[ubuntu_irc_channel]: irc://irc.freenode.net/ubuntu
+[ioria]: https://launchpad.net/~di-iorio
+[ducasse]: https://launchpad.net/~ducasse
+[freedom_oses]: https://www.gnu.org/distros/free-distros.en.html
+[freedom]: https://www.gnu.org/philosophy/free-sw.en.html
+[how_to_geek]: https://www.howtogeek.com/114884/how-to-repair-grub2-when-ubuntu-wont-boot/
+[bios_or_uefi]: https://askubuntu.com/a/162896