[ubuntu-in] Slightly OT - Booting Multiple Distro's of External USB HD

[Deepak Mittal]

On Sat, 2007-12-08 at 21:46 +0530, ramnarayan.k at gmail.com wrote:
> Hi
> 
> Have a dual boot machine. Was wanting to install some other distros on 
> an external (usb) hard disk.
> 
> First is this possible (am guessing if the machine is enabled to boot 
> from usb device it should be)

This is very much possible. One of my colleague has done it. 

> 
> Second - where would the grub loader for the distro(s)installed on the 
> external usb device be stored - again am assuming it will be along with 
> the main grub loader resident on the machine. If so would it matter 
> during boot up if the said device is not attached.

When you install your distro on the usb disk, then the grub loader on
your hard-disk would not even be aware of the distro on your USB disk. I
think that the idea behind installing it on the USB disk that you can
take it anywhere & if the machine has the capability to boot from USB
disk, you should be able to boot from that USB disk on any machine. 

As I understand, the grub loader on your disk comes into picture when
you start booting from the hard-disk. 

HTH. 

Regards,

-Deepak Mittal