Linux and USB hard drives

Citizen Bleys · 05-13-2004, 11:35 AM

Does anybody know the device name for a hard drive connected to a PC via a USB port? I have an external hard drive, and I'd like to install Gentoo on it. (I need Windows on my hard drive for work/education/Final Fantasy XI purposes, but I still really, really like Gentoo. Since I need all the space on my NTFS drives, it'll be pretty much necessary to install on the USB external. I'll install GRUB to /dev/hda1, of course, and just not boot Gentoo when the USB drive isn't hooked up)

Andrew Benton · 05-13-2004, 12:22 PM

Most mass storage devices show up as /dev/sda1 on my computer. Plug it in and type dmesg into a terminal and see if anything looks familiar. I don't think you can boot Linux from a USB device (though I could be wrong again). If the kernel is on a USB device, how's it going to get into main memory to mount the USB device and load the kernel? It's a chicken and egg situation. But maybe there's a way round it. Who knows?

Citizen Bleys · 05-13-2004, 03:00 PM

Grub goes on /dev/hda1, with the option to boot Windows or Linux, with the Linux partition residing on the USB drive. I'm pretty sure my BIOS supports booting directly from a USB device, though, so one way or another, I should be able to put Gentoo on it.