After installing ubuntu 9.10 on external HDD I cannot boot vista if external usb is unplugged(where ubuntu is installed). it says grub loading and after that recover grub ( i think that is what is says ... not certain in this moment ) anyway hope you get my dilemma. If you need more information I'll be glad to provide it.
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When my Western Digital MyBook is plugged into my desktop machine via usb everything works fine. The computer boots up normally to the dual boot screen, and all OS options will boot up normally. However, if I unplug the external hdd (whether that be when the computer is off, or I unmount it and then restart) before I get to the dual boot screen I get an error message informing me that I have incorrect boot media, and to insert and hit any key. Some background: I have checked the bios and it is set up to boot from the internal sata hdd as the first boot device, and there are no usb boot devices defined. Prior to making this a dual boot machine, it ran windows only, and had no issues booting when the external hdd was unplugged.
View 9 Replies View RelatedSo basically, as rookie as it sounds, I spent about 3 days trying to figure out why my computer wouldn't boot (BIOS not found, then it ran grub rescue) until I saw that my external hard drive (which evidently somehow has some file on) was unplugged. I am running windows and ubuntu 10.4 on partitions on my computer's internal 120gb drive. The problem I have is that during these 3 days, I re-installed ubuntu on the drive from the CD- so I think I have 3 partitions, even though the 3rd does not show up as an option to boot into from startup.
What it does show though, is on my desktop I have 2 mounted drives:
One 52gb one that has my Windows files in it, and one 44gb one that has ubuntu files in it, but NOT the ones I use- this is the rogue copy I installed by "accident". I checked this by looking through the contents and it was all minimal (nothing in home folder).
How do I "remove" this partition safely, and return to having just a windows an ubuntu partition?
Instructional post - medium difficulty. Installing on an older notebook (or other system) with no external bootable device available:No CD/DVD drive
No floppy
No boot to USB capability
No (usable) OS on HD
Solution went like this:Remove target HD from notebook.*
Disconnect HD from a desktop.**
[Code]...
i currently have lucid installed on my laptop hard drive. i took this drive out and then on a new drive in its place i have installed windows 7. reason why i couldn't put windows 7 on the same drive is that i have a BIOS based system and the hard drive is GPT based not MBR. therefore, i couldn't get windows back on it.
I figured that using an esata expresscard interface i should be able to use the Windows 7 drive externally without much speed penalty since ExpressCard in my case is implemented on PCI Express and not USB.
So i can update grub using
Code:
update-grub
and Windows 7 appears on the list. However, when i select this option during boot, it gives me errors that indicates that the external drive cannot be found (not surprising)
My guess is that when GRUB appears, the external hard drive has not been detected yet, and the modules for the expresscard may only be loaded during the boot process of lucid.
So I am wondering if there is anyway I can get this to work. meaning use lucid on my main drive and boot to Windows 7 from the external drive time to time.
I work at a local computer shop as a computer technician and we get many computer in daily that require external virus scans (having to take out the hard drives, sticking it in another machine) just to scan (if we're lucky we can sometimes just do it in safe mode).Now what I want to know is...
1. Is it possible to install Ubuntu to an external HDD and use it virtually anywhere I plug it in? Will it pick up the network card, graphics card, etc so I can just plug and go? (Of course there are drivers for some computers).
2. Is it possible to run a Windows oriented virus scanner on Ubuntu? I know I can use WINE to run Windows applications, but will it prove to be compliant with virus scanners as well?
3. The main reason why I want it to be able to pick up on hardware and just work is because I plan on using it for schooling / travelling as well, have all my documents etc saved on it for easy access.
I've used Ubuntu in the past on an old laptop that didn't have much memory, small HDD, and a crap processor but that was 5-6 years ago (I still have the disk they sent me for free ).
I have an HP Pavilion that was/still is running Vista. I recently decided to dual-boot to Ubuntu from an external hard drive. Both systems will boot up fine its just that for some reason it won't boot to the internal drive (with vista) unless the external is connected. I just put the HD in another laptop only to have the same problem.
