Installation on external USB HD drive

dagr · 2007-02-01 16:34:23

Hello everybody,

For a while I've been wanting to get to grips with Linux, and so thought I'd try Arch.

I'd appreciate it if someone could confirm that what I'm trying to do is not totally stupid.

I have an old PC (PIII@500MHz, WinXP, 384MB RAM, 15GB HD (5GB free)) that I'd like to use for trying out Linux. I wont be doing anything fancy, just accessing the Internet, trying out some Linux OS apps like StarOffice, etc., and maybe eventually using it as a hobby Internet server for my website.

1. Will Arch run on a PC like the one I've got?

2. Rather than partition the disk, which is not very big, I was going to buy an external USB 2.0 HD and partition that for Linux, as well storing other stuff from my Windows machines. Is that possible? If so, can I easily switch from Windows boot to Linux without redefining what's a bootable device each time?

3. Dumb question, but what is the "ISO" extension on the download files. Do I just burn a CD with that on it and install it from there from Windows?

4. For what I'm doing, do you recommend 0.8 instead of 0.7.2?

Thanks.
David.

Shagbag · 2007-02-01 17:45:33

dagr wrote:

1. Will Arch run on a PC like the one I've got?

Arch is optimised to run on an i686 processor. That means it uses functions that are only found in i686 processors. Run it on an i586 or earlier and it'll probably break. The PIII is an i686 processor. Arch should work on your your PC.

2. Rather than partition the disk, which is not very big, I was going to buy an external USB 2.0 HD and partition that for Linux, as well storing other stuff from my Windows machines. Is that possible?

You need to check in the BIOS of your PC to see if it supports booting from USB-HDD. It there is no such boot option available then you will not be able to boot DIRECTLY from the USB hard drive. You could boot INDIRECTLY but it's more hassle than it's worth IMHO. 15GB is more than enough space. In all of the 2.5 years that I've been running linux
I have never filled more than 5GB for an OS install + additional packages installed from the repos.

If so, can I easily switch from Windows boot to Linux without redefining what's a bootable device each time?

Windows and Linux each have their own kernels. You have to reboot into the other if you want FULL functionality from the OS. You can use virtualisation (eg. VMware) to run a guest OS inside the host OS, but I figure that's pretty advanced stuff for what you want. It also requires you to choose which is going to be your host OS.

3. Dumb question, but what is the "ISO" extension on the download files. Do I just burn a CD with that on it and install it from there from Windows?

Like the blurb to the forum states, there is not such thing as a dumb question on this forum. An ISO image is a bootable compressed image. This means you can boot from a CD rather than the hard drive. Therefore, you don't need to load windoze to install Arch. You may want to check out Archie before you burn the Arch iso. Arch is a LiveCD version of Arch. A LiveCD runs entirely from the CD drive. It loads into memory without touching your hard drive. This way you can try Arch out without having to install it to your hard drive. LiveCDs are very popular for linux newbies for that very reason (no install necessary). The downside is that any changes you make won't be saved, thereby compelling you to install it to your hard drive - but then you'll only want to do that anyway if you like Arch.

4. For what I'm doing, do you recommend 0.8 instead of 0.7.2?

It doesn't make a difference. IIRC Arch is a 'metadistro' in that version numbers just mean a different 'snapshot' of the base packages are compressed into the .iso image. Once you've installed it to your hard drive, one of the first things you'll do is update your packages. This will take you from 0.7.2 to 0.8. So burning a 0.8 image or a 0.7.2 image doesn't make that much of a difference unless your internet connection is slow (eg. dial-up).

dagr · 2007-02-01 17:58:51

Great! Thanks for the very full reply.

I do think the PC has a "boot from USB" option in the BIOS - I will make sure first though. My idea was to have the BIOS go search for the boot loader on the USB first, and if not found, boot up automatically on Windows (i.e. if I want linux, just plug in the external HD before switching on power. I suspect it's more complicated than that though).

Cheers
David.

Misfit138 · 2007-02-01 21:55:47

I would recommend the newer 0.8, as some bumps have been fixed that will streamline the installation process for you.
If you install from 0.7.2, plan on a kernel panic error after your first system update, which can be fixed by hitting "e" at the grub menu and changing "initrd.img" to "kernel26.img" and then once in the system, by permanently editing your /boot/grub/menu.lst

Last edited by Misfit138 (2007-02-01 21:56:37)

dagr · 2007-02-06 09:17:20

Thanks for the suggestion. I have downloaded v0.8 ISO.

A slight change of plan. I will have to partition my HD for Linux. I have 6GB free, so I'll set aside 5GB for Linux (dual boot WinXP/Arch).

Next question: Will the ISO CD partition the disk or do I need to use a utility app like GParted Live first? Also, once partitioned, will the ARCH CD "know" what disks/directories to create/mount, or do you have to do that yourself? (I couldn't see what partitions are needed from the doc here on the site. I just want a vanilla install, nothing fancy). Thanks.

oliv · 2007-02-07 18:21:33

Hi, I'm trying to do the same thing.

From here, I found 2 issues :

- Using 0.7.2 iso cd, I can't install on my external hdd. I can't find any /dev/sda drive, and loading usb-storage kernel module fail with an error like "invalid module".

Can you install on your usb hdd using the 0.8 ISO ?

- There are too much computers without usb-boot support. And I cannot always access to the bios. Does someone know a boot cd which can start my usb hdd ? Maybe I just need a grub and a kernel with usb support ?

goodboy · 2007-02-23 20:59:10

Hello !

I'm having the same problem using the 0.7.2 iso. So I thought instead of starting a new thread on the same subject I rather continue on this one. My external FAT32 HD is attached via USB 2.0 to an Asus P4P 800 deluxe mobo. So I think there is no problem for the bios to use the external HD as a bootdrive ( the HD is listed under "usb mass storage device" in the bios ).

Installation: I went for "2. Partition Hard Drives" and expected to find the external drive listed there, but there is only one entry "OTHER" ( I detached all other HDs and left only the external drive ). I tried dmesg, but I couldn't find anything like "usb mass storage device". I plugged in a second usb flash drive, just to see any difference to the first dmesg output, but nothing also.

Any ideas how to mount an external usb device?

edit: the 0.8 iso fixed all problems ---> ftp://ftp.archlinux.org/other/0.8/i686

Thanks!
Goodboy

Last edited by goodboy (2007-02-24 11:36:33)

Arch Linux

#1 2007-02-01 16:34:23

Installation on external USB HD drive

#2 2007-02-01 17:45:33

Re: Installation on external USB HD drive

#3 2007-02-01 17:58:51

Re: Installation on external USB HD drive

#4 2007-02-01 21:55:47

Re: Installation on external USB HD drive

#5 2007-02-06 09:17:20

Re: Installation on external USB HD drive

#6 2007-02-07 18:21:33

Re: Installation on external USB HD drive

#7 2007-02-23 20:59:10

Re: Installation on external USB HD drive

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