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Having trouble installing a piece of hardware? Want to know if that peripheral is compatible with Linux?

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Old 12-19-2005, 05:42 PM   #1
GNewbie
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USB Enclosure & Linux


i'm looking to buy a 2.5" hard drive usb enclosure so that i can rehabilitate an old 2GB laptop hard drive.

i'm looking to image puppy linux (or dsl) onto the currently broken windows 95 laptop.

i'm about to make the purchase, but... i figured i'd be sol if i get a usb that linux won't pick up...

i have a BB gift card and i'm looking at getting...

Adaptec USB 2.0 Hard Drive Enclosure Kit
Model: ACS-120

http://www.bestbuy.com/site/olspage....=1122655460358

can i expect this unit to be seen by puppy, dsl or knoppix?

tia...
 
Old 12-19-2005, 08:16 PM   #2
Thoreau
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The drive enclosure makes no difference. What matters is your usb port/chipset and BIOS. Whether your BIOS allows booting off a usb drive or not. If you have an old laptop with a 2GB drive, the odds are poor that it'll work. Your BIOS/Hardware is the limiting factor. Don't waste your money until you test bootable usb support first.
 
Old 12-19-2005, 09:48 PM   #3
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Thoreau
The drive enclosure makes no difference. What matters is your usb port/chipset and BIOS. Whether your BIOS allows booting off a usb drive or not. If you have an old laptop with a 2GB drive, the odds are poor that it'll work. Your BIOS/Hardware is the limiting factor. Don't waste your money until you test bootable usb support first.
what i'm trying to do is to remove the 2 gig hard drive, put it in the enclosure and then image a new linux partition onto it.

once the image is on the old laptop hard drive, it goes back in the laptop (which has ZERO usb support, but shouldn't need it, right?).

are you saying i won't be able to image a partition from a different computer on to the laptop hd in the enclosure?

i think i might not have been altogether clear in what i was trying to do.
 
Old 12-20-2005, 02:00 AM   #4
J.W.
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My question would be:

* Are you attempting to simply expand your storage capacity by adding the 2G drive in an enclosure and then mounting it

* boot off a USB device containing a Linux distro

* put your laptop back into service by installing Linux (and thus overwriting the existing broken Windows that you mention)

Based on your description, it sounds like the third option, but if so, why not just blow away Windows and reinstall Linux. If I understand things correctly, it may be that you're making the situation more complicated than it needs to be
 
Old 12-20-2005, 01:37 PM   #5
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Quote:
Originally Posted by J.W.
My question would be:

* Are you attempting to simply expand your storage capacity by adding the 2G drive in an enclosure and then mounting it

* boot off a USB device containing a Linux distro

* put your laptop back into service by installing Linux (and thus overwriting the existing broken Windows that you mention)

Based on your description, it sounds like the third option, but if so, why not just blow away Windows and reinstall Linux. If I understand things correctly, it may be that you're making the situation more complicated than it needs to be
i'm putting the laptop back into service. i would love to blow away win95, but the laptop doesn't have a cdrom, only a floppy.

therefore, i want to mount the drive in the enclosure, delete the fat partition, repartion and then image a linux distro onto the drive.

in addition, i'm just trying to learn how to make backup images to the enclosure (200GB hd) hd.

i'm having problems using partimage with a knoppix or mepis cd. i think it is a permissions issue. i found a tutorial that alledgedly resolved the issue, so i'll follow up on that route and see if it helps me out.
 
Old 12-24-2005, 04:42 AM   #6
Thoreau
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It's difficult to do what you are trying to do. One clear cut way would be this.. hokey, but it should be the most stable approach.

Pop the 2GB drive out of your old laptop. Put it in the usb enclosure. Put it on a usable PC. Create 2 partitions. Both ext2 to be safe. First partition make 1.2GB's. Second partition make 800MB's. Copy the content of your chosen distro's CD to the second formated partition. Create a hard drive boot floppy, normally in the image directory, for your chosen OS. Put the drive back in the laptop. Boot to the floppy. Point the image path to /dev/hda2/mychosenos. And format/install on hda1.

If the laptop is that old, you may want to consider something like Damn Small Linux or the like. Response times should be considered. Old hardware needs a light distro and light GUI to run without making you go insane. Damn Small Linux is 60 MB's complete with GUI and apps. The choice is yours. Good luck.
 
  


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