Installing 2 Linux distros on external HDD, how?
Tags:
- External Hard Drive
- Linux
Last response: in Linux/Free BSD
DJRWolf
February 6, 2010 3:19:57 PM
I took my brother-in-law's old non working laptop and removed the 60GB HDD from it and put it in an external enclosure. I was wondering if I could connect it to the computer (before powering on) and install Ubuntu and Fedora onto it. The reason for those two flavors are I want to try Ubuntu and a class I'm going to take in the summer about Linux uses Fedora. I've had very little experience wit Linux so any tips, hints, or advice?
More about : installing linux distros external hdd
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Reply to DJRWolf
Fedora and Ubuntu both have Live CD versions you can try without installing on your PC.
http://fedoraproject.org/en/get-fedora-all
http://www.ubuntu.com/getubuntu/download
You'll probably want to try Fedora 12 and ubuntu 9.04 desktop, ubuntu 9.10 has some problems.
You'll be able to install onto your 60GB as long as the drive's healthy and your interface type's supported.
What have you got in your rig hardware wise? Please post your full specs.
If you've got a 64bit CPU make sure you get the x86_64 / amd64 ISOs.
You should also check the checksums and digital signatures to make sure your ISOs aren't corrupt and haven't been tampered with.
Make sure you don't use WUBI it's got too many problems.
https://fedoraproject.org/en/verify
https://help.ubuntu.com/community/HowToMD5SUM
https://help.ubuntu.com/community/HowToSHA256SUM
Good luck
http://fedoraproject.org/en/get-fedora-all
http://www.ubuntu.com/getubuntu/download
You'll probably want to try Fedora 12 and ubuntu 9.04 desktop, ubuntu 9.10 has some problems.
You'll be able to install onto your 60GB as long as the drive's healthy and your interface type's supported.
What have you got in your rig hardware wise? Please post your full specs.
If you've got a 64bit CPU make sure you get the x86_64 / amd64 ISOs.
You should also check the checksums and digital signatures to make sure your ISOs aren't corrupt and haven't been tampered with.
Make sure you don't use WUBI it's got too many problems.
https://fedoraproject.org/en/verify
https://help.ubuntu.com/community/HowToMD5SUM
https://help.ubuntu.com/community/HowToSHA256SUM
Good luck
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Reply to linux_0
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DJRWolf
February 6, 2010 10:13:53 PM
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Reply to DJRWolf
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Cool
Nice specs.
http://download.fedoraproject.org/pub/fedora/linux/rele...
http://mirrors.kernel.org/ubuntu-releases/9.04/ubuntu-9...
You've got two options, you can install GRUB, the default linux bootloader, onto your internal boot drive replacing your existing bootloader or you can install GRUB on the external drive and boot from the USB drive by changing the boot order in your BIOS.
What kind of graphics have you got?
Good luck
Nice specs.http://download.fedoraproject.org/pub/fedora/linux/rele...
http://mirrors.kernel.org/ubuntu-releases/9.04/ubuntu-9...
You've got two options, you can install GRUB, the default linux bootloader, onto your internal boot drive replacing your existing bootloader or you can install GRUB on the external drive and boot from the USB drive by changing the boot order in your BIOS.
What kind of graphics have you got?
Good luck
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DJRWolf
February 7, 2010 8:09:32 AM
A note on the ram, I though I was buying 2GBx2 sticks but it was 1GBx2. Will be upgrading to 4GB total later.
Galaxy GeForce 9600, it was cheep, better then the 8600 I had, and since I was also going to add a duel tuner TV capture card, it's HDMI will come in handy since the Biostar is my secondary gaming/HTPC computer with another quad core (Phenom 9850) as my main system.
And thanks for the ISO download links and tip about disconnecting my internal boot drive. Right now though it's 4am, time to go to bed and try it tomorrow.
Galaxy GeForce 9600, it was cheep, better then the 8600 I had, and since I was also going to add a duel tuner TV capture card, it's HDMI will come in handy since the Biostar is my secondary gaming/HTPC computer with another quad core (Phenom 9850) as my main system.
And thanks for the ISO download links and tip about disconnecting my internal boot drive. Right now though it's 4am, time to go to bed and try it tomorrow.
