Linux Installation

Category: Quickies

Q:

In setting up some space on which to install linux, AND not have to move all my partitions around, I have been wondering IF buying a USB external drive would be the way to go. The external drives are being advertised primarily as backup and storage adjuncts. Could I download a linux system on an external drive and would the drive accept such an installation?



A:

Most modern systems support booting from a USB hard drive. Make sure you check in your BIOS setup screens to verify that the USB boot option is turned on. Next, you have to make sure that the version of Linux you have will support USB install and boot. My quick scan shows that most do, but you may have to do a little research to see if any special tweaks are needed. Putting Linux on a keychain "flash drive" is also a cool option for a very portable Linux boot disk!

This article was posted by on 29 Aug 2005

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Most recent comments on "Linux Installation"

Posted by:

Joshua Burke
01 Sep 2005

You might also try one of the 'live linux' CDs available. I prefer knoppix for linux-on-demand. It can also be installed to a USB device which is very cool.

The biggest question you will need to answer before choosing is whether or not you want linux to be able to interact with your windows file system and vice versa. If the answer in 'gno' (linux joke) then any install will do. If the answer is yes you have much fewer choices and I would recommend a RedHat install with WINE (Windows on Unix) for greatest functionality. -- Joshua

Posted by:

Linux A. Wannabe Pizza Pie
07 Sep 2005

An IDE hard drive these days can transfer data at up to 100 MB/s--USB2.0 can go up to 480 Mbits/s but is often much slower. So you'll be sacrificing some performance. I think a live CD is even slower.

EDITOR'S NOTE: Right... but a LOT more portable!

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Article information: AskBobRankin -- Linux Installation (Posted: 29 Aug 2005)
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