I am taking a course to truly learn Linux and am attempting to install Slackware 13.X to a separate USB hard drive. The intent is to keep Windows while learning Linux, and all I have to do is insert the USB drive when needed. I am using cfdisk and have no difficulty getting to the point where it wants me to partition the hhd. However, whether I have the USB connected or not, it will always present the HDA for partitioning. How do I tell cfdisk to recognize and set partitions on the USB hard drive? (i.e.) What is the command? I am an absolute beginner so let's begin at the beginning please...

try running 'fdisk -l' it should list the partitions on ALL the drives recognized by linux

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Simply follow the "cfdisk" command with the device you wish to make changes on. An external drive is probably going to come up as sdb (though there can be a lot of variables in this sort of thing), so the command would look like:

If you need help identifying which drives are which, you can check the output of "dmesg" for occurrences of "sd" or "hd", which will be entries pertaining to disk drives. For instance on my machine, the output of "dmesg | grep hd" looks like this:

From this output, we can see that the device "hda" is an 8GB Ridata CF card. Using this information, it should be easy enough to figure out which physical device links to specific device nodes.

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Though your reply was very helpful, I ask, "in the output of "dmesg | grep hd" looks like this:" is the straight line a "pipe" or a "1?"

Also contributing to the confusion is that both my internal hdd and the USB hdd are 500gb in size. Hence looking at the numbers will not help and no brand name (as in "Ridata") is mentioned or noted in the choice. But, the most confusing part is that the screen dialog did not change whether the USB was actually attached or not (the choice did not increase when the USB was plugged into the computer.). I would like to post the actual screen dialog but during installation, obviously, no form of cutting or pasting is possible? It involves writing the entire dialog by hand unless you know of a better way.

It's a pipe. Unlike the 1, it's not bent on top.

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Are you running:
or:
or have you tried both?

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Hi,

First; Slackware 13.x could be 13.0, 13.1 or 13.37. Which one! Diagnosis is hard since particulars for each version will be addressed different. Explicit would be better.

FYI: I suggest that you look at 'How to Ask Questions the Smart Way' so in the future your queries provide information that will aid us in diagnosis of the problem or query.


HTH!

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The version we are discussing is Slackware 13.37. Thank you for asking.

Moved: This thread is more suitable in <SLACKWARE> and has been moved accordingly to help your thread/question get the exposure it deserves.

Hi,

That should have been included information in the OP instead of 13.X.

Look at 'libata_switchover HOWTO' to understand the devices specifications.

If you boot with 13.37 and do 'fdisk -l' then your device assignments will be shown.