How to install Debian 7 to external hard disk
Greetings, Is there a preferred way to install Debian 7 from DVD to an external (USB) hard disk ? The whole external hard disk is to be used instead of the internal hard disk. This is to experiment with the new release (and discover fish hooks like graphics that don't work) while leaving the internal hard disk with the production Debian 6 on it completely alone. One then boots from either the external hard disk or the internal hard disk. A live Debian is not to be set up. Grub and the rest of the boot processing also goes on the external hard disk. To set this up, at what stage in the install process does one actually put the new release on to the external disk ? Does one need to also tell the install program where to put grub ? or does it do that automatically ? Is there any other special configuration one needs to do to properly put the new release on to the external hard disk ? It is vastly preferable not to unplug the internal hard disk or otherwise disrupt the functioning system. Of course the internal hard disk will be backed up before the attempted install ... Thanks for any information. frank.jan...@actrix.gen.nz, ZL2TTS -- To UNSUBSCRIBE, email to debian-user-requ...@lists.debian.org with a subject of unsubscribe. Trouble? Contact listmas...@lists.debian.org Archive: http://lists.debian.org/521b2e0b.2080...@actrix.gen.nz
Re: How to install Debian 7 to external hard disk
IIRC, it is in the partitioning of the disk where you will chose where to install. Know the location of your external (SDA, SDB, etc.) Also, later in the install it will ask where you want grub installed. On Aug 26, 2013 5:35 AM, C.T.F. Jansen frank.jan...@actrix.gen.nz wrote: Greetings, Is there a preferred way to install Debian 7 from DVD to an external (USB) hard disk ? The whole external hard disk is to be used instead of the internal hard disk. This is to experiment with the new release (and discover fish hooks like graphics that don't work) while leaving the internal hard disk with the production Debian 6 on it completely alone. One then boots from either the external hard disk or the internal hard disk. A live Debian is not to be set up. Grub and the rest of the boot processing also goes on the external hard disk. To set this up, at what stage in the install process does one actually put the new release on to the external disk ? Does one need to also tell the install program where to put grub ? or does it do that automatically ? Is there any other special configuration one needs to do to properly put the new release on to the external hard disk ? It is vastly preferable not to unplug the internal hard disk or otherwise disrupt the functioning system. Of course the internal hard disk will be backed up before the attempted install ... Thanks for any information. frank.jan...@actrix.gen.nz, ZL2TTS -- To UNSUBSCRIBE, email to debian-user-REQUEST@lists.**debian.orgdebian-user-requ...@lists.debian.orgwith a subject of unsubscribe. Trouble? Contact listmas...@lists.debian.org Archive: http://lists.debian.org/**521b2e0b.2080...@actrix.gen.nzhttp://lists.debian.org/521b2e0b.2080...@actrix.gen.nz
RE: How to install Debian 7 to external hard disk
Hi, Is there a preferred way to install Debian 7 from DVD to an external (USB) hard disk ? Euh... just install it on that disk? ;-) The whole external hard disk is to be used instead of the internal hard disk. Ok, no problem. This is to experiment with the new release (and discover fish hooks like graphics that don't work) while leaving the internal hard disk with the production Debian 6 on it completely alone. Sensible. One then boots from either the external hard disk or the internal hard disk. Yes and no, but read on. To set this up, at what stage in the install process does one actually put the new release on to the external disk ? When it asks which disk to set it up to and whether you want to do the partitioning yourself (manual) or guided. Does one need to also tell the install program where to put grub ? or does it do that automatically ? You just stated above you have a production version of Debian on the internal disk, so it has Grub already. The new installation on the external disk just needs to be added to the existing Grub config. The installer should do that for you. Is there any other special configuration one needs to do to properly put the new release on to the external hard disk ? Not that I know of. It is vastly preferable not to unplug the internal hard disk or otherwise disrupt the functioning system. No, the installer needs to access the Grub config on that disk. Unplugging it would also change the name of the disks (sda, sdb, etc) and might interfere with the installation or later on with running it, although it should not when using the default disk labels. Of course the internal hard disk will be backed up before the attempted install ... Yes, please do so. ;-) Bonno Bloksma -- To UNSUBSCRIBE, email to debian-user-requ...