usb external hdd dual split boot?[solved]

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ianorlin
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usb external hdd dual split boot?[solved]

Post#1 by ianorlin » 25 Aug 2013, 21:54

I haven't tried installing yet but does a split of having the root on cd and then installing a porteus file on a usb external hard drive my bios does not see work? Does it matter if there are two partitions on my usb external hard drive and will it still find it? I can boot from the live cd. I am also running and installed lubuntu which I boot off of the livecd via plop so do I just install a /porteus folder on the external hard drive and root to the cd? Oh the old internal ata hard drive is broken so can't use that.
Last edited by ianorlin on 14 Sep 2013, 19:22, edited 1 time in total.

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Re: usb external hdd dual split boot?

Post#2 by Ahau » 25 Aug 2013, 22:18

Yes, this will work. Take a look at /boot/docs/cheatcodes.txt and read through the entries for from=, extramod=, rootcopy=, changes=, etc. You can really customize things to have whatever you want in which location. Since your BIOS won't pickup the USB drive, I would suggest putting only the kernel and initrd on the CD and using from= to point to the porteus data on the USB external drive. That will load faster and is writeable. I use this on my home computer to ensure I never mess with my windows boot loader. As much as I would love to delete Windows, my wife prefers otherwise, and has not been too happy when I hosed the MBR in the past ;)

feel free to ask for more guidance or clarification if you need it.
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Re: usb external hdd dual split boot?

Post#3 by francois » 25 Aug 2013, 22:29

Welcome to porteus.

It depends on the type of installation that you have on your usb key. Some installations are simple, other more complicated.

Porteus could be installed on the same partition or a second partition of you usb key. What you will need is a bootloader (grub2, grub legacy, syslinux ... ) to be able to boot both of your systems. What type of bootloader do you have on your key?

There is a few threads on the forum about grub2 and grublegacy installations. Google is your friend: keywords porteus grub legacy (or grub2) install menu.lst.

Don't hesitate to ask more questions, if needed. :)
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Re: usb external hdd dual split boot?

Post#4 by ianorlin » 25 Aug 2013, 23:14

I also want plop on it and be able to launch plop boot manager to also boot into lubuntu without having to change to a plop live cd which I was using before. I was using plop to get it to boot in the first place then using grub2 to start lubuntu which I have installed but it won't work without a livecd or plop.

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Re: usb external hdd dual split boot?

Post#5 by francois » 25 Aug 2013, 23:33

has not been too happy when I hosed the MBR
grub legacy with 3 secs delay is the solution! :)
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Re: usb external hdd dual split boot?

Post#6 by donald » 25 Aug 2013, 23:43

@ ianorlin
If your bios do not accept your usb-hdd as a boot-device,then you
have to use plop from a (porteus) live-cd.
no other way.....maybe a bios-update

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Re: usb external hdd dual split boot?

Post#7 by ianorlin » 26 Aug 2013, 01:58

Not even with cheatcodes everytime? like does from and changes let me create a wierd filesystem that can go without plop using bootloader on cd? or if that doesn't work would going into plop then selecting cd still allow me to see usb stuff?

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Re: usb external hdd dual split boot?

Post#8 by donald » 26 Aug 2013, 12:44

@ ianorlin

With every running OS (live-Cd) you should be able to see your usb-stuff, but to boot from this usb-hdd, (in your case),requires a -from your bios- accepted boot-medium, which makes the (grub2) bootloader,residing on this usb-hdd accessible for your PC.

To be honest, I don't fully understand your goals.If you just want to choose between
lubuntu and porteus at startup,and grub is already installed, copying the porteus and boot-folder wherever you want, and then edit the grub-bootloader...done.
In order not to be misunderstood: copying the folders,not installation

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Re: usb external hdd dual split boot?

Post#9 by Ahau » 26 Aug 2013, 20:59

It sounds like the OP's computer will only boot from a CD (since the internal drive is broken) and he wants to dual-boot Porteus and lubuntu from an external hard drive (please correct me if I'm wrong here).

