[ubuntu] New install of 16.04 boots to grub rescue

Years ago grub would not boot from any drive over about 650GB. Supposedly fixed.

But I still suggest that ESP and/or bios_grub be at begiing of all new drives. And if drive may later be used on an UEFI system, include ESP now as not large compared to drive size and difficult to add at begiing of drive later. UEFI recommended ESP be first, but even Windows makes it second or third partition, but still near begiing of drive.

I always partition with ESP, FAT32 with boot flag and 300 to 500MB, bios_grub unformatted 1 or 2MB, / (root) at 25GB or so, unless server then maybe more, and rest of drive as either /home and/or /mnt/data partition(s). I typically have several / (root) partition created as soon as I format drive or leave lots unallocated for future / partitions.

If you have 4GB or more of RAM, then just make swap 2GB, unless hibeating which is not really recommended anyway. My 4GB RAM system never used swap, but I do not load lots of apps at once, nor run video editing software. Many with larger RAM do not have swap, but I suggest some.