@lists.debian.org with a subject of unsubscribe. Trouble? Contact listmas...@lists.debian.org Archive: http://lists.debian.org/89d1798a7351d040b4e74e0a043c69d7594e9...@einexch-01.tio.nl
Re: How to install Debian 7 to external hard disk
On 8/26/13, Bonno Bloksma b.blok...@tio.nl wrote: On Aug 26, 2013 5:35 AM, C.T.F. Jansen frank.jan...@actrix.gen.nz wrote: Is there a preferred way to install Debian 7 from DVD to an external (USB) hard disk ? The whole external hard disk is to be used instead of the internal hard disk. One then boots from either the external hard disk or the internal hard disk. You can do this in 2 ways: 1) Having grub on internal hdd with menu entry for external hdd /boot/kernel... alternatives 2) Having hardware startup provide for native boot straight off of external hdd. For this option to work, grub must obviously be installed on the external hdd, and that hdd install /etc/fstab needs to be updated to use UUIDs rather than /dev/sdX names; I believe UUID mapping is automatic at *some* point, not sure when in install or later bootup sorry. To set this up, at what stage in the install process does one actually put the new release on to the external disk ? When it asks which disk to set it up to and whether you want to do the partitioning yourself (manual) or guided. Does one need to also tell the install program where to put grub ? or does it do that automatically ? You just stated above you have a production version of Debian on the internal disk, so it has Grub already. The new installation on the external disk just needs to be added to the existing Grub config. The installer should do that for you. That's option 1) above. I recommend to use option 2), possibly in conjunction with option 1). Is there any other special configuration one needs to do to properly put the new release on to the external hard disk ? Not that I know of. Make sure about the grub installation going to the external hdd. During advanced install which is what I use, I pressed Enter too quickly on this exact screen, and grub got half installed to internal, as well as external drive. If that happens, you use rescue CD then chroot into the drive you need to fix, then run update-grub from inside the chroot session. Something like that to fix grub :) You can do similar for external hdd if you mess up the grub install, but the rest is installed properly - rescue boot off CD, chroot, grub-install. In either grub-fixup case, check grub parameters/config, to make sure that grub-install will do what you want. For it to work, _before_ you do chroot, you may have to do things like: mount /dev/sdDriveToFix /mnt mount --bind /proc /mnt/proc mount --bind /dev to /mnt/dev etc, then finally something like: chroot /mnt /bin/bash Good luck :) It is vastly preferable not to unplug the internal hard disk or otherwise disrupt the functioning system. In fact, it is possible (though I failed when I tried a couple years back), to save the CD image to your internal HDD, then add a grub entry to loopback mount+boot into that image (chroot style or something?). That ought be significantly faster than booting off of CD, but may not work if you end up needing to do a rescue-install-to-fix-grub :) No, the installer needs to access the Grub config on that disk. Unplugging it would also change the name of the disks (sda, sdb, etc) and might interfere with the installation or later on with running it, although it should not when using the default disk labels. At some point, in modern debian systems, AIUI, there is an automatic conversion to UUIDs. man fstab man grub echo \o/ Of course the internal hard disk will be backed up before the attempted install ... Yes, please do so. ;-) If production, of course. If home laptop, well, if you can be bothered - it's only a reinstall :) Actually no, always do a backup, especially of important files. Good luck Zenaan -- To UNSUBSCRIBE, email to debian-user-requ...@lists.debian.org with a subject of unsubscribe. Trouble? Contact listmas...@lists.debian.org Archive: http://lists.debian.org/CAOsGNSQCiggKcg3vPKi8amC-KrwMQTiDT=KGKkQgs=uGGaW_=q...@mail.gmail.com
