2

Hi i have a laptop and i want to dual boot it with Windows 10 and Ubuntu. I know it is easy to install Ubuntu, but i want to be able to have it installed on an external HDD and have the ability to boot without the disk plugged in since i'm on the go a lot. I have already tried installing on the external drive but when i try to boot without it, it doesn't boot....

  • UEFI or BIOS. If BIOS relatively easy, but you have to use Something Else install option and on partitioning screen at bottom is combo box. That defaults to drive seen as sda and you want external drive probably sdb or sdf. If UEFI bit more complex and you must partition in advance. UEFI/gpt partitioning in Advance: http://askubuntu.com/questions/743095/how-to-prepare-a-disk-on-an-efi-based-pc-for-ubuntu, – oldfred Jun 17 '17 at 22:25
  • did you have any luck with your quest? – naneri Sep 13 '18 at 18:17

1 Answers1

0

this is likely because the grub files are in the /boot directory of the external drive.

the best solution in my opinion is to make a 10 GB partition at the end of the internal drive to serve as root and use the external partition as /home.

If you feel like doing a bit of configuring with the installers partition manager, /boot is all that really needs to be on the internal.

all the other folders can be used for mounting partitions on the external. though doing every one is a bit of over kill. th main space users are /usr and /var.

Moving these two to partitions on the external will reduce the space needed by the root partition to less than 5 GB, maybe even lower.

ravery
  • 6,874
  • I heard that it is also possible to turn off the internal hard drive in BIOS and Ubuntu won't try to create a Dual-Boot setup. Then place the usb aboce the internal hard drive in boot order and then, it will boot to Ubuntu when External HDD is connected and to Windows when External HDD is not connected. Is that true? – naneri Sep 13 '18 at 18:19
  • @naneri - yes, if you install grub to the external, then it will boot ubuntu when the external plugged in (single boot mode is not necessary). I don't know of any BIOS/EFI that will let you turn off the internal drive. You have to be sure that you leave the windows boot on the internal drive. – ravery Sep 13 '18 at 18:51
  • and if I just get internal disk out during Ubuntu installation instead of turning it off in Bios? I just want to be sure that if I disconnect external drive, I will be able to boot to Windows without any problem. – naneri Sep 14 '18 at 19:06
  • @naneri -- yes removing the internal during installation would work perfectly. – ravery Sep 14 '18 at 23:18