View 7 Replies View RelatedI installed Ubuntu on external USB hard drive and while booting I did got option to log into windows XP, Ubuntu. Both operating systems ran fine. i.e. GRUB had overwritten MBR and I was able to dual boot. Main issue: I have installed Ubuntu in external hard-drive so that I can use Linux whenever I want other people who are using same computer can operate on WindowsXP. Sometimes my external hard drive gives problem if there is loose connection and so that oper people using computer do not face any problem I want to disconnect external USB HD whenever I am not using Linux. GRUB menu was pointing to external hardrive so disconnecting it meant my system wont boot!!I rewrote MBR using WindowsXP CD recovery mode. Now I am unable to boot from external USB hard disk( I thought I would be able to if I choose USB hard drive in BIOS option but it did not work it logged into WindowsXP by default).Is there any way I can change WindowsXP boot.ini file so that it also shows Ubuntu in external hard disk? Or is there any way.(I do not want GRUB way as then I would have to keep my external drive connected to log into windows - which I do not want).
View 1 Replies View RelatedI have a laptop with a busted screen and no way to boot directly to the external monitor with ubuntu installed and the thing is I want to install windows 7. Anybody know of anyway to do this without being able to see the screen before the os loads? So far I have messed around with installing windows 7 in vm box and trying to turn the vdi file into a valid partition and also tried installing it with wine but it couldn't find the temp folder to copy the install files.
View 5 Replies View RelatedI am trying to install 10.04 to an external HD (not flash). I ran the live CD, installed to it and all seemed to work fine, but I don't want to use GRUB. I ran 7 repair and did a bootrec /fixmbr and it's booting normal, but I can't boot to USB.I want it to boot normal, unless I hit F12 to boot to removable device. Not much of a Linux person, but I am trying to be.
View 7 Replies View RelatedI looked around on these forums and google and came to no solution so, I decided to make this thread. I'm using Windows XP and after I downloaded and tested out Ubuntu 9.10, I decided I'd like it as a second OS, can I install Ubuntu on my external hard drive (1TB)? would installing on an external hard drive take away the risks of losing data etc? If I installed Ubuntu on my external hard drive would it delete any files already on my hard drive?
View 9 Replies View RelatedI tried to do this and something went wrong, and caused so much trouble that I decided I didn't want to do it at all. Then I changed my mind today, and decided I'll try again even after all that happened.
View 4 Replies View RelatedThe default (graphical) installer did not work on my PC (i7 quadcore 8 GB DDR3). I have installed Ubuntu using the alternative installer (Desktop, 64 bit) on my external USB drive. I installed grub on the MBR of the second drive (/dev/sdb) as I did not want to touch my (first) Windows disk. After reboot (chosing the USB drive as boot device, else Windows is booted) grub reports an error and enters the rescue mode. I tried all possible combinations of "root=(hdX,Y)" in grub.cfg to no avail.
I repeated the whole procedure but now disconnected the internal HD with Windows. Installation went smooth again (Windows disk was not seen this time), but after reboot (the internal drive connected or not) I again get (slightly different this time) grub error: can not find file.
I tried doing a search and couldn't find anything relatively recent on the topic so here is my question.
I am fairly new to the linux world and am in the process of trying out a couple different distributions. I am doing this by installing them to an external hard drive. This allows me to test them out without affecting my main system in any way. I have already tried openSUSE and it installed with no problems. I am trying to install Ubuntu, however when the installation tries to install GRUB2 it fails asking me for a different location to install it to.
When installing I unhook all drives from the computer except for the dvd drive, usb drive I'm installing from, and the external hard drive I am trying to install Ubuntu to. I'm not sure what else may be of use.
I been meaning to install some linux distro on my external hdd to enjoy the renowned desktop experience, so far I installed sabayon first but it wasn't working very sharply and a friend of mine recommended me to just install ubuntu. Anyhow, since the first time I installed sabayon I could not boot vista when the external HDD is not plugged in. I get a grub rescue command prompt. I don't have a vista cd because my laptop came with the whole recovery function installed on a vista partition. I can boot that from the grub menu, from there I did a boot system restore, but I still get the same error. I'd like to be able to boot vista without having the external HDD on of course.