If you can boot lubuntu through plop on the Porteus CD (and it sounds like this is the case from your first post unless you are using plop from a lubuntu livecd), I think the solution is relatively easy. Please try the following:

1) boot Porteus from the live CD
2) copy the porteus data from the live CD onto your usb HDD:

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cp -ar /mnt/sr0/* /mnt/sdb2 
(assuming your cd is sr0 and you want Porteus on the second partition on the second disk attached to your computer; change these paths to suit)
3) reboot; boot from the CD, but when the boot menu comes up, hit TAB and add the following cheatcode:

Code: Select all

from=/dev/sdb2
4) Once it boots up, check out /var/log/porteus-livedbg (the name of that file might be slightly different) and check that it says "Porteus data found in /mnt/sdb2", or whichever device/partition you put the porteus data. If it fails to boot or fails to read data from this location, come back and let us know what happened. If it shows that you're booting from your usb HDD, move on to step 5.
5) rebuild the Porteus iso with a modified porteus.cfg so you don't have to manually enter the from= cheatcode every time:

Code: Select all

mkdir /tmp/iso
cp -ar /mnt/sr0/* /tmp/iso/
cd /tmp/iso/boot/syslinux
geany porteus.cfg #(replace geany with the text editor found in your desktop environment)
Now, go to the first boot entry in your porteus.cfg and add "from=/dev/sdb2" to the APPEND line just like you would while booting up and pressing TAB. You can add any other cheatcodes you like here. Once done, save it, close, and then:

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cd /tmp/iso/porteus
./make-iso.sh
that script will prompt you for an iso name, you can use whatever you like, e.g. /tmp/test.iso

6) burn the new iso to disk and boot from it. You should be able to boot Porteus off your USB HDD or enter plop to boot lubuntu.

Note that once you start using the "from=" cheatcode, the data inside the "porteus" folder on the cd is no longer used, everything other than the bootloader, bootloader config, kernel (/boot/syslinux/vmlinuz) and initrd (/boot/syslinux/initrd.xz) is read directly off of your usb hard drive. The kernel and initrd together make up a miniature linux operating system and this system is capable of seeing the same drives and partitions as the full-blown Porteus system. the "from=" cheatcode tells the initrd where to find the porteus data and it builds the full-blown Porteus system out of these files, so what matters under this setup is that the linux kernel can see these locations, not that they are bootable through your BIOS.

I actually have things set up a little bit more complex than this to have a little more flexibility without having to burn new boot cd's all the time; I boot grub (legacy) off a CD, which will either boot my windows partition (booooo) or chainload to another grub installation I have on a partition on my second hard drive. That grub installation reads off a menu.lst on the hard drive so I can modify that partition to boot however I want. The downside is that I have to go through two menus in order to boot linux; the up side is that I haven't had to burn a new boot disk in several months.

Once again, good luck! If any of my explanation isn't clear or sounds like it's heading in the wrong direction (I may not fully understand what you're looking to do), just let us know!
Please take a look at our online documentation, here. Suggestions are welcome!

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Re: usb external hdd dual split boot?

Post#10 by ianorlin » 01 Sep 2013, 01:23

I have completed steps 1-4 and boots from the external hard drive but have not made so it boots automatically with the cheat code. So if I want to still have always fresh mode to boot from the cd I don't put from cheatcode in there. Also what does the timeout line do on the second line of porteus.cfg can I make the timeout longer that way if I want to or turn it off at all if not sure which system to boot?

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Re: usb external hdd dual split boot?

Post#11 by francois » 01 Sep 2013, 02:01

1) You can make the time out longer if you want. Just change the number.

A longer timeout will give you more time to select the type of booting that you prefer. Once selected if you push the enter key, the selected option will boot immediately. :)

2) no you have to add the additional cheatcode to always fresh, graphical or whatever option you entend to use, unless you want to enter the cheatcode using tab key each time you boot your computer with the cd-usb combination. As in:
APPEND initrd=/boot/syslinux/initrd.xz from=/dev/sdbx
where x is what you found in ahau's above mentioned file.
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Re: usb external hdd dual split boot?

Post#12 by ianorlin » 02 Sep 2013, 22:02

I am getting permision denied trying to save to /tmp/iso/boot/systlinux. I could save a copy in home folder so need to logout and log in as root.

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