Running Fedora 18 from an external HDD?
 

I have tried to install Fedora 18 on my desktop, which seemed to go OK, until I had to reboot after the install was complete, at which time I was greeted with a blank screen and blinking cursor. I am still curious if my hardware is just too "old".

So now I am wondering if anyone could guide me through a process of installing Fedora, or any distro of Linux to an external HDD and then booting the OS from that device. Is this possible? Could this bypass the "old hardware" problem?

yes it can be done, no it will not bypass your old hardware issue.

first post your specs.

second, have you tried running the LiveOS of F18? see if that works. If that works, then you should be able to get it to run properly in the hardware you have.

Sorry for the delay. Specs:

CPU: Intel Core 2 Duo Q6600 2.5GHz
RAM: 4GB DDR2 PC2-6400
MoBo: Asus P5E
Storage: Seagate 500GB 7200rpm HDD x 2
Graphics: NVidia GEForce 8500GT

I have a "newer" laptop that took Ubuntu with no issues, which somewhat led me to believe that it could be a hardware issue. I tried several more attempts at installing Fedora 18, and seemed to get a little further each time. First, I discovered that I had set the /boot partition too large. After I adjusted that to 500MB, then at least the drive would boot and I made it to another screen before freezing up again. After that I selected the automatic disk partitioning feature which got me to the same screen but just took a little longer to lock up. I have not tried the LiveOS, yet- will do though. A new build is in the works anyway- Ive been due one for a while, and would like to become more accustomed to using Linux as the default OS rather than Windows.

Thanks

Unfortunately, I am maxed out at a whopping 4GB for this current MoBo. I stepped up the voltage a little and that seemed to help things. In the attempts that I manually configured the partitions, I think I set the /swap partition to around 8GB, before I let the installer do it automatically. I am aware of the UNetbootin application, and I will attempt another install this weekend.

Thanks for the reply.

All of your hardware is supported
4 gig of ram is more than enough
the intel core2 DUO CPU though might cause some issues




i have fedora 18 on a 32 gig usb drive
unless you have a USB3 card
-- not in an older laptop
the very first "update" will take 2 full days !!!( yes 48 hours at least ) using usb2
most of this is the use of the "delta" rpm's ( drpm's)


the boot issue is likely the " acpi" issue

you might need to make sure that acpi is OFF

you can add custom lines to the install boot up
make sure you add
to the end of the bootline right before the install starts

now on the new fedora 18 installer ???
off hand i do not know where

Solved!
 

Apparently hardware was the, or was one of the issues that was giving me problems on the install. Ive built a new, 64-bit system over the weekend and took the HDD from the old desktop, stuck it in the new desktop, brought up the boot menu, selected the drive, booted up no problems, no freezes. Thanks for the help!

gratz, glad you were able to resolve the issue. Please try to post in detail what actions you took to resolve your issue and mark the thread as [SOLVED]. this can help others who might run into a simular issue as yours.