Install on external USB drive

[musonic]

Please could someone help because I've read way too many tutorials that have made me really confused!!!
Here's the background...

A while ago I installed Ubuntu as a dual-boot on my Windows XP machine. It worked ok, but I quickly realised that I had neither the hard drive space or RAM to really run a dual-boot machine properly. So, I tried to uninstall Ubuntu and return to XP. Unfortunately, I discovered that uninstalling is not that straightforward and I've ended up with a theoretical dual-boot but with the HD repartitioned so that Ubuntu takes up the smallest amount of space possible. Because of this, when the machine boots, I still get a GRUB boot screen where I have to manually select XP to continue with the boot. (Ubuntu is still the default boot OS - I don't know how to change this!)

I've now decided to install Ubuntu again but this time on an external USB hard drive. In my head (and this could be wrong) this will give me the option to run the machine with Ubuntu if the external HD is connected or run XP if it is not.

I've seen several tutorials about how to do this, but none seem to address the situation where GRUB is the boot loader already.

Some tutorials tell me to disconnect the internal HD before attempting to install Ubuntu on the external. Do I really need to do this?

Another alternative I've heard of is to download a LIVE cd to the external drive and then run the OS from that instead of performing a full install. Any thoughts?

Thanks very much for any help or advice.

[D1Knight]

Yes, I too would like to know the best way to install Ubuntu or variant on an external HDD and being able to boot from the external.:)

I do not want to "hijack" your thread.;) The idea of uninstalling internal HDD, then installing *buntu to external HDD, sounds promising. Does this still work, after reinstalling the internal HDD?

I myself attempted a install to external HDD of Kubuntu, with the option of adding the boot loader (advance option) during install to external HDD. Even tho I adjusted the BIOS to read The external before the internal. This did not bear good fruit as a result.

Yes, any and all help is appreciated. I thank you kindly, also thanks to the original poster of this thread.:)

[wilee-nilee]

Installing to a external HD will make Ubuntu run even slower generally and your still using the same ram.

To restore the XP boot loader you need a XP install CD. So to begin with post this boot script in code tags.
http://bootinfoscript.sourceforge.net/
To post in code tags just highlight the text in the reply and click on the # in the reply panel.

For the second post you will want to start your own thread and a little description and the boot script as well with the external plugged in. ;)

[D1Knight]

For the second post you will want to start your own thread and a little description and the boot script as well with the external plugged in. ;)

Thanks for your response. Yes, I shall start my own thread, much better.:)