Member Avatar for Stefano Mtangoo

Hi all,
I have downloaded Mandriva One 2010. I have Windows Vista and one 80GB external HDD. I want to install Mandriva in that USB drive (On 40GB partition specifically) and walk with it anywhere.

Unetbooting only supports up to Mandriva 2008. Is there a software to do So?

Thanks!

  • 2 Contributors
  • 4 Replies
  • 194 Views
  • 10 Hours Discussion Span
  • Latest Post Latest Post by Stefano Mtangoo

Dani AI

Generated

Short answer: a true, persistent Mandriva on an external 40GB partition is best achieved by doing a normal install onto the USB HDD (not Unetbootin). As pointed out, Unetbootin creates a live-style image that generally does not keep changes; a full install gives a normal filesystem, package updates, and user settings that survive reboots and travel.

Practical checklist for a safe, portable install:

  • Use the Mandriva installer with manual partitioning. Create an ext4 root on the 40GB slice, an optional small swap (or none if the host machines have plenty of RAM), and consider a separate /home to make backups/upgrades easier.
  • In the installer advanced/bootloader options, explicitly choose the external disk (the device, not a partition) as the GRUB target. If the option is unclear, temporarily disconnect internal drives to eliminate risk of touching the wrong MBR.
  • Prefer an MBR/msdos layout for broad BIOS compatibility; if the intent is to boot modern UEFI-only machines, add a small FAT32 EFI System Partition and install an EFI-capable bootloader (this is more advanced).

Hardware and driver notes (addressing ): Linux kernels include wide, generic support, so the installed system will usually boot on many machines. To maximize portability, avoid installing proprietary GPU or vendor-specific drivers that bind to a single card; rely on the open drivers (Intel, Nouveau, Radeon) where possible. Some Wi‑Fi and other devices need nonfree firmware blobs not on the live image — keep the firmware packages available on the USB or install them once on a machine with Internet access. Finally, use UUIDs (rather than device names) in /etc/fstab so mounts remain correct when the external disk becomes /dev/sdb or /dev/sdc on different hosts.

Safety/performance tips: mount with noatime to reduce writes on removable media, test the drive on a spare machine before trusting it as the main mobile system, and keep backups of important data.

Recommended Answers

All 4 Replies

Member Avatar for jbennet

Unetbootin doesnt make it persistant anyway, it just makes it bootable, the same as a normal live or install CD, anything you do with it is lost upon reboot.

I dont think mandriva-seed supports peesistance.

Does mandriva include a tool for it? fedora and ubuntu have one called liveusb-creator which supports persiatance. quite easy to use.

it (might) work if you install it to the USB HDD in exactly the same way as a regular install , just make sure to install GRUB to that drive, not your internal one (probably a good idea to remove them while you do it so you dont accidently touch them with the installer)

Edited by jbennet because: n/a
Member Avatar for Stefano Mtangoo

Is there simple way to install Grub without messing with command line?
That black screen sometimes isn't friendly :)

Member Avatar for jbennet

you can tell the installer where to put it, its usually hidden under some menu called advanced or something.

Member Avatar for Stefano Mtangoo

And what about hardware and its drivers? Because I plan to use it among different computers :?

Be a part of the DaniWeb community

We're a friendly, industry-focused community of developers, IT pros, digital marketers, and technology enthusiasts meeting, networking, learning, and sharing knowledge.