View 9 Replies View RelatedMonths ago one of my computers died. I have bought a brand new one laptop, but I have a problem at the moment I wanted to install Ubuntu in dual boot with Windows 7: the new partition that windows 7 reserves for securing system files.
There are three partitions: Windows 7 principal, Windows 7 for securing system files (at the drive's beginning) and the recovery partition that HP puts there. Then I only have option to resize the Windows principal partition and get another principal partition. My question is if you know how to deal with this?
The other option you can help me is to advise me about some external hard drives to install ubuntu in them and don't touch the internal disk of my laptop.
In the past I have been able to succesfully install ubuntu on several external usb drives with up to 500gb in size.Now I am trying to install a copy of ubuntu 10.10 on an external usb iomega 1tb eGo drive but I am having major issues.The installer reports the total disk size as only 124 gb, instead of the 998gb that gParted reports for the same disk. Proceeding with "use the full disk" installs ok, but it doesn't boot.Grub2 reports that it cannot find the kernel.After some desperate attempts to repartition and after some googling I think that the issue may be with the sector size, which fdisk -l reports as 4096kb (all my other drivers report 512kb) and I have the impression that linux is not ready for it (or I lack the knowledge, which seems more likely).I have also tried to install fedora 14. This distribution reports the correct disk size, installs properly, but again, it cannot boot (Fedora uses grub, not grub2), with a very similar message to the grub2 installer.Because of the way I work, I need my external usb drive to be able to boot linux. And I find it difficult to believe that linux doesn't handle 4096kb sector disks, so here I am asking for help . Please note I am not a linux expert.
View 3 Replies View RelatedCan Ubuntu install and boot from external HD while still booting windows off internal HD?In an attempt to spread Ubuntu my friend wants to use ubuntu off an external HD and still have windows fully operational on the internal HD. Questions:1) Can Ubuntu install on external HD without tricky mounting methods and if so how doabout it?2) The bois have the capability to boot from usb, will grub work?
View 9 Replies View RelatedAfter removing the Windows HDD from my laptop I installed Ubuntu to a new HDD that I installed in it - it works fine when used as an internal drive. But now I have put the Ubuntu disk in an external enclosure and replaced the original Windows HDD internally.
Now, if I change the BIOS boot priority to CD/DVD -> USB HDD -> Internal HDD will it be the case that I can boot Ubuntu when the external HDD is connected and Windows when not?
Also, if I boot to Unbuntu from the external HDD, will the internal Windows drive be left untouched? I'll be in pretty hot water at home if I damage that!
I Installed Ubuntu 10.10 on an external USB Disk Drive - I had chosen to install the boot loader on this drive. When I tried to boot from this drive, I get the the following message:
error: unknown filesystem
after that I get "grub rescue>" prompt
The install was done on /dev/sdb2
I have also tried update-grub using ubuntu 10.04 that i have on my internal drive. It did recognize that I had a kernel on the external drive but still no luck booting. This time i get.
error: no such device d4a3cb16-37b6-416c-a3bc-4f8d03318e28
error: unknown file system
error: you need to load the kernel first
Note that the long device name is the same as the mount point when i do a "df"
I boot Ubuntu10.10 from live cd and installed to my external hdd (thats Apacer AC601) . Installation completed but i cant boot from external hdd. i didn't create custom partition layout myself , I choose the option "use entire hdd". Everythings fine with Fedora core 14.
View 6 Replies View RelatedI have been trying for many days now to get ubuntu installed on western digital passport 1 TB USB external hd attached to my MacBook Pro (with intel Duo Core processor). I have installed the latest ubuntu 11.0.4 64-bit (needs to be 64-bit for work) on the external USB hd, and when I reboot rEFIt shows a new penguin icon. So, I selected that, and I see a screen with a penguin in the middle for a while, but then the screen turns black and just has a text error message that says "No bootable device -- insert boot disk and press any key". BTW, I checked that my Duo Core is definitely 64-bit. Also, ubuntu does run off the install CD. Even the wireless works and I can use firefox.
