34

I know, I can create a live CD of Linux, I know I also can create a bootable Linux installation on a jump drive. I’m curious is can I actually do a full install of mint Linux on an external drive and actually run it that way. When I say run it I mean actually add packages remove packages, etc. i’m asking because I have a currently working Windows 10 computer. And until I really understand Linux especially how to properly install it. I prefer not to screw something up on a working system. I figured install it to an external Drive and then just tell the bios, don’t boot the windows drive just boot into the external Drive.

Would this actually work?

you are viewing a single comment's thread
view the rest of the comments
[-] ptz@dubvee.org 21 points 3 months ago* (last edited 3 months ago)

Yep, sure will. Works just like an internal hard drive, albeit potentially a little slower depending on USB. The last time I ran that configuration, I was still using USB 2.0. A good USB 3.0 drive would probably run just about as fast as an internal SATA drive (5 Gbps for USB3 vs 6 for SATA III).

Just be careful when you get to the disk partitioning portion of the installer and make sure you don't make any changes to your internal drive. If you want to be overly cautious, you can disconnect the internal drive while you're doing the Mint install and reconnect it afterward.

You may need to update your BIOS's boot order so you don't have to select the external drive every time since your Windows bootloader won't be aware of the Linux install on the external drive (which is where your GRUB would be installed).

[-] andrewta@lemmy.world 5 points 3 months ago
[-] andrewta@lemmy.world 1 points 3 months ago

Just spotted the last bit about the boot order. Very good thought.

[-] andrewta@lemmy.world 3 points 3 months ago

Stupid question here: let’s say I plug in the external drive, install Linux mint, grub would get installed onto the external drive, set the bios to boot from the external drive, boot into Linux.

Now at some point I shut the computer unplug the external drive, boot the computer back up …

Now I’m assuming the computer would boot back into windows because the Linux drive would be disconnected.

Correct?

[-] ptz@dubvee.org 4 points 3 months ago

Correct. It would look for the bootloader on each drive that it's configured to boot from (in order of preference).

this post was submitted on 02 Aug 2024
34 points (97.2% liked)

No Stupid Questions

35868 readers
530 users here now

No such thing. Ask away!

!nostupidquestions is a community dedicated to being helpful and answering each others' questions on various topics.

The rules for posting and commenting, besides the rules defined here for lemmy.world, are as follows:

Rules (interactive)


Rule 1- All posts must be legitimate questions. All post titles must include a question.

All posts must be legitimate questions, and all post titles must include a question. Questions that are joke or trolling questions, memes, song lyrics as title, etc. are not allowed here. See Rule 6 for all exceptions.



Rule 2- Your question subject cannot be illegal or NSFW material.

Your question subject cannot be illegal or NSFW material. You will be warned first, banned second.



Rule 3- Do not seek mental, medical and professional help here.

Do not seek mental, medical and professional help here. Breaking this rule will not get you or your post removed, but it will put you at risk, and possibly in danger.



Rule 4- No self promotion or upvote-farming of any kind.

That's it.



Rule 5- No baiting or sealioning or promoting an agenda.

Questions which, instead of being of an innocuous nature, are specifically intended (based on reports and in the opinion of our crack moderation team) to bait users into ideological wars on charged political topics will be removed and the authors warned - or banned - depending on severity.



Rule 6- Regarding META posts and joke questions.

Provided it is about the community itself, you may post non-question posts using the [META] tag on your post title.

On fridays, you are allowed to post meme and troll questions, on the condition that it's in text format only, and conforms with our other rules. These posts MUST include the [NSQ Friday] tag in their title.

If you post a serious question on friday and are looking only for legitimate answers, then please include the [Serious] tag on your post. Irrelevant replies will then be removed by moderators.



Rule 7- You can't intentionally annoy, mock, or harass other members.

If you intentionally annoy, mock, harass, or discriminate against any individual member, you will be removed.

Likewise, if you are a member, sympathiser or a resemblant of a movement that is known to largely hate, mock, discriminate against, and/or want to take lives of a group of people, and you were provably vocal about your hate, then you will be banned on sight.



Rule 8- All comments should try to stay relevant to their parent content.



Rule 9- Reposts from other platforms are not allowed.

Let everyone have their own content.



Rule 10- Majority of bots aren't allowed to participate here.



Credits

Our breathtaking icon was bestowed upon us by @Cevilia!

The greatest banner of all time: by @TheOneWithTheHair!

founded 1 year ago
MODERATORS