Linux from a USB external HDD?

ALLI

ALLI

ALLI

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Not wanting to mess up my Vista setup, I was wondering if I could install a version of Linux onto a USB external drive, and if I could boot to this instead?

Just going to be browsing and folding@home with it so just a bog standard distro. Suggestions??
 
Have found a Linux I can run off a USB key and either windowed or full screen in Vista. Want the info for that??
 
Im really after a full distro (preferably Ubuntu) that can be run off a portable drive-Im sure there must be a way, just not sure how!
 
I'm actually running the pendrive linux, that was what I was going to suggest.

Can't seem to get it to pick up network settings. Still playing tho.
 
Really helpful, cheers. Do I need to disconnect the SATA cable to my Windows HDD every time I want to use Ubuntu, or can I just set boot from USB as first option in BIOS and unplug the external drive when I want to use Windows (which is on the SATA drive)?

Also, this suggests letting Ubuntu format the entire USB drive. If I would rather partition it, is this possible?
 
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manic111 said:
Really helpful, cheers. Do I need to disconnect the SATA cable to my Windows HDD every time I want to use Ubuntu, or can I just set boot from USB as first option in BIOS and unplug the external drive when I want to use Windows (which is on the SATA drive)?
Click to expand...

Yeah you should just be able to set it to boot from USB. Most boards will boot from the first internal drive if they can't see a USB drive.
 
You may have missed my edit-if you know the answer that would be greatly helpful!

"Also, this suggests letting Ubuntu format the entire USB drive. If I would rather partition it, is this possible?"
 
Ideally not-it is a 320GB drive which firstly seems like overkill for Ubuntu which I wont be running games off, and secondly I would like to keep 80GB or so as a "backup drive" for my Windows files. I know it would just be easier to buy a second external HDD, but I am a very poor student that is trying to save money for a skiing holiday!
 
In that case you can partition it manually. It's a bit trickier, but Ubuntu has a pretty straight forward manual partitioning tool. You'll need to set a /boot, /, /home, and a swap partition, but it should be simple enough.

And format the / and the /home partitions in the ext3 filesystem.
 
Why can I not just partition it in the Ubuntu partitioning programme that comes up as an option when you install it? I understand very little of what you just said!!!
 
I was talking about using Ubuntus partitioning tool. You'll be given three options -

- use the whole disk (wipes anything thats currently on the disk)
- use the largest free space on the disk
- manually edit the partition table

If you want to create a partition on an empty drive then you'll need the last option to set these-

/boot - It's where the Grub bootloader is installed. you can leave the size on default

/ - Think of it as the Windows and Program Files folder. How big you make it depends on how much you intend to install. 10-15gb should be more than plenty unless you're intending to use Ubuntu 24/7. Format in the ext3 filesystem.

/home - This is like your My Documents. It needs to be big enough to hold anything that you download and keep on the drive. Again format in the ext3 filesystem.

Swap - This is your virtual memory/swap file. You can set it to 2gb since you've plenty of space.


Also have a look at the Ubuntu wiki. It's a great source of information.
 
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Oh right, i gotcha! Can I not just use the largest free space? The disk is not currently empty, it has a few songs and photos on it-think it is about 30GB full. Or is it easier and safer to do it manually?
 
I'm not sure if you can use the largest free space on a single partition disk. But your drive is probably formatted in NTFS for use with Windows. Linux won't install to that without first formatting it to a linux filesystem (such as ext3). And if it formats it then you'll lose the data that's currently on it.

I would shrink the current partition by whatever size you need for Ubuntu (and rem that you need space for the 4 partitions that Ubuntu needs). You can then create the 4 Ubuntu partitions that the installer will guide you through.

Eg- If you want a total of 50gb for Ubuntu, then shrink your current NTFS partition by 50gb. That will leave you with an empty partition for Ubuntu.
 
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It is formatted in FAT32.

I cant work out how to shrink the current partition, it is greyed out in the disk management options. Would it be easier if I were to format the disk and install Ubuntu on it, then shrink Ubuntu's partitions and create a new one for my backed up data which I can then copy back across from my SATA drive?
 
Yeah that would certainly work. You can then use the whole disk option and it will fly through the installer.

But for the experience, and after you have backed up the data, I would still try the manual option anyway to see if you can get it to work. It's not as daunting as it seems, and it will let you see how it works.
 
Awesome, I will do that. How easy will it be afterwards to shrink those partitions (probably my /home partition) and format it back to FAT32?
 
It's very simple using GParted from within Ubuntu. Or you can download GParted from here and burn it to CD (probably best doing from within Windows with ImgBurn). It's bootable and lets you adjust the partitions without needing to be in Ubuntu or windows.
 
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