Re: How to install Debian 7 to external hard disk
On Mon, Aug 26, 2013 at 7:29 PM, C.T.F. Jansen frank.jan...@actrix.gen.nz wrote: Greetings, Is there a preferred way to install Debian 7 from DVD to an external (USB) hard disk ? Several. Take your pick. The whole external hard disk is to be used instead of the internal hard disk. That makes things much easier. This is to experiment with the new release (and discover fish hooks like graphics that don't work) while leaving the internal hard disk with the production Debian 6 on it completely alone. Many of us do things like that. One then boots from either the external hard disk or the internal hard disk. And you can switch it from the BIOS or via Grub, if your BIOS supports booting from USB. A live Debian is not to be set up. Yeah, no particular need to set up a live image, since a normal install will work fine. Grub and the rest of the boot processing also goes on the external hard disk. That's the key to the install, really. Well, as has been mentioned, you don't need to install Grub on the external disk if you're okay with pointing to the external disk in your internal grub. On the other hand, if you intend to switch via the BIOS, you need to check that the BIOS supports booting from a USB device, and that boot from USB is enabled. Some BIOSes let you hit one key to pick a boot device and another to enter the BIOS. If you only have the option to enter the BIOS, you'll have to adjust the boot priority, which may be a security issue (requiring switching the priority back when you're satisfied with the test results). To set this up, at what stage in the install process does one actually put the new release on to the external disk ? At the partitioning stage. I would install gparted before I do the install and pre-partition the external drive. (More tools available to make sure you're getting the partitioning the way you want it.) You can check the partition map, the drive labels (which may change, particularly when you change boot priorities in the BIOS) and the UUIDs. Write the labels, sizes, and UUIDs for the drives and partitions down. Especially the UUIDs, even through they are long and a pain to write down. You probably will only need the first four to eight hex digitis of the UUIDs, you'll be able to tell when you look. Command line tools: df, especially df -h, is useful for looking at existing partition sizes. ls -l /dev/disk/, and of the four sub-directories there, is useful to see UUIDs and labels of existing partitions, and match them with the drives. (If you're really, really comfortable with command-line tools, you may prefer parted to gparted.) Even if you don't pre-partition, at least look at the partitions and write their sizes, labels, and UUIDs down. (The part of the label that can change is the drive letter. Partition number within the drive is stable.) Does one need to also tell the install program where to put grub ? or does it do that automatically ? Is there any other special configuration one needs to do to properly put the new release on to the external hard disk ? It is vastly preferable not to unplug the internal hard disk or otherwise disrupt the functioning system. Of course the internal hard disk will be backed up before the attempted install ... Thanks for any information. frank.jan...@actrix.gen.nz, ZL2TTS -- To UNSUBSCRIBE, email to debian-user-requ...@lists.debian.org with a subject of unsubscribe. Trouble? Contact listmas...@lists.debian.org Archive: http://lists.debian.org/521b2e0b.2080...@actrix.gen.nz -- -- Joel Rees -- To UNSUBSCRIBE, email to debian-user-requ...@lists.debian.org with a subject of unsubscribe. Trouble? Contact listmas...@lists.debian.org Archive: http://lists.debian.org/caar43in_oyssso4uycxvb+enqq4rx+eyjart-xngxevpxy+...@mail.gmail.com
Re: How to install Debian 7 to external hard disk
