Basic Linux Questions. Destro Decisions and USB HDD Installations.
 

I'm looking to install a Linux destro on my 1TB HP external hard drive (I still want to keep Win7 but I want something for just writing scripts and learning about the amazing world of computers and stuff). My two nubish questions are;

1) What is a secure OS I can use that will let me access it remotely and still be secure enough to store sensitive documents and will keep me safe from people trying to get in.

and

2) How can I install the destro onto my hard drive without deleting the MBR on my laptop like I did last time.

Thanks in advance to anybody who can help.

1) I dont know. Google! Install perhaps a linux server as firewall?
2) look for installing grub4dos in a Windows environment (this is probably simply copying a bin file into the C:.. I say this because I have done it with XP. Then I has to create a menu.lst in c: with commands for starting a "live like" distro). Then look for installing TinyCoreLinux or Knoppix files into your HDD (this is what I call a "live like" distro. I dont recommend to use automatic install programms from livecd of distros.. because you could delete everything (like you.. or .. me.. few months ago).

Thanks for your help. And Sorry I meant to say I want to install it onto my external hdd without over writing the MBR on my laptop like I did last time.

Why not just set up a virtual machine?

1) Any distro can be set up to be secure and remotely accessible. Just set it up the way that remote logins are only allowed with key based authentication and disable the root login for remote connections. If you want it even safer put your important documents on a crypted partition/container-file and mount it only when you need them.

2) The safest way to install a Linux distribution without making changes to your laptop would be to use a virtualization software like Virtualbox.

I don't want a virtual machine because I want to be able to take this with me and use it anywhere, without people knowing that this is on it. I just want to be able to use it on any computer not just mine.

Then you need a live installation. You'll get around the MBR issue, and in order to boot the Linux OS you'll just enter the bios and modify the boot order of the drives to put your external ahead of the internal drive.

I keep an Ubuntu live distro on a 4G thumb drive for things like that (mostly data/system recovery needs.

A "standard" installation won't handle the changing system architecture when you boot it on a new computer very well, live installations are built for just that.

Thank you that was very helpful.

As a secure OS any Linux Can be secure. Security depends on how its administrator. But to be able to install it on a external hd you'll need some kind of boot media to boot it with other systems such as a cd,floppy, or like a flash drive with grub installed on it. Which can get complicated.

Best best is to get a live distro such as ubuntu and carry a flash drive for storage purposes. That way you can hold you other programs and personal storage on it.

for XP, installing the "gdlr" file from grub4dos into the c:/ of your HDD DONT overwrite the MBR.
Then changing the ini file in c:/ is not a big deal.
I mean it serious: I believe there are ways of manually installing linux (TinyCoreLinux, KNOPPIX..) on your HDD WITHOUT destroying your MBR. Perhaps you had chosen an automatic install (like me before in a case) and had a bad experience. Then, now, choose a manual way, step by step.. your MBR will survive it.

And for sure: you can install the OS on the USB (if your bios dont accept it, you will have to install the bootloader "plop" on your HDD before). Be carefull to choose the correct USB.. when you install

I did my last install manually. I set everything up so it wouldn't affect my main hard drive, I did everything but take it out. My MBR was still over written when I installed openSUSE 11.4 and I really don't want that to happen again. :P

ok. Then suse was the wrong thing. Take www.tinycorelinux.net