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Reply to DJRWolf
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DJRWolf
February 7, 2010 9:29:46 PM
Did you create separate partitions for them? If you did you'll be able to edit /etc/grub.conf on fedora to add ubuntu back in. If you overwrote ubuntu with fedora you'll have to reinstall.
Shoot over to Applications, System Tools, Terminal in fedora and run fdisk -l
Please post of PM me the results. fdisk -l is gonna show all your partitions.
GRUB /etc/grub.conf fedora pseudocode
Ubuntu uses /boot/grub/menu.lst while fedora uses /boot/grub/grub.conf aka /etc/grub.conf, it's a symlink, if you've got a shared /boot you can make a couple of extra copies of those files and then carefully copy the first ubuntu grub.conf block similar to the one up top here and paste it into your /etc/grub.conf on fedora.
conceptual example
Good luck
Shoot over to Applications, System Tools, Terminal in fedora and run fdisk -l
Please post of PM me the results. fdisk -l is gonna show all your partitions.
GRUB /etc/grub.conf fedora pseudocode
title ubuntu root (hd0,0) kernel /vmlinuz UUID=YOUR_UUID YOUR_OPTIONS initrd /initramfs
Ubuntu uses /boot/grub/menu.lst while fedora uses /boot/grub/grub.conf aka /etc/grub.conf, it's a symlink, if you've got a shared /boot you can make a couple of extra copies of those files and then carefully copy the first ubuntu grub.conf block similar to the one up top here and paste it into your /etc/grub.conf on fedora.
conceptual example
default=0 timeout=5 splashimage=(hd0,0)/grub/splash.xpm.gz title Fedora root (hd0,0) kernel /vmlinuz ro root=YOUR_ROOT rhgb quiet initrd /initrd title ubuntu root (hd0,0) kernel /vmlinuz UUID=YOUR_UUID YOUR_OPTIONS initrd /initramfs
Good luck
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DJRWolf
February 8, 2010 4:23:02 AM
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You can use http://www.kde-apps.org/content/show.php?content=75442 on fedora but you've got to build it from source.
Good luck
Good luck
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DJRWolf
February 8, 2010 7:05:44 PM
linux_0 said:
You've got to make a backup copy and edit /etc/grub.conf to add ubuntu with a text editor like gedit, emacs or vi.What would I add to it? You have to realize that while I know Windows very well; I'm only just now getting into using Linux so I really don't know things like commands or how to compile yet.
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Reply to DJRWolf
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# grub.conf generated by anaconda
#
# Note that you do not have to rerun grub after making changes to this file
# NOTICE: You have a /boot partition. This means that
# all kernel and initrd paths are relative to /boot/, eg.
# root (hd0,0)
# kernel /vmlinuz-version ro root=/dev/mapper/vg1-root
# initrd /initrd-[generic-]version.img
#boot=/dev/sda
default=0
timeout=0
splashimage=(hd0,0)/grub/splash.xpm.gz
hiddenmenu
title Fedora (kernel_version)
root (hd0,0)
kernel /vmlinuz-kernel_version ro root=YOUR_ROOT LANG=en_US.UTF-8 SYSFONT=latarcyrheb-sun16 KEYBOARDTYPE=pc KEYTABLE=us rhgb quiet
initrd /initramfs-kernel_version
#
# Note that you do not have to rerun grub after making changes to this file
# NOTICE: You have a /boot partition. This means that
# all kernel and initrd paths are relative to /boot/, eg.
# root (hd0,0)
# kernel /vmlinuz-version ro root=/dev/mapper/vg1-root
# initrd /initrd-[generic-]version.img
#boot=/dev/sda
default=0
timeout=0
splashimage=(hd0,0)/grub/splash.xpm.gz
hiddenmenu
title Fedora (kernel_version)
root (hd0,0)
kernel /vmlinuz-kernel_version ro root=YOUR_ROOT LANG=en_US.UTF-8 SYSFONT=latarcyrheb-sun16 KEYBOARDTYPE=pc KEYTABLE=us rhgb quiet
initrd /initramfs-kernel_version
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Reply to linux_0
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Best solution
These are the grub config portions you'll need.
The first one's from fedora 12 and the 2nd is from ubuntu 9.04. The lines for ubuntu 9.10 should be similar.