On 26/08/2013 13:46, Bonno Bloksma wrote: Hi, Is there a preferred way to install Debian 7 from DVD to an external (USB) hard disk ? Euh... just install it on that disk? ;-) The whole external hard disk is to be used instead of the internal hard disk. Ok, no problem. This is to experiment with the new release (and discover fish hooks like graphics that don't work) while leaving the internal hard disk with the production Debian 6 on it completely alone. Sensible. One then boots from either the external hard disk or the internal hard disk. Yes and no, but read on. To set this up, at what stage in the install process does one actually put the new release on to the external disk ? When it asks which disk to set it up to and whether you want to do the partitioning yourself (manual) or guided. Does one need to also tell the install program where to put grub ? or does it do that automatically ? You just stated above you have a production version of Debian on the internal disk, so it has Grub already. The new installation on the external disk just needs to be added to the existing Grub config. The installer should do that for you. Is there any other special configuration one needs to do to properly put the new release on to the external hard disk ? Not that I know of. It is vastly preferable not to unplug the internal hard disk or otherwise disrupt the functioning system. No, the installer needs to access the Grub config on that disk. Unplugging it would also change the name of the disks (sda, sdb, etc) and might interfere with the installation or later on with running it, although it should not when using the default disk labels. Of course the internal hard disk will be backed up before the attempted install ... Yes, please do so. ;-) Bonno Bloksma Good day, I have been doing this for years. Run 5 different linux flavours on different usb drives. It works fine. My windows drive is in the laptop. IMPORTEND.. Pick the correct drive and partition to install. Pick the correct drive and mbr to install boot loader. Otherwise it will mes-up your windows mbr. Unless this is where you want to install the boot loader. Enjoy JohanS -- To UNSUBSCRIBE, email to debian-user-requ...@lists.debian.org with a subject of unsubscribe. Trouble? Contact listmas...@lists.debian.org Archive: http://lists.debian.org/521b48c1@telkomsa.net
Re: How to install Debian 7 to external hard disk
Continuing my long story below. (Stupid google mail web client. I guess I need to install mutt, since I'm finding sylpheed too limiting and clumsy. Or simply take the time to set up the filters and actions in sylpheed. No, claws does not do it for me, except on MSWindows. Bleaugh.) On Mon, Aug 26, 2013 at 10:04 PM, Joel Rees joel.r...@gmail.com wrote: On Mon, Aug 26, 2013 at 7:29 PM, C.T.F. Jansen frank.jan...@actrix.gen.nz wrote: Greetings, Is there a preferred way to install Debian 7 from DVD to an external (USB) hard disk ? Several. Take your pick. The whole external hard disk is to be used instead of the internal hard disk. That makes things much easier. This is to experiment with the new release (and discover fish hooks like graphics that don't work) while leaving the internal hard disk with the production Debian 6 on it completely alone. Many of us do things like that. One then boots from either the external hard disk or the internal hard disk. And you can switch it from the BIOS or via Grub, if your BIOS supports booting from USB. A live Debian is not to be set up. Yeah, no particular need to set up a live image, since a normal install will work fine. Grub and the rest of the boot processing also goes on the external hard disk. That's the key to the install, really. Well, as has been mentioned, you don't need to install Grub on the external disk if you're okay with pointing to the external disk in your internal grub. On the other hand, if you intend to switch via the BIOS, you need to check that the BIOS supports booting from a USB device, and that boot from USB is enabled. Some BIOSes let you hit one key to pick a boot device and another to enter the BIOS. If you only have the option to enter the BIOS, you'll have to adjust the boot priority, which may be a security issue (requiring switching the priority back when you're satisfied with the test results). To set this up, at what stage in the install process does one actually put the new release on to the external disk ? At the partitioning stage. I would install gparted before I do the install and pre-partition the external drive. (More tools available to make sure you're getting the partitioning the way you want it.) You can check the partition map, the drive labels (which may change, particularly when you change boot priorities in the BIOS) and the UUIDs. Write the labels, sizes, and UUIDs for the drives and partitions down. paths. /dev/sda1 style paths, too. Write those down, even though they might change. (I'm not the only one who gets confused by label labels and path labels.) Especially the UUIDs, even