Full Install to USB Drive: Four Options

[Buenozy]

Good morning to everyone who will read this post, my name is Fernando, I'm from Brazil, beginner in linux, I decided to install Mint to train and learn, I have a PC Bios Legacy and a Note UEFI, I installed Mint on an external HD and I was having trouble using both, I never participated in any forum but to thank pbear's help I made this registration, I thank you all immensely who share their knowledge here, sorry for mistakes in English but I'm using the translator lol

Even though I have never used linux I managed to follow the step by step and succeed, I used a partitioned 1tb Samsung M3 HD, leaving 50gb to use in the tutorial and the rest I use as storage Backup between Windows and Linux. Thank you again.

[pbear]

Hope you get this.

Sorry, only just now. If you're still interested in pursuing this, please open a thread in the Installation forum. FWIW, I've not had any trouble with the hybrid method in LM20, but maybe you'd have better luck with Reverse Hybrid.

[JerryF]

Hope you get this.

Sorry, only just now. If you're still interested in pursuing this, please open a thread in the Installation forum. FWIW, I've not had any trouble with the hybrid method in LM20, but maybe you'd have better luck with Reverse Hybrid.

pbear, thanks so much for the offer. I really appreciate it.

I've been using mkusb and it suits my needs.

Hope you're doing well!

[AndyMH]

If you're still interested in pursuing this, please open a thread in the Installation forum.

After nine months absence, you're back! Glad to see you

[pbear]

Glad to see you

Likewise. Probably won't be as active as in the past (other duties), but will pitch in where I can.

[pbear]

Got a chance today to test whether the new LTS version of Ubuntu, 22.04, still has the installer bug. There was talk last year of moving to a new installer. Alas, nothing came of it. Still using the old Ubiquity installer and still blows up the internal boot loaders if installing to USB drive in UEFI. Presumably LM21 will also. Personally, I think it's outrageous.

[senjoz]

Welcome back to the Linux Mint Forums, pbear. I enjoyed a lot of your past contribution.

After nine months absence, you're back! Glad to see you

I believe he was absent from October 2020. His last post was this.

Regards, Jože

[deepakdeshp]

Welcome back to the Linux Mint Forums,

[wpshooter]

Got a chance today to test whether the new LTS version of Ubuntu, 22.04, still has the installer bug. There was talk last year of moving to a new installer. Alas, nothing came of it. Still using the old Ubiquity installer and still blows up the internal boot loaders if installing to USB drive in UEFI. Presumably LM21 will also. Personally, I think it's outrageous.

Yes, please let me adopt your description "outrageous".

Have to read all of this (and try to make heads or tails of all of it) just to install an operating system.
Seems to me someone needs to go WAY BACK to the drawing board !!!

Thank you for "outrageous".

[StainlessS]

Thanks pbear for an interesting tutorial.
[I aint read it all, but have taken PDF of pages for later when I have some time].

I thought I would make a suggestion for alternative storage solution, Flash drive OK, Nvme in external caddy great;
external HD or SSD in caddy great; but best for home base use (for me) is Hard Drive Dock, fantabulous.

I use a Fidico USB 3.1 dock from Amazon (there are several models on the UK site), the one I have is dual bay,
each supporting 2.5" or 3.5" Sata drives, with two additional USB 3.1 ports for external devices + 1 USB port which is POWER
only (for charge, not for media device, I thought it supported media device too, but does not, I dont really use this port).
I also have 3 other multibay HD docks, two of which also support IDE drives (2.5" & 3.5").
(3.5" IDE tend to be a bit fiddly as there is no standard hardware spec for distance between power and data plugs, needs user to mess with a slider thingy).

I acquired 40 or so low capacity hard drives (20GB, 60GB, 80GB, 120GB) drives from CEX in UK (2nd hand I.T. supplier) as external XBox360
drives, and just dismantled and chucked away the cases. [from £0.50 for 20GB drives].
These drives can be used for eg testing multiple Linux OS, I have/had for instance Cinnamon Mint, LMDE, Fedora, Kali, DragonOS(SDR, Software Defined Radio focussed distro).

Anyways, I thought I'de chuck the idea out there to see if it sounds good to anybody.

