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I am a newbie to Ubuntu.

Is it possible to install and run Ubuntu in pen drive or external hard disk without disturbing Windows XP on my laptop?

I don't mind dual boot for running Ubuntu or Windows XP whenever required, but don't want to install Ubuntu in the internal hard disk in which XP is installed.

Aatish Sai
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Harish Upadhya
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3 Answers3

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Install Unetbootin from the repositories

sudo apt-get install unetbootin

On windows you can download from below link:

http://unetbootin.sourceforge.net/

Start it, select an ISO file or a distribution to download, select a target drive (USB drive or Hard Disk), select persistence if you wish, then reboot once done. If your USB drive doesn't show up, reformat it as FAT32.

Vivek
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Installing Ubuntu in a pen drive is a bad choice. However, you can always install Ubuntu on an external hard disk if you don't want Ubuntu in the internal hard disk.

Installing Ubuntu on external hard disk is much simple! Just plug in the hard disk. Run Ubuntu setup and choose the external disk while installing. Follow instructions during installation and you're good to go.

You need to change the boot order through BIOS, so that whenever you want to boot Ubuntu, you just insert the hard disk and the computer will automatically boot Ubuntu.

You can use this hard disk to run Ubuntu on any other computer as well, if it meets the minimum requirements needed to run Ubuntu.

Note :

  • The only problem arrives in this method is the proprietary drivers that are needed for some hardware like Broadcom, Synaptics, ATI, Nvidia are different for different machines. You can install these drivers the first time you get the problem on your machine.

I hope this solves your problem.

pg18
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The answer is yes, of course. You can finish it in this way:

  1. assuming you have two usb keys, one of them should be used as the bootable installation source, that means you can write the Ubuntu iso (let's say ubuntu14.04, "trusty-desktop-amd64.iso", you can find it from the ftp of ubuntu) to the usb drive by using for example a software named “ultraiso" or other similar; kindly note, this usb drive could be replaced by a CD of ubuntu iso; another one pen drive is to be installed the ubuntu with; you should make sure that this usb is better in usb3.0 or better in writing speed. (I know some usb3.0 with sli chip could reach more than 150m/s, that should be perfect option. if the writing speed is slow, or with usb2.0 interface, you will be not satisfied with it.)

  2. after you have prepared the iso installation source and objective pen drive (it could be external hard drive), you can install the system as normal method, just be careful when it come to the partition step, "installaton type" named, choose "something else" or "others", and choose the right objective local disk from "Device for boot loader installation" and the upper position with free space, note it with /dev/sdx, x means your pendrive you need to installation. DON'T USE a swap or boot partition, just use / with ext4 format to install. then it goes on...

  3. if you want to boot from your installed Ubuntu system, do not forget to enable booting from USB in your computer's BIOS setting, or in some computer you can choose the boot media from starting the computer.

  4. Be clear, an installation like this will update your grub catalogue with your xp system, it means you will find the option to start to xp system when you choose to boot your pen-drive, besides your Ubuntu system. you can disable it by edit /etc/defult/grub, or just unplug the hard disk when your install your Ubuntu system (I mean release it from your computer in hard ware, by disconnect...I guess it is more complicate..)

Good luck, hope to get your successful feedback! I think you should also refer to these two articles: How to install Ubuntu on a usb stick How do I install Ubuntu to a USB key? (without using Startup Disk Creator)

Community
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Elvis
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