Re: How to install Debian 7 to external hard disk
On Mon, Aug 26, 2013 at 7:29 PM, C.T.F. Jansen
<frank.jansen@actrix.gen.nz> wrote:
> Greetings,
>
> Is there a preferred way to install Debian 7 from DVD to an external (USB)
> hard disk ?
Several. Take your pick.
> The whole external hard disk is to be used instead of the internal hard
> disk.
That makes things much easier.
> This is to experiment with the new release (and discover fish hooks
> like graphics that don't work) while leaving the internal hard disk with the
> production Debian 6 on it completely alone.
Many of us do things like that.
> One then boots from either the external hard disk or the internal hard disk.
And you can switch it from the BIOS or via Grub, if your BIOS supports
booting from USB.
> A live Debian is not to be set up.
Yeah, no particular need to set up a live image, since a normal
install will work fine.
> Grub and the rest of the boot processing
> also goes on the external hard disk.
That's the key to the install, really.
Well, as has been mentioned, you don't need to install Grub on the
external disk if you're okay with pointing to the external disk in
your internal grub.
On the other hand, if you intend to switch via the BIOS, you need to
check that the BIOS supports booting from a USB device, and that boot
from USB is enabled. Some BIOSes let you hit one key to pick a boot
device and another to enter the BIOS. If you only have the option to
enter the BIOS, you'll have to adjust the boot priority, which may be
a security issue (requiring switching the priority back when you're
satisfied with the test results).
> To set this up, at what stage in the install process does one actually put
> the new release on to the external disk ?
At the partitioning stage.
I would install gparted before I do the install and pre-partition the
external drive. (More tools available to make sure you're getting the
partitioning the way you want it.) You can check the partition map,
the drive labels (which may change, particularly when you change boot
priorities in the BIOS) and the UUIDs. Write the labels, sizes, and
UUIDs for the drives and partitions down.
Especially the UUIDs, even through they are long and a pain to write
down. You probably will only need the first four to eight hex digitis
of the UUIDs, you'll be able to tell when you look.
Command line tools:
df, especially "df -h", is useful for looking at existing partition sizes.
"ls -l /dev/disk/", and of the four sub-directories there, is useful
to see UUIDs and labels of existing partitions, and match them with
the drives.
(If you're really, really comfortable with command-line tools, you may
prefer parted to gparted.)
Even if you don't pre-partition, at least look at the partitions and
write their sizes, labels, and UUIDs down.
(The part of the label that can change is the drive letter. Partition
number within the drive is stable.)
> Does one need to also tell the install program where to put grub ? or does
> it do that automatically ?
> Is there any other special configuration one needs to do to properly put the
> new release on to the external hard disk ?
>
> It is vastly preferable not to unplug the internal hard disk or otherwise
> disrupt the functioning system.
>
> Of course the internal hard disk will be backed up before the attempted
> install ...
>
> Thanks for any information.
>
> frank.jansen@actrix.gen.nz, ZL2TTS
>
>
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--
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Joel Rees
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