[SOLVED] CentOs install on external USB harddrive

pressman57 · 06-14-2013, 04:07 PM

Hi all. Thanks for looking

I've installed CentOS to an external USB harddrive, but the kernel won't boot. It complains that /dev/sdc1 (the partition where the kernel resides) is already mounted on /sysroot. I've really googled this and have not found a solution. I installed Arch to the drive and it booted like a champ.

Any help would be greatly appreciated.

jefro · 06-14-2013, 07:17 PM

Could there be some issue with an existing hard drive install or maybe incorrect loader to hard drive?

Remove the power or connector to internal drives and re-install Centos to usb. Be sure bios detects usb drive and it should show up as a hard drive choice.

pressman57 · 06-15-2013, 09:38 AM

Jefro, thanks for the reply, but I think this is CentOS-centric since Arch installed and booted perfectly to the same drive, using the same Grub on sda.

pressman57 · 06-16-2013, 11:38 AM

Finally got CentOS to boot from the external USB harddrive using legacy grub. For those having a similar problem here's what I did:

1. Reinstalled CentOS and wrote grub to the install partition in hopes I could chainload. This failed.

2. Copied the kernel string generated by grub on the external drive into menu.lst on my first harddrive.

Hope this helps someone.