How to install Linux on an External Harddrive! Part 1. Getting your External HDD ready!

[tameddog]

my external hardrive says its linux Ext 3 and my computer cannot recognize it i need it to be NTFS what do i do

[korwinblue]

Windows can't read Ext 3. As far as I know, no way around that.

However, (current)Linux can read NTFS.

If your saying that your entire HDD is Ext 3, reformat it to NTFS. You'll loose all your data if you do that, though. Or you coul partition the HDD, and reformat one of the partitions.

[tameddog]

oh i just figured it out i downloaded a program that formats any drive to fat32 and it said unable to complete then my computer said that it needed to be formatted to use it and i changed it to ntfs so now it works

[blink1420]

Im having some trouble, it seems my installer can not un-mount my built in HD so it can not install onto my ext. but when i bypass this, my BIOS can see the drive and I choose to boot from it then the screen pops up asking me which version to run (Linux or Linux Mem. Test) so I click the default and GRUB pops up with the error "the disk does not exist" any suggestions? (Im a long time Ubuntu user but I want to try out Mint)

[korwinblue]

I think I see what you mean, but can you clarify one little thing? Are in in the process of installing Mint, or did you already install it?

[blink1420]

well, both, i got it installed onto my ext. and it said the disk does not exist and when i try to install it to a flashdrive it says it cant unmount the hardrive....

[korwinblue]

Do you have the BIOS set to where you could boot off an external HDD?

[blink1420]

Yeah I do, but i figured it out, my ext. is physically damaged...time to get a new HD I guess...

[korwinblue]

Ouch, so sorry for your loss.

[07dc180196]

will i not loose any data i have an ext hdd 500gb hard drive 50-60gb is has been used for my diaster recovery backupsprograms games ect. will i not loose not 1 byte of a file if i resize it and create unlocated space wait allucated space u need 2 format it 2 an ntfs

[korwinblue]

Unless something goes horribly wrong in the partitioning process, you shouldn't loose any information on your hard drive. If you want to be extra safe, temporary put those files in another hard drive. Me, I never lost any information, or experienced data corruption doing this.

[rugbyymadman]

How do u get your vista side bar like u got it?

[korwinblue]

That's the taskbar. On the taskbar, right click, and uncheck 'lock taskbar.' Then, left click on the taskbar, and drag it to a different side of the screen. You can also resize the taskbar and, if you rightclick the taskbar and click properties, you can check 'Auto hide taskbar.'

[austinlankford]

very good. good program