through they are long and a pain to write down. You probably will only need the first four to eight hex digitis of the UUIDs, you'll be able to tell when you look. Command line tools: df, especially df -h, is useful for looking at existing partition sizes. ls -l /dev/disk/, and of the four sub-directories there, is useful to see UUIDs and labels of existing partitions, and match them with the drives. (If you're really, really comfortable with command-line tools, you may prefer parted to gparted.) Even if you don't pre-partition, at least look at the partitions and write their sizes, labels, and UUIDs down. (The part of the label that can change is the drive letter. Partition number within the drive is stable.) (path. I mean path here, in modern parlance.) Does one need to also tell the install program where to put grub ? Yes. In the past you could tell the installer to put a pointer in existing Grubs for you in addition to putting Grub on the target disk, and other interesting combinations. I don't think you want to trust that with Grub2. (And old Grub doesn't seem to work very well any more, I'm sure not sure why.) You may end up hand-editing the Grub boot entries, but you need Grub itself installed on the external drive to BIOS-boot from the external drive. Be sure not to let it re-write Grub on your internal drive. That's trying to fix something that ain't broke, as you know. If you add Grub entries to the internal Grub, do it by hand. A rescue/netinstall CD or a live CD may be of use here. Not to install, just to make sure you don't get trapped. or does it do that automatically ? It will offer to do it automatically. Automatic has always done what I didn't want it to, especially when I have existing installs that I want to multi-boot. Is there any other special configuration one needs to do to properly put the new release on to the external hard disk ? Just make sure you don't let it pick the install target or cut/choose the partitions for you. Even if you pre-partition the external drive, the installer will ask you which partition is root. What you do is choose to run the partition step manually. All manually. If your partitions are pre-cut, you still use the partitioning step to tell the installer which partition is for /, /var, /usr,
Re: How to install Debian 7 to external hard disk
For an external USB drive there's nothing different than for using an internal drive, the only difference is, that it's much slower and using a Linux install on an external USB drive isn't fun regarding to the low speed. -- To UNSUBSCRIBE, email to debian-user-requ...@lists.debian.org with a subject of unsubscribe. Trouble? Contact listmas...@lists.debian.org Archive: http://lists.debian.org/op.w2fe10wyqhadp0@suse11-2
Re: How to install Debian 7 to external hard disk
On Mon, 26 Aug 2013 14:38:51 +0200, Zenaan Harkness z...@freedbms.net wrote: You can do this in 2 ways: 1) Having grub on internal hdd with menu entry for external hdd /boot/kernel... alternatives 2) Having hardware startup provide for native boot straight off of external hdd. For this option to work, grub must obviously be installed on the external hdd, and that hdd install /etc/fstab needs to be updated to use UUIDs rather than /dev/sdX names; I believe UUID mapping is automatic at *some* point, not sure when in install or later bootup sorry. Use GRUB from the internal disc. However, since sd* will change, regarding to what is when connected to USB, you need to use UUID or label for fstab too. -- To UNSUBSCRIBE, email to debian-user-requ...@lists.debian.org with a subject of unsubscribe. Trouble? Contact listmas...@lists.debian.org Archive: http://lists.debian.org/op.w2ffvuj5qhadp0@suse11-2
Re: How to install Debian 7 to external hard disk
On Mon, 26 Aug 2013 15:43:02 +0200 Ralf Mardorf ralf.mard...@alice-dsl.net wrote: For an external USB drive there's nothing different than for using an internal drive, the only difference is, that it's much slower and using a Linux install on an external USB drive isn't fun regarding to the low speed. If you have an early internal SSD, the external drive may be *faster*. (I have just such an Acer Aspire One.) And if you ask for a kernel with everything in, and a 32-bit install, it will boot on many machines... -- Joe -- To UNSUBSCRIBE, email to debian-user-requ...@lists.debian.org with a subject of unsubscribe. Trouble? Contact listmas...@lists.debian.org Archive: http://lists.debian.org/20130826165255.58506...@jretrading.com
