Best Distro for External Drive

[adam_ec]

I'm hoping to do something similar. I have three computers - two in different work places and one at home. The one at home already has Ubuntu on it on an internal SATA drive.

I have an external sata port (note: not e-sata) on all three machines. What I want to do is be able to plug in my external sata drive (it was configured as a data only drive before) with a full Linux distro on it and for it to be the first boot option on my home machine. But then, if I haven't connected the external drive I want the internal to boot up instead. Is this possible with standard Grub?

Also, what is the driver situation like in this case? My home computer has Intel 945 everything (integrated chipset). My main work machine is Intel G33 with an Nvidia graphics card and my other one is VIA PM800 integrated chipset. Will the distro cope with shifting hardware differences like this? I was hoping to use Debian and didn't know if I installed all the drivers whether it would just select the right drivers at boot up?

[devils casper]

I'm hoping to do something similar. I have three computers - two in different work places and one at home. The one at home already has Ubuntu on it on an internal SATA drive.

I have an external sata port (note: not e-sata) on all three machines. What I want to do is be able to plug in my external sata drive (it was configured as a data only drive before) with a full Linux distro on it and for it to be the first boot option on my home machine. But then, if I haven't connected the external drive I want the internal to boot up instead. Is this possible with standard Grub?

Hi and Welcome !

Follow instructions given in post #4 and you are good to go.

Also, what is the driver situation like in this case? My home computer has Intel 945 everything (integrated chipset). My main work machine is Intel G33 with an Nvidia graphics card and my other one is VIA PM800 integrated chipset. Will the distro cope with shifting hardware differences like this? I was hoping to use Debian and didn't know if I installed all the drivers whether it would just select the right drivers at boot up?

Display driver will create problem. You have to edit xorg.conf file whenever you switch machine Or use "vesa" driver. It works fine with almost all Graphics Card but it doesn't support 3D effects.