HawkFest
October 3rd, 2017, 09:13 PM
In short: the external SSD drive can't boot my PC. The following exposes the context (the technical environment), then the goal which consists of creating a bootable external SSD drive hosting Ubuntu Linux and plugged via a USB 3.1 G1 port, and finally the problem, including some details involved in the process (partitioning of the external SSD drive and setup).
CONTEXT
The OS and Machine that'll be mostly using this external drive, is a Windows 10 Home (EFI), hosted on a GPT high speed 1TB HDD, in a recent HP Laptop (2017 Intel's 7th generation i7-7500U. Namely the HP Envy x360 m6-aq105dx, with 16GB DDR4 RAM, 2xUSB 3.1 ports of wich one is a power port, and a third USB 3.1 G2 Type-c port). That's also from where I want to create the bootable external drive (as I did for 2 bootable flash drives that work flawlessly).
I have an SSD (the Silicon Power Slim S60 2.5" 240GB). I've put it in an exclosure for external SATA III drives offering a USB 3.0+Power combo mini-plug (it can draw power from the PC's USB port which is also a power port). It works fine, I've partitioned that drive flawlessly using Paragon Hard Disk Manager 15, and it makes up for an extremely efficient external drive. If all works well I'll create another of such SSD drive but with a 1TB SSD (so as to get more NTFS space for sharing files).
GOAL
What I want to do is make that external SSD boot the PC in Linux (namely Ubuntu), as a safe guard in the event my PC becomes corrupted or whatever could happen. That way I'd always have a portable OS + Office apps, production tools and utilities at hand (it's smaller and slimmer than most traditional external enclosures as it's designed out of the size of an SSD). I'll also - and mostly - use it with my portable Laptop, since the SSD will have an NTFS partition for sharing files (about 100Gb out of a total size of 224Gb). Most importantly, it'll be for one of those days when I feel like using Kubuntu or Ubuntu rather than my laptop's Windows 10...
PROBLEM
The external drive can't boot the PC. While using a LiveCD Thumb Drive, Installing Ubuntu on an internal hard drive is successful, but not on the external SSD drive: the later can't boot the PC.
1- I know the USB boot priorities are well set: the PC can boot with smaller flash drives I've already created using Rufus-2.17 (https://rufus.akeo.ie/) : one for installing Ubuntu systems - like a LiveCD (SanDisk 8GB USB Flash); the other one for booting with Paragon Recovery Media (a 4GB USB Flash generic Kingston); both into a FAT32 single partition.
2- The external SSD Drive that must be able to boot the PC is configured as a "Basic MBR Hard Disk". It has been partitioned as follow:
http://imageshack.com/a/img924/2862/xDrxXo.png
partition 1....Ext4....Primary....1229Mo..... "/boot" (for installing Grub on the MBR?), min. at 100MB
partition 2....Ext4....Primary....51200Mo....."/" root for Ubuntu
partition 3....Ext4....Primary....40960Mo....."/" root for Kubuntu
partitionE....None....Extended....135546Mo.....EXT ENTED PARTITION container sized at 135545Mo
Partition 4....Ext4....Extended....8704MB...."Utmp" /tmp Temporary files for Ubuntu
Partition 5....Ext4....Extended....8704MB...."Ktmp" /tmp Temporary files for Kubuntu
Swap....Swap....Extended....24576MB....Swap for Ubuntu and Kubuntu
Partition 6....NTFS....Extended....93561MB....FShares
It can be noticed that I've prepared a second root partition for Kubuntu. I'll install both on the same /boot partition (ending the global installation with Ubuntu), and both will share the same Swap (but not the same /tmp)
MY QUESTION
What are the considerations, prerequisites and steps so as to create an external SSD drive (mine is a 225GB), with a boot sector / partition which can boot a PC so that whatever OS installation procedure over it would work (in my case it would be Ubuntu or Kubuntu)?
CONTEXT
The OS and Machine that'll be mostly using this external drive, is a Windows 10 Home (EFI), hosted on a GPT high speed 1TB HDD, in a recent HP Laptop (2017 Intel's 7th generation i7-7500U. Namely the HP Envy x360 m6-aq105dx, with 16GB DDR4 RAM, 2xUSB 3.1 ports of wich one is a power port, and a third USB 3.1 G2 Type-c port). That's also from where I want to create the bootable external drive (as I did for 2 bootable flash drives that work flawlessly).
I have an SSD (the Silicon Power Slim S60 2.5" 240GB). I've put it in an exclosure for external SATA III drives offering a USB 3.0+Power combo mini-plug (it can draw power from the PC's USB port which is also a power port). It works fine, I've partitioned that drive flawlessly using Paragon Hard Disk Manager 15, and it makes up for an extremely efficient external drive. If all works well I'll create another of such SSD drive but with a 1TB SSD (so as to get more NTFS space for sharing files).
GOAL
What I want to do is make that external SSD boot the PC in Linux (namely Ubuntu), as a safe guard in the event my PC becomes corrupted or whatever could happen. That way I'd always have a portable OS + Office apps, production tools and utilities at hand (it's smaller and slimmer than most traditional external enclosures as it's designed out of the size of an SSD). I'll also - and mostly - use it with my portable Laptop, since the SSD will have an NTFS partition for sharing files (about 100Gb out of a total size of 224Gb). Most importantly, it'll be for one of those days when I feel like using Kubuntu or Ubuntu rather than my laptop's Windows 10...
PROBLEM
The external drive can't boot the PC. While using a LiveCD Thumb Drive, Installing Ubuntu on an internal hard drive is successful, but not on the external SSD drive: the later can't boot the PC.
1- I know the USB boot priorities are well set: the PC can boot with smaller flash drives I've already created using Rufus-2.17 (https://rufus.akeo.ie/) : one for installing Ubuntu systems - like a LiveCD (SanDisk 8GB USB Flash); the other one for booting with Paragon Recovery Media (a 4GB USB Flash generic Kingston); both into a FAT32 single partition.
2- The external SSD Drive that must be able to boot the PC is configured as a "Basic MBR Hard Disk". It has been partitioned as follow:
http://imageshack.com/a/img924/2862/xDrxXo.png
partition 1....Ext4....Primary....1229Mo..... "/boot" (for installing Grub on the MBR?), min. at 100MB
partition 2....Ext4....Primary....51200Mo....."/" root for Ubuntu
partition 3....Ext4....Primary....40960Mo....."/" root for Kubuntu
partitionE....None....Extended....135546Mo.....EXT ENTED PARTITION container sized at 135545Mo
Partition 4....Ext4....Extended....8704MB...."Utmp" /tmp Temporary files for Ubuntu
Partition 5....Ext4....Extended....8704MB...."Ktmp" /tmp Temporary files for Kubuntu
Swap....Swap....Extended....24576MB....Swap for Ubuntu and Kubuntu
Partition 6....NTFS....Extended....93561MB....FShares
It can be noticed that I've prepared a second root partition for Kubuntu. I'll install both on the same /boot partition (ending the global installation with Ubuntu), and both will share the same Swap (but not the same /tmp)
MY QUESTION
What are the considerations, prerequisites and steps so as to create an external SSD drive (mine is a 225GB), with a boot sector / partition which can boot a PC so that whatever OS installation procedure over it would work (in my case it would be Ubuntu or Kubuntu)?