Easy Install and Boot from USB Hard Drive?

Jim Cornette fc-cornette at sbcglobal.net
Thu Jul 8 23:16:36 UTC 2004


rab wrote:

> I've asked similar questions before. I've been directed to using 
> mkinitrd but it's kind of complicated. Does anyone know of a Linux 
> distribution that would be easy to install to and boot from a USB hard 
> drive? 

I tried two different ways and two diferent computers for installing 
from a USB drive. Neither worked out as expected.

I gave up for now on trying to install on a USB drive. You might check 
out expert mode on a computer owned by you.

> I thought the computer dept. at my old company was bad but the 
> computer dept. people at the new job are just plain Nazi's and stupid 
> besides.

This probably is a good indication to not proceed on the company 
computers. If they are just doing their jobs or are control junkies, it 
is best to back off.

> (One person told me she thought that Linux was not secure and was 
> virus prone.)

Wasn't this a comment from someone who controls the other OS? They 
listen to him well, if he said it or it is just a rumor.

> I would prefer to dual boot the machine but if I can't I would like to 
> boot and run from an external USB drive. 

I guess some others use live CD editions of Linux. A search on this 
topic might be of interest to you. I haven't personally ran these, but 
they are bootable and don't really install on the machine.

> The new machine supports booting from a USB drive - I checked the BIOS 
> setup. I don't want to install anything on the computer's hard drive 
> although if I had to boot initially from a floppy I could live with 
> that. Surely someone has a simple solution.

Best to not take chances, but a Live CD version of Linux sounds 
interesting for home use and trials.

Good luck,

Jim

>
> Rick B.
>
>





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