Grub and USB

[elmo]

Karl Larsen wrote:
> Karl Larsen wrote:
>   
>>     New Subject. I have a running hard drive connected to my computer 
>> via a USB port. I need to put grub in the MBR of the USB hard drive OR 
>> put it on /media/disk/. I have a big problem with this. Grub likes to 
>> work with (hd1,2) and all my experience has been with things that will 
>> match that kind of partition location.
>>
>>     People on this list have said it is a simple matter to get a USB 
>> hard drive to boot if you put the grub root at /media/disk/. I say you 
>> can't do that because /media/disk/ is NOT a partition. You might treat 
>> the whole hard drive as a partition but how? It isn't /dev/sb4 or like 
>> that. In fact I did a df and it calls the USB hard drive /dev/sdb1. now 
>> /dev/sdb1 is (hd1,0) which I can work with. I will try getting grub 
>> running and say:
>>
>> grub  root (hd1,0)
>> grub  setup (hd1,0)
>> grub  quit
>>
>> This should work.
>>
>> Karl
>>
>>   
>>     
>     Here is what happened:
>
>       [ Minimal BASH-like line editing is supported.   For
>          the   first   word,  TAB  lists  possible  command
>          completions.  Anywhere else TAB lists the possible
>          completions of a device/filename. ]
>
> grub>  root (hd1,0)
>
> grub> setup (hd1,0)
>  Checking if "/boot/grub/stage1" exists... yes
>  Checking if "/boot/grub/stage2" exists... yes
>  Checking if "/boot/grub/e2fs_stage1_5" exists... yes
>  Running "embed /boot/grub/e2fs_stage1_5 (hd1,0)"... failed (this is not 
> fatal)
>  Running "embed /boot/grub/e2fs_stage1_5 (hd1,0)"... failed (this is not 
> fatal)
>  Running "install /boot/grub/stage1 (hd1,0) /boot/grub/stage2 p 
> /boot/grub/menu
> .lst "... succeeded
> Done.
>
> grub>
>
> It appears that (hd1,0) has a boot system in it's MBR and IF the BIOS 
> can find it it will boot. Now to try it... :-)
>
> Karl
>
>
>   
There are a lot of warnings against trying to install on an external USB 
HD.
For a while, I heeded those warnings but got to the point where I just 
had to try it.

So, I tried Gparted, went through the regular all routine and lo and 
behold, I had UBUNTU 7.10 installed on the external HD.  I tried the 
same with Debian and it too is installed on the external HD. 

I didn't use any tricks, just followed the regular Gparted routine. I 
have no explanation, it just worked.

The only possibility might be, my USB external drive is a WD3200AAK 
External HD USB Device 320GB (My Passport Essential).  I don't know of 
any reason why it works, it was an ordinary install using Gparted

I have 2 internal HDs,#1 has 3 partitions, #2 has 2, and the external 
USB HD has a few clones + the UBUNTU, 7.10 and Debian  (on hd2,2 and hd2,3)

elmo