Install Linux Mint 13 on external hard drive?

[Happy Fist]

My Sony Vaio hard drive is making a clicking noise when it starts up. I know from experience that it means the hard drive is dead. After I boot the Maya Live CD no hard drive can be found within the computer menu. How can I install and boot Linux Mint 13 from an external hard drive? I am a Korean expat and I know that if I go and have my Vaio hard drive repaired here than a new, specifc, internal hard drive will have have to be ordered in under my warranty. This takes a while. My Live CD can't seem to install anything from the Software manager either; I guess it is because of the faulty Vaio hard drive.

So how do I install and boot Linux Mint Maya from from an external hard drive? Thanks for any help you can provide.

[wayne128]

Pull out the internal 'faulty' drive.

Plug in external usb drive.
Boot from Linux DVD, run live, it will find the good usb drive.
Run installer, and install on usb drive, also ensure you select to install boot loader to MBR of the usb drive.

hope it helps

[Cattleman]

When I boot Mint Maya from live dvd, I have to stop automatic boot, select compatible and tab to edit grub and add nomodeset xforcevesa. How can I do this after the install or can I do it somehow before the install?

[Cattleman]

How do I select to install boot loader to MBR of the usb drive so that It will boot?

[gold_finger]

How do I select to install boot loader to MBR of the usb drive so that It will boot?

You have to use the "Something else" installation option and manually set partitions and location of the boot loader. Here is a tutorial for doing that: http://forums.linuxmint.com/viewtopic.php?f=42&t=122276.

You'll need at least a Root and Swap partition. If you want to setup a separate Home partition too, then don't need to make Root partition larger than 20-30GB.

Make a note of which device name corresponds to your external drive. If you only have one internal drive and one external drive connected, then the internal will be "/dev/sda" and the external will be "/dev/sdb". Using that as an example, "Device for boot loader installation" will be "/dev/sdb". (Note: regular USB sticks will show as devices too. So, if you have any plugged in, pay attention to which device is which.)

When I boot Mint Maya from live dvd, I have to stop automatic boot, select compatible and tab to edit grub and add nomodeset xforcevesa. How can I do this after the install or can I do it somehow before the install?

See post by roblm here: http://forums.linuxmint.com/viewtopic.p ... 93#p749552.

[nerdtron]

How do I select to install boot loader to MBR of the usb drive so that It will boot?

If only the external Hard drive is connected, and you did the automatic install the Bootloader should install itself on the USB drive MBR. No user intervention is requred.

[Cattleman]

I found that it all worked good on a different USB stick.

Thank you for your help

[vito_spatafore]

Old Threads/"Necro-Bumping"

Do your part to keep the forums tidy. Posting in old threads, or "necrobumping" is generally discouraged in the technical issue subforums, since it can potentially create disjointed "zombie" information; outdated posts with data which is no longer relevant due to Arch's rolling nature, combined with more recent posts reflecting more current circumstance. Furthermore, technical support threads should remain succinct, and multiple pages are to be avoided if possible.

Rules of thumb

If you have a question, start a new thread and link to the old if relevant.
If you have something to add and judge that your information is related, but more up-to-date, start a new thread and link to the old if desired, but avoid duplicating effort by posting information already contained in the Arch wiki.
If you have a version-agnostic or corresponding solution, necrobumping can be appropriate.

by wayne128 on Fri Jun 22, 2012 8:31 pm

by Cattleman on Sat Dec 13, 2014 5:20 pm