The problem is i have an old laptop(can support linux, which i had been using). However i decided to wipe the hdd(made it external to do this) and then when i tried to boot using a live usb i couldn't do so on the old laptop. and the optical drive isn't working as well. i have tried to boot from a usb and couldnt do so(although it worked a couple days ago. So i am trying to install Ubuntu first on the HDD (connected via an enclosure) to another laptop(L2) running Ubuntu as well. Can this be done without interfering with the laptop's(L2 :P) installation?
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2Possible duplicate of How to install Ubuntu on portable external Hard Drive? – muru May 04 '16 at 08:00
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no, i read the other posts before posting this one. my concern is when all else fails(usb, optical drive), how would you install a system. others questions are in general hardware specific or very particular and might not occur many a times. – Parshu May 05 '16 at 07:05
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Can this be done without interfering with the laptop's(L2 :P) installation?
- Take out native hard drive from laptop #2
- Plug in the hard drive from laptop #1 into laptop #2
- Boot live cd / usb
- Install Ubuntu on the hard drive
- Swap hard drives back to their respective places.
Cool thing about Ubuntu and Linux in general is that it is easy to swap hard drives from one computer into the other ( since Linux kernel contains a lot of modules/drivers out of the box already ) , and it will work. I have old HP Compaq desktop , which used to have Windows XP there, used to be horribly slow. I've swapped hard drive with Ubuntu 14.04 32 bit into it , and lo and behold - the old junker liveth !
Sergiy Kolodyazhnyy
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is it not possible to do this while the hdd is plugged in as sdb? i had the option of doing as you suggested but for the sake of messing around(why i use linux in the first place :D) i want to try solving it this way i.e when the hdd is a sdb. many questions are not properly answered as well in the forum related to this. so, well i ll keep you guys posted. :) thanks for the quick response. – Parshu May 05 '16 at 07:10
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Sure, you can do the other way too. Single hdd just eliminates possibility of mistake and overwriting the wrong stuff. Why ride bicycle to downtown if you have train going there ? Right ? – Sergiy Kolodyazhnyy May 05 '16 at 14:54
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haha sure. thanks.. been trying to do do it but something keep getting messed. i ll give the train a go today. thanks man its been some help :) – Parshu May 06 '16 at 05:53