Installing ubuntu 11.04 in external hard disk
 

Hello

I have external hard disk of 1 TB. I want to install ubuntu 11.04 in that. I have four partitions, three of which contains data and fourth one is empty. It has 160 GB space. Is it possible to divide further in 3 partitions, one for boot, one for swap and one for "/" so it i will not format the other drives ???

Also, can we use installed ubuntu in external hard disk be used on the other systems with different configurations???

Thanks in advance,

Summit

Yes but you have to delete it first form the configuration then repartition the free space according to your needs..use GParted for that task
http://gparted.sourceforge.net/

don't forget to backup your data before doing anything
in case you need more help ..ask in this thread again.
good luck

Thanks kareempharmacist

Can we divide external hard disk into more than four partitions using "Gparted" ?


Thanks in advance,

Summit

check this out
http://www.linuxquestions.org/linux/...a_Linux_System

paste here the output of the following command
check out this book ..chapter "File systems" it will be very useful to u
http://ifile.it/ulhk09/__Linux_Admin...th_Edition.pdf

if u have any questions ask ..I will be glad to help u

http://ifile.it/9axhk4/__UNIX_and_Li...th_Edition.pdf

good luck

[root@localhost ~]# fdisk -l

Disk /dev/sda: 320.0 GB, 320072933376 bytes
255 heads, 63 sectors/track, 38913 cylinders
Units = cylinders of 16065 * 512 = 8225280 bytes

Device Boot Start End Blocks Id System
/dev/sda1 * 1 6374 51199123+ 7 HPFS/NTFS
/dev/sda2 6375 38912 261361454+ f W95 Ext'd (LBA)
/dev/sda5 6375 12748 51199123+ 7 HPFS/NTFS
/dev/sda6 12749 19122 51199123+ 7 HPFS/NTFS
/dev/sda7 19123 25496 51199123+ 7 HPFS/NTFS
/dev/sda8 25497 31870 51199123+ 7 HPFS/NTFS
/dev/sda9 34274 38912 37262736 83 Linux
/dev/sda10 31871 32449 4650786 82 Linux swap / Solaris
/dev/sda11 32450 34273 14651248+ 8e Linux LVM

Partition table entries are not in disk order

Disk /dev/sdb: 1000.1 GB, 1000170586112 bytes
255 heads, 63 sectors/track, 121597 cylinders
Units = cylinders of 16065 * 512 = 8225280 bytes

Device Boot Start End Blocks Id System
/dev/sdb1 * 101986 121598 157529088 83 Linux
/dev/sdb2 101221 101986 6144000 82 Linux swap / Solaris
/dev/sdb3 1 1276 10242048 83 Linux
/dev/sdb4 1276 101221 802810881 5 Extended
/dev/sdb5 88473 101221 102401024 7 HPFS/NTFS
/dev/sdb6 62976 88473 204801024 7 HPFS/NTFS
/dev/sdb7 59152 62976 30720000 83 Linux
/dev/sdb8 33655 59152 204800000 7 HPFS/NTFS
/dev/sdb9 1276 33655 260085760 7 HPFS/NTFS

Partition table entries are not in disk order


I have tried to install ubuntu in external hard disk. I have made four primary partition. I have set swap ~ 5GB, /boot ~ 10GB and / ~ 160 GB.

Ubuntu is installed well. But when I reboot the system by selecting first boot from external hard disk, then there is only black screen with "-" blinking.

Please suggest me what should I do to boot from external hard disk and where I did mistake???

Thanks in advance,

Summit

First things first, you swap at 5GB is way overkill, 2 GB is plenty

How do you know it "is installed well" if you cannot even get it to boot?

You're gonna hate me but I am going to suggest you start again. Backup all the data on that hard drive and start again. Format it how you want but make sure Ubuntu is at the beginning and the data partitions are after it. By your last post at least 1 Linux partition is in the middle of a group of NTFS partitions. GRUB needs to be installed on the MBR and that is at the beginning. After you know you have a functioning system then put all your data back on.

EDIT: Please post information entries such as your partition table in a code box it makes things tidier and takes up alot less space.

use Gparted to make the ubuntu partition "bootable"
you should make three primary partitions and one extended partition which contains another partitions
so I suggest reformatting the 1 terabyte hard disk again using the above configuration(my configuration) then installing ubuntu
did u read the books or the tutorial?

Hello

Thanks for reply

I have again made three partition with swap 2GB. I would like to know...where I am doing wrong?
I have three partitions - swap, /boot and / and fourth one is extended partition. I have did everything with GParted and next time with ubuntu DVD. Both times same thing happens.

Ya...i m reading that tutorials...thanks a lot kareempharmacist.

Thanks in advance,

Summit

the boot loader doesn't recognize the ubuntu partition and its boot loader
check this out
http://sourceforge.net/projects/boot...urce=directory
it may solve the problem

i think the problem is when u chose where to store the boot loader ..u should choose the MBR of the external hard disk

Wasn't this made obvious before?

The entire partition system was untidy and needed cleaning up, has this been done?
It appeared, before, that Grub was not in the MBR and it still looks like this is the case.
What has actually been done to rectify this?
Can we see a screenshot of the partitioning? This will give us a chance to see if you have at least attempted to tidy things up.

hi

thanks for reply

firstly I would like to know, in which partition I should install Linux. Actually, I was installing ubuntu in / partition.

I think, I am doing mistake here.

If I am wrong then which partition is required to install Ubuntu???

Thanks in advance,
Summit

I still recommend boot repair cd
http://sourceforge.net/p/boot-repair/home/Home/
It will be the gold solution without reinstalling ubuntu..

When the computer’s boot system searches for the hard drive, the first thing
it will inspect is whether the MBR (Master Boot Record) of the first hard drive
(master of the first IDE channel or first disk of the SCSI channel) contains
any indication of the system to be loaded. The MBR is the first track of the
hard disk, where the information regarding configured partitions is stored,
and optionally, the program responsible for initiating the operating system.
If this program is not found here, the boot sector of the disk’s active partition
will be inspected. Whenever we wish to install a program in the computer’s
boot system we must place it in one of these zones. In the following figure
we can see this entire process when the boot sequence is first the disk drive
and then the disk:

Attachment 9071

Whenever we install a boot system, we need to remember that the order in
which this sequence is carried out is important: if we install one on the MBR
and another on the active partition, the MBR’s will be executed because this
is the area that the BIOS or EFI inspects first. If we do not have an active
partition, we need to place the boot program in the MBR. At all events, the
most advisable is to always install the program on the MBR because it is the
first thing to be inspected. Although we may have other operating systems
installed on other disks, we should install Grub in one of these zones.
In the program configuration we will tell it where the operating system that
we wish to load is located.