I'm new to linux and i just installed it on my laptop, dual boot with windows xp. but since im the only one who actually needs or uses it in the house (and my laptop doesnt have much memory) it would be WAY better if i could have linux on an external hard drive to connect to the computer when i needed it.

So wanted to know if its actually a good idea (would it be slow due to a transfer rate?) and is it even possible (using something like ghost to transfer all of linux on its own partition to the external hard drive)

Ive already checked out some of the forums and it seems like some people tried something similar and were having some problems. Any suggestions? thanx!

well theoretically it should be possible for it to work,

and yes Ghost could do the job ...

But don't forget that you need to consider small aspects like Boot records, does your machine handle a Ext. hdd on boot, etc.

Far more palatable it would be if you would leave a minimal system on your laptop, and port the rest onto the ext, so that it still boots from your hdd but then takes the rest from the ext