Can I install ubuntu to a partition on my portable hard drive?

[12padams]

Ok I've got a live USB which I can load the ubuntu 12.10 installer from so that's no problem. I am very cautious about losing files and I don't have much space on my computer anyway so I am going to install ubuntu to my 300 gig portable hard drive.


Here's the deal:


My computer has 2 internal drives: C: 500 gigabytes D: 1000 gigabytes


And then my 300 gig portable hard drive has 2 partitions: M: My Stuff - 211 gigabytes NTFS P: Ubuntu (currently blank) - 86 gigabytes NTFS (I tried formatting it as ext4 but windows couldn't detect it anymore so I changed it back. I know it needs to be ext4 for ubuntu to boot though)


Now I want to boot my computer from the USB and install ubuntu to the portable hard drive on the 86 gigabyte partition without touching my main 2 hard drives or the 200 gig partition on my portable have drive. Is it possible to install ubuntu 12.10 to this Ubuntu partition and get it to boot correctly? If so please tell me step by step how to achieve this installation without corrupting my computers boot loader.


Thanks in advance

[sudodus]

Welcome to the Ubuntu Forums

...
Now I want to boot my computer from the USB and install ubuntu to the portable hard drive on the 86 gigabyte partition without touching my main 2 hard drives or the 200 gig partition on my portable have drive. Is it possible to install ubuntu 12.10 to this Ubuntu partition and get it to boot correctly? If so please tell me step by step how to achieve this installation without corrupting my computers boot loader.

Thanks in advance

Yes, it is possible, but please answer to a few questions before going ahead!

- How is your external drive connected (USB2, USB3, eSATA)?
- Do you want the Ubuntu installation to be portable to other computers, or only connected to this one, that you describe in the first post?
- Please specify the specs of your computer, at least cpu, ram, graphics card/chip, wifi card/chip!

[12padams]

Welcome to the Ubuntu Forums

Yes, it is possible, but please answer to a few questions before going ahead!

- How is your external drive connected (USB2, USB3, eSATA)?
- Do you want the Ubuntu installation to be portable to other computers, or only connected to this one, that you describe in the first post?
- Please specify the specs of your computer, at least cpu, ram, graphics card/chip, wifi card/chip!

Thats for the help but I decided to keep it simple and get myself a bunch of space for ubuntu when I record my 2-3 hour "Can ubuntu 12.10 replace windows 7?" That I will record tomorrow. I formatted the entire hard drive and installed ubuntu on it. Now it boots from any computer perfectly and is awesome

Thanks for your prompt response anyway

[sudodus]

Thats for the help but I decided to keep it simple and get myself a bunch of space for ubuntu when I record my 2-3 hour "Can ubuntu 12.10 replace windows 7?" That I will record tomorrow. I formatted the entire hard drive and installed ubuntu on it. Now it boots from any computer perfectly and is awesome

Thanks for your prompt response anyway

Congratulations
and good luck with your portable Ubuntu installation