All you've got to do is merge the two.
So you'll end up with this
# grub.conf generated by anaconda
#
# Note that you do not have to rerun grub after making changes to this file
# NOTICE: You have a /boot partition. This means that
# all kernel and initrd paths are relative to /boot/, eg.
# root (hd0,0)
# kernel /vmlinuz-version ro root=/dev/mapper/vg1-root
# initrd /initrd-[generic-]version.img
#boot=/dev/sda
default=0
timeout=0
splashimage=(hd0,0)/grub/splash.xpm.gz
hiddenmenu
title Fedora (kernel_version)
root (hd0,0)
kernel /vmlinuz-kernel_version ro root=YOUR_ROOT LANG=en_US.UTF-8 SYSFONT=latarcyrheb-sun16 KEYBOARDTYPE=pc KEYTABLE=us rhgb quiet
initrd /initramfs-kernel_version
title Ubuntu 9.04, kernel kernel_version
uuid YOUR_UUID
kernel /vmlinuz-kernel_version root=UUID=YOUR_UUID ro quiet splash
initrd /initrd.img-kernel_version quiet
Your merged file will look something like this you'll have to find your ubuntu's menu.lst so you can copy the lines from it and add them to your fedora's /etc/grub.conf.
The kernel_versions and UUIDs vary from system to system so I can't give you those without the output of several commands from your computer.
Good luck
The first one's from fedora 12 and the 2nd is from ubuntu 9.04. The lines for ubuntu 9.10 should be similar.
All you've got to do is merge the two.
So you'll end up with this
Quote:
# grub.conf generated by anaconda
#
# Note that you do not have to rerun grub after making changes to this file
# NOTICE: You have a /boot partition. This means that
# all kernel and initrd paths are relative to /boot/, eg.
# root (hd0,0)
# kernel /vmlinuz-version ro root=/dev/mapper/vg1-root
# initrd /initrd-[generic-]version.img
#boot=/dev/sda
default=0
timeout=0
splashimage=(hd0,0)/grub/splash.xpm.gz
hiddenmenu
title Fedora (kernel_version)
root (hd0,0)
kernel /vmlinuz-kernel_version ro root=YOUR_ROOT LANG=en_US.UTF-8 SYSFONT=latarcyrheb-sun16 KEYBOARDTYPE=pc KEYTABLE=us rhgb quiet
initrd /initramfs-kernel_version
title Ubuntu 9.04, kernel kernel_version
uuid YOUR_UUID
kernel /vmlinuz-kernel_version root=UUID=YOUR_UUID ro quiet splash
initrd /initrd.img-kernel_version quiet
Your merged file will look something like this you'll have to find your ubuntu's menu.lst so you can copy the lines from it and add them to your fedora's /etc/grub.conf.
The kernel_versions and UUIDs vary from system to system so I can't give you those without the output of several commands from your computer.
Good luck
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DJRWolf
February 11, 2010 3:38:52 AM
DJRWolf
February 11, 2010 6:39:01 PM
techie_dude
August 10, 2014 1:25:02 PM
install ubuntu / bodhi linux on external hard drive with dual boot on computer
http://engg-haven.blogspot.in/2014/08/install-ubuntu-bo...
norrmally u make 3 partitions for 1 os in external HDD -- root(/), /boot ,and swap.
for 2 u have to make just 2 more root and /boot partition and swap can be used as common.
http://engg-haven.blogspot.in/2014/08/install-ubuntu-bo...
norrmally u make 3 partitions for 1 os in external HDD -- root(/), /boot ,and swap.
for 2 u have to make just 2 more root and /boot partition and swap can be used as common.
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Reply to techie_dude
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strecker1969
August 13, 2014 8:11:24 PM
techie_dude
August 14, 2014 2:03:30 AM
strecker1969 said:
I installed Ubuntu (the 9.04 I had made from your link, and it worked well, thank you.thank you for visitng it,i am glad it helped you,i have seen many people asking for installation of ubuntu,mint,xubuntu,lubuntu,bodhi,etc,they dont realise that all of it are ubuntu based linux so their installation procedure will be same.knowing one is enough to understand the other,
please share,the link if you think it can help others.
regards..
http://engg-haven.blogspot.in
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