I have been reading lots of forums trying to find a solution. A couple that I have tried: 1) reboot and when in rEFIt, choose the sync option and resync the drives. I did that and now the penguin icon just launches a black screen with a different message about "no valid operating system" or something like that. 2) Another site said the key was to change where boot loader got installed, so during the installation, at some point near the end, there would be an "Advanced" button to click on, and in there I could set grub to install onto sdb, the location/name of my external USB hd. However, in the present version 11.0.4, there is no "Advanced" button on any of the install screens.
I really wish Mac just used a BIOS instead of this frustrating EFI. Do I need to edit or alter something somewhere? If so, exactly what?
I have got a hold of a extra hdd along with a hdd enclosure. I have tried looking for information on how to install linux on to one but haven't been completely successful on my search. So I turn to all of you. I was also wondering if its possible to have it were I can use it on multiple computers so I can use it for computer repair.
View 3 Replies View RelatedI just recently installed ubuntu. I had always used windows before, and I wanted to try something different. My laptop's internal HDD is pretty full so I decided to install ubuntu on my 500gb external HDD. It is connected via USB A to USB B. So I run through the installation no problems at all. I partitioned 200gb of the external HDD for ubuntu. After install I could run ubuntu just fine and I really like it.
However now it boots through GRUB. I am not really sure what GRUB is but it says GRUB loading every time I boot up and then lets me choose what os to boot, but if I do not have my external HDD plugged in then GRUB fails to start and I cannot boot at all from my laptop. Is there a way that I can get it to boot windows from the internal HDD without having the external HDD?
I was wondering wether it is possible to boot an eee 901 from an external usb cd drive? (for those who are unfamiliar with the eee, it has no internal cd drive) The cd drive is not listed in the bios boot menu.
View 2 Replies View RelatedI installed Ubuntu to an external hard drive and I wanted it to be a portable OS I could take with me and still maintain my settings and files and what not. My problem now is, I cannot boot into Windows without having the USB drive connected. I also cannot boot directly to the drive by selecting the USB drive from my boot options on start up, I have to let it go into the boot menu.
So I need help with being able to boot directly from the USB drive on any computer, and being able to boot into Windows without having the USB drive plugged in. Hopefully this can be done without re-installing Windows.
I installed ubuntu 10.04 on external usb hdd after having the internal drive disconnected. When now I try to boot i can only do it from the internal. I can see the external when in ubuntu, but no booting. Also I can see the external in the internal grub menu but when booting disappears. I suspect that it has to do whith the designation of volume names, when installing from external the disk is named sda1 but in the internal grub is sdb1. How can I change the name to sdba1 in the external grub
View 2 Replies View RelatedI just installed maverick netbook edition on an external hard drive, creating my own partition table. When I tried to boot the drive, grub rescue mode told me file not found. I installed again and used the default partition table and got the same error. I gave up and tried to boot my fedora 13 internal hdd but was told that there was no such device. I looked through these forums and ran a bootloader script and was told that my internal hdd had a bootloader but my external didn't. I tried to load the kernel through grub rescue, but the file system was unknown to grub. The files are still on my internal drive and I don't want to reinstall just to boot it.
View 5 Replies View RelatedThe thing is i want to have windows xp on my internal drive and ubuntu on the external. Not very hard but i want it so that i can choose what to boot when i start my computer and i also want to store other things then ubuntu on my external drive so i can use it in xp also
The reason i want ubuntu for is to use it while watching movies or chatting osv and use xp for games and my animation programs since they tend to be quite hard to get to work on ubuntu.
Im using Ubuntu 10.04 64bits with external journal.
/dev/sda1 is the "/" partition.
/dev/sdb1 is the external journal
Everything is working fine, but if a new HD is added (like dev/sdc), I have a boot error, initramfs error!
Why this is happening? How can I add a new HD without error?
