<div dir="ltr">Hi, I'm trying to boot Ubuntu (7.10 / 8.04) from an external USB hard drive, but it's not able to find the hard drive. One external USB hard drive I have boots Ubuntu fine (Samsung, 7200 rpm). However, another external USB drive (Western Digital 5400 rpm, 320 GB My Passport pocket drive) can't find the external USB drive and will not boot. One odd anomaly: if I go into the system's BIOS, to alter a setting and save it (e.g. related to detecting the USB hard drive) the Western Digital will boot on the next system restart, however, it will NOT boot for subsequent restarts. (It seems like the process of saving the BIOS "detects" the external USB drive, but "forgets" it later.) Any ideas why this Western Digital won't consistently boot? I've reinstalled Ubuntu and GRUB. Are there any recommended tools for inspecting / fixing the master boot loader? Thanks for any suggestions,  Brian </div>