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    Linux on external hard drive

    Discussion in 'Linux Compatibility and Software' started by Oldman, May 15, 2008.

  1. Oldman

    Oldman Notebook Evangelist

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    I'm going to install Ubunty on external HD via express card. This is going to be my first encounter with new OS and I'd gladly appreciate any advice that helps me to understand what and how I'm going to do and develop strategy.
    Express card and external HD are on the way

    Thanks everybody
     
    Oldman, May 15, 2008
    #1
  2. Ayle

    Ayle Trailblazer

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    Express Card?
     
    Ayle, May 15, 2008
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  3. hehe299792458

    hehe299792458 Notebook Deity

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    Most computers can't boot from expresscards.
     
    hehe299792458, May 15, 2008
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  4. Oldman

    Oldman Notebook Evangelist

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    Why not?
    Please explain
     
    Oldman, May 15, 2008
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  5. Oldman

    Oldman Notebook Evangelist

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    I do not want to partition HD for Ubunty.
    I want Ubunty to be separate, I do not need it - I've disconnect external HD
     
    Oldman, May 15, 2008
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  6. Thomas

    Thomas McLovin

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    No laptop or desktop can boot from express card...
    They can however, boot from USB, which I encourage you to try ;)
     
    Thomas, May 16, 2008
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  7. Icewalker

    Icewalker Notebook Consultant

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    Oldman, just go in your BIOS and see if it lets you boot from Express Card. If it's not listed as a boot device option, you can't boot from it.

    HOWEVER, even if you can't boot from Express Card, I guess you could do this:

    1. put GRUB in your primary drive's MBR (that's already tampering with your Vista a little ;))
    2. configure GRUB so it loads Windows, and
    3. configure GRUB so it loads Linux too, from Express Card.

    That way, the BIOS doesn't have to support booting from Express Card. GRUB just has to recognize it. Haven't tried this method, but I guess it's doable.

    But, note that those steps are pretty advanced stuff. You could render your system unbootable pretty easily, if you don't know what you're doing. It's all fixable of course, but do you need to go through this trouble? If you want to try out Linux, just download a Ubuntu Live CD, that way you have zero risk of breaking stuff.
     
    Icewalker, May 16, 2008
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  8. Oldman

    Oldman Notebook Evangelist

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    Yes, I want to avoid trouble with Vista.
    If it is not so difficult, can you please explain me how to run Ubunty from Life CD? Do I need any other hardware else to add to run this Life CD? How does it work?
    Thank you for response
     
    Oldman, May 16, 2008
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  9. Oldman

    Oldman Notebook Evangelist

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    Thomas, I have brand new system with T9100, 3Gb of RAM and dedicated GPU.
    Is it enough to run Ubunty via USB?

    To say you frankly, I hoped to use express card in conjunction with Ubunty CD on tray (CD might recognize express card and initialize boot from external HD).
     
    Oldman, May 16, 2008
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  10. Icewalker

    Icewalker Notebook Consultant

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    Oldman, running Ubuntu from Live CD is super easy. you don't need anything but a CD/DVD drive '-)

    Just download the Live CD, insert it in the drive, and make sure your BIOS boots CD-ROM first, and not hard drive, or you'll be booting Vista.
     
    Icewalker, May 16, 2008
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  11. Patrick

    Patrick Formerly beat spamers with stiks

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    I do believe that you are able to boot from an expresscard, as most of them are connecting through usb.
     
    Patrick, May 16, 2008
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  12. Oldman

    Oldman Notebook Evangelist

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    Yes, Icewalker, I understand it now.
    One more question:
    Probably I need a space somewhere to save files I will make using software bundled with LifeCD. Can I use USB pen drive for this?
     
    Oldman, May 16, 2008
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  13. Icewalker

    Icewalker Notebook Consultant

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    Sure. You can use any external or internal device Ubuntu will recognize, which is pretty much anything these days. Any USB pen, or external drive should do.
     
    Icewalker, May 16, 2008
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  14. jisaac

    jisaac Notebook Deity

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    you can boot from an expresscard if your laptop supports booting from it. the only way to really know is to plug in the drive and see if it appears in the hd preference in the bios. I am actually using an expresscard to cf adapter with a lexar 4gb 300x compact flash card to boot ubuntu, it works perfectly, and best of all it is portable
     
    jisaac, May 16, 2008
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  15. Oldman

    Oldman Notebook Evangelist

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    You gave me an idea.
    I tend to think now that they hooked up DVD and CF slot on MoBo IDE and express card slot seats on PCI bus
    If this is true (and I'll check it out tonight) it is possible to connect external drive via CF slot OR may be use directly CF flash card as a hard drive.
    I have to check BIOS whether CF slot is bootable
     
    Oldman, May 16, 2008
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  16. jisaac

    jisaac Notebook Deity

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    lol i wish my laptop had a inbuilt cf slot. my expresscard slot uses a usb rather than a pci express interface which is slower but still fine for use. If you intend to use a any external drive it will be quite hard to install the boot loader on it, you'd end up having to install it on the internal drive which then overwrites the mbr, and makes your computer unbootable unless your removable drive is plugged in. Another idea is to use a cf to ide internal adapter. This will give u speeds that the cf manufacturers actually state.
     
    jisaac, May 16, 2008
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  17. Oldman

    Oldman Notebook Evangelist

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    I own F8Sn that comes with Express card slot and card reader. One of them suppose to be IDE and thus bootable. I have to figure out which one
    If I have luck and it is possible to boot machine from one of them, I can disable internal HD (disconnect from DC line) and try to make clean Ubuntu install
     
    Oldman, May 16, 2008
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