Find the answer to your Linux question:
Results 1 to 8 of 8
I have an external 120gb hard drive, with windows XP currently installed on my 30gb internal hard drive. Some of the files i have stored on external hard drive are ...
Enjoy an ad free experience by logging in. Not a member yet? Register.
  1. 07-08-2009 #1
    Yiati
    Yiati is offline
    Just Joined!
    Join Date
    Mar 2009
    Posts
    2

    Installing on partitioned External Hard drive

    I have an external 120gb hard drive, with windows XP currently installed on my 30gb internal hard drive. Some of the files i have stored on external hard drive are meant for my XP on the internal hard drive.

    What i want to know is if I could partition my external hard drive 60gb/60gb so that i can still keep 60gb for storage for my internal hard drive, and put Linux on the other 60gb.
    Reply With Quote Reply With Quote
  2. 07-08-2009 #2
    KingX
    KingX is offline
    Just Joined!
    Join Date
    May 2006
    Location
    San Jose, CA
    Posts
    67
    You should be able to do it. But before you proceed with the partitioning back up the files on the external drive.. just to be on the safe side. Then you won't have to worry if you mess up
    Reply With Quote Reply With Quote
  3. 07-08-2009 #3
    devils casper
    devils casper is offline
    Super Moderator devils casper's Avatar
    Join Date
    Jun 2006
    Location
    Chandigarh, India
    Posts
    24,722
    Hi and Welcome !

    Make sure to disable Internal Disk in BIOS or unplug it before starting installation. If you won't do that, Linux installer will install Boot Loader ( GRUB ) in internal disk and you won't be able to boot up either OS without plugging in External Disk.
    It is amazing what you can accomplish if you do not care who gets the credit.
    New Users: Read This First
    Reply With Quote Reply With Quote
  4. 07-08-2009 #4
    vickey_20
    vickey_20 is offline
    Linux User vickey_20's Avatar
    Join Date
    Mar 2009
    Location
    Mumbai, India
    Posts
    493
    But I think that we can configure the boot loader on either disk
    We can select to install the boot loader on the external disk.
    Only if I could understand the man pages
    Registered Linux user #492640
    OS: RHEL4,5 ,RH 9,Ubuntu
    Reply With Quote Reply With Quote
  5. 07-08-2009 #5
    devils casper
    devils casper is offline
    Super Moderator devils casper's Avatar
    Join Date
    Jun 2006
    Location
    Chandigarh, India
    Posts
    24,722
    Quote Originally Posted by vickey_20 View Post
    But I think that we can configure the boot loader on either disk
    We can select to install the boot loader on the external disk.
    Even that doesn't work in a few machines. Some Installers use actual Device names assigned to partitions instead of UUID and this leads to problems later on.
    If you set External Disk as First Boot Device, device name will change for all the partitions of Internal disk.
    It is amazing what you can accomplish if you do not care who gets the credit.
    New Users: Read This First
    Reply With Quote Reply With Quote
  6. 07-08-2009 #6
    vickey_20
    vickey_20 is offline
    Linux User vickey_20's Avatar
    Join Date
    Mar 2009
    Location
    Mumbai, India
    Posts
    493
    Quote Originally Posted by devils casper View Post
    .
    If you set External Disk as First Boot Device, device name will change for all the partitions of Internal disk.
    Can you please elaborate what exactly does it mean.
    Only if I could understand the man pages
    Registered Linux user #492640
    OS: RHEL4,5 ,RH 9,Ubuntu
    Reply With Quote Reply With Quote
  7. 07-08-2009 #7
    devils casper
    devils casper is offline
    Super Moderator devils casper's Avatar
    Join Date
    Jun 2006
    Location
    Chandigarh, India
    Posts
    24,722
    Boot up from LiveCD of any Linux distro and execute fdisk -l command. Note down device names ( /dev/sda or sdb ) assigned to internal and exeternal disk.

    Boot up from External Disk and execute fdisk command again. Check if device names are same now.
    Device names will be changed and coz of that GRUB will not work.
    It is amazing what you can accomplish if you do not care who gets the credit.
    New Users: Read This First
    Reply With Quote Reply With Quote
  8. 07-08-2009 #8
    vickey_20
    vickey_20 is offline
    Linux User vickey_20's Avatar
    Join Date
    Mar 2009
    Location
    Mumbai, India
    Posts
    493
    it is confusing
    the only thing I have understood is that , the HDD on which linux was installed has to be connected to the PC when it starts as GRUB read the second stage from the /boot partition on the HDD. So If I have linux installed on my external HDD and GRUB installed on internal HDD then the system will not boot till the time the external HDD is attached to PC
    Only if I could understand the man pages
    Registered Linux user #492640
    OS: RHEL4,5 ,RH 9,Ubuntu
    Reply With Quote Reply With Quote
« Previous Thread | Next Thread »

Posting Permissions

  • You may not post new threads
  • You may not post replies
  • You may not post attachments
  • You may not edit your posts
  •  

Forum Rules