I currently am not able to use the Fidico dock (attached to my No1 machine), with any Ubuntu based distro, something got broke since
I updated HP firmware back in October. I will at some point try to find a fix, but for now I have other things demanding my attention.
I have posted on the HP firmware update induced problem for Ubuntu based distros here on-site,
“Reset System” loop on my hp pc:- viewtopic.php?t=389102

Don't know if related, but sounds VERY like a problem that I have.
I usually have had mint booting from external hard drive in USB 3.1 HD dock, along with other linux distros, eg Kali and LMDE, and DragonOS.
Some time ago, I updated my HP firmware and existing drive since then has not been bootable, "Reset System" or "System Reset" message
on black screen without grub or anything, and just boot loops every 10 or 15 seconds.

Since then, I've reinstalled the system with new 21.1, and same thing, boot loop.

This happened maybe about September, I've been hoping that someone else would report this and it would be fixed, and I was not actually
in any great rush, so I dont actually remember 100%, but,
I think (pretty damn sure) same problem occurs with DragonOS (a Software Defined Radio focused distro) after the HP firmware update.
But, Kali still works OK without reset, and I believe that LMDE also worked (I dont have a copy on disk at the moment).

DragonOS is also Ubuntu based (FAILS), whereas LMDE and Kali are both Debian based and dont fail.

Something that HP did in new firmware, clearly kills Ubuntu based distros, but NOT Debian based.
EDIT: And I note that your thread is also about a HP machine.
Did you update firmware recently ???
Mine that fails is an HP OMEN 880-112na (i7-8700, 2018) tower [problem only occurs on USB Hard drive, works fine on internal nvme SSD].

Update: Turns out I can boot from an EFI file on the boot menu. So I did that, selected the option that had ‘USB’ in it, then EFI, then ubuntu and ‘shimx64.efi’. Now I can boot into linux mint without any problems.
Top

Dont thnk my machine can boot from an EFI file (I have done that before on other machines, have not noticed it as possibility on my Omen [EDIT: I'm not currently on the OMEN)

EDIT: And with that HP firmware update, they also prevent rolling back to a previous firmware
Given reason for firmware update was something like "Security fix".

Here is the Firmware update page for the bugged/bug inducing, update. [click for zoom]

Also, for UK users, Lidl mushroom containers make great storage solution for 2.5" and 3.5" drives (they sell different sized containers, long skinny for 2.5" drives, and big fat family sized for 3.5" drives).
EDIT: An old 128GB or thereabouts Sata SSD makes for a great HD dock OS drive, Crucial BX5000 1TB sata (for about £60.00 I think) even better,
you can use 2.5"/3.5" drives just like extra big (for decent label) bootable SD drives.
EDIT: BX5000 currently £56.00 (reduced) on Amazon.co.uk. [I bought about 7 or 8 of these, they keep getting cheaper ].
EDIT: For install to external drive, I like to disable all other drives (dont forget nvme) in firmware before install.
In above linked post, I did not mention that it boots external USB [EDIT: Live installer] FlashDrive fine, just external USB dock [EDIT: Ubuntu based] that fails.
I suppose that the fact the dock supports up to two 16TB drives + 2 external USB drives, might also be a factor in the boot failure.

EDIT: My Fideco Dock [currently £33 amazon], now says supports two 18TB drives, perhaps they only tested previously with 16TB. [ClickMe]

Thats a "dust flap" on front bay, it does fold down and supports two 2.5"/3.5" drives.
My ONLY ISSUE with the Fideco drive is the 4 indicator LED's are hard to see, I stuck some sticky half sphere lens thingies [from Wilko, I think] on them and they are a little easier to see without standing up and looking down on the dock.
EDIT: Yes, from Wilko, " Wilko Small Clear Bumper Stops 40 Pack £2.50"

[Friese]

Hi,

is there a reason why they don't fix the bug over the years? Meanwhile we have Linux Mint 21.1 Vera.

Regards

[abettik]

Thank you Pbear for this detailed method. I'm kind of a newbie on Linux but I was able to successfully install Mint on a USB drive. My question might sound stupid but I wouldn't want to mess things up at this stage. Can I let mint Update or Upgrade itself from this USB install?

Thanks again!

André

[AndyMH]

pbear hasn't been on the forum for a while, but yes you can let mint update the install, nothing bad will happen.