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Can i install ubuntu(any flavor at that) onto am external hdd and will it run normally? If so what are the procedures and how do i do it? I wanted to install into a usb external hdd

Smoke19
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    Yes, you can but note that internal HDD have faster speed. USB speeds are generally slower. This means access to files will be slower, boot process also slower compared to conventional HDD with SATA connector. If these are not concern, then feel free to proceed with installation – Sergiy Kolodyazhnyy Jun 28 '19 at 03:07
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    Unplug or disable your internal drive, plug in the external drive and install Ubuntu as usual. Plug in the internal drive, boot the external drive and run "sudo update-grub" to add the internal drive to the external drives boot menu. – C.S.Cameron Jun 28 '19 at 15:33

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When you are ready to install you usually just have to choose 'something else' at the bottom of installation choices. External hard drive should(might be different) be listed as sdb,and internal be sda, and away you go. Make sure you have the right hard drive before making any changes. Some people say it works slower but I have not notice much difference. Depends on what you use it for. Format to ext4(good) or what you want and make at least a /(root) partition, or you can make ~30gb / and the rest a /home partition. You should already have an EFI partition on internal.

crip659
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  • Don't forget a swap partition. – mchid Jun 28 '19 at 05:15
  • @mchid think the newer ubuntu uses a swap file instead. – crip659 Jun 28 '19 at 10:25
  • I have a 500gb Toshiba external hdd and wanted to to install 3 flavors how do i set up the partitions for them size and all? – Smoke19 Jun 29 '19 at 04:49
  • Can just divide by 3 for the sizes or adjust them how you like. I would not go much below 50gb. ext4 is a good choice for file system/format. I like to have a / (root) partition(30gb) and a /home partition, but you can just use / ,as one partition for each install. After you place the ISO on usb stick, use the try ubuntu first to make sure everything works well on your computer before installing. – crip659 Jun 29 '19 at 15:20
  • There is a few videos on youtube about 'installing ubuntu', that might give you some more pointers. – crip659 Jun 29 '19 at 15:22