для предотвращения такой проблемы можно использовать UUID разделов
blkid
/dev/sdb1: UUID="9e032061-c207-4cfa-8310-a92235f20ce3" SEC_TYPE="ext2" TYPE="ext3"
kernel /boot/vmlinuz-2.6.18-6-amd64 root=/dev/disk/by-uuid/9e032061-c207-4cfa-8310-a92235f20ce3 ro vga=791
cat /etc/fstab
# /etc/fstab: static file system information.
#
#<file sys> <mount point> <type> <options> <dump> <pass>
UUID=9e032061-c207-4cfa-8310-a92235f20ce3 / ext3 rw,errors=remount-ro 0 1
...<skip>