Linux on external USB hard drive

[nukenorman]

I have been using Linux Mint latest version on a USB thumb drive for awhile now. I want to install it on an actual external USB hard drive for much faster speeds. I can boot up on the USB thumb drive just fine. When I install Linux with Universal USB installer just like I did on the thumb drive I cant boot up from the external usb hard drive. I went thru the settings in bios and have it set to boot up from USB first.

Why can I boot up from USB thumb drive and not a USB external hard drive?? It should be essential the same.

Help!

[+John Teacake MVC]

What happens when you do that? Give us more information and we may be able to help. 

[nukenorman]

When I try to boot up from the external western digital 1 TB USB drive nothing happens it just boots up straight to windows 8.1

 

 

I can boot up the same version of Linux on the USB thumb flash drive that is 8 gigs and it boots straight up into Linux.

Used universal usb installer to install the ISO images directly to the USB flash thumb drive and the Western Digital 1 TB drive. I am using the western digital 1tb drive for  nothing but linux it was completly clean when I installed linux on it. 

[LauRoman]

First off, what exactly are you trying to do? Do you want to actually "install" it on the external hdd or boot it from an external hdd as a live version as you woul a live cd or thumb drive?

Secondly, setting it to boot from USB first might not do the trick, because sometimes usb drives also show up in the hdd boot list in the bios and you have to change the order there too.

[Blue-Vision]

I'm also keen to get an answer for this problem, but my needs are different than yours. UUSBI has been troublesome for me as well.

 

Sounds like GRUB isn't being installed properly, or isn't configured properly.

 

There's a few ways you can proceed:

 

1) Reinstall the Mint onto the Removable HD, making certain that you're watching where GRUB is being installed to when you're doing partitions (that way you know for sure).

 

2) Run the tool "Boot-Repair", installable from https://help.ubuntu.com/community/Boot-Repair -- but be warned that it can cause more problems than it solves.

 

3) Run the installation again, make certain that GRUB is NOT being installed to the removable HD but instead to the end of your fixed HD -- and yes, this involves making some space at the end and then making a new (very small, ext4) partition. This is likely NOT the way you want to proceed but it might be the ONLY way to get the results you want. It'll involve a little more work, obviously.

 

Up to you how you proceed. Good luck.

[+John Teacake MVC]

If it boots straight into Windows, Yep sounds like Grub isn't configured correctly. 

[simplezz]

Either an installation problem or you're not booting from the right drive in the bios. What device are you selecting from the bios exactly?