Some of the SEO recipes that I will be posting on this site require a Unix-based operating system such as Linux. Mac OS/X should also work for those examples, but I’m not as familiar with Mac so you may have to adapt the scripts somewhat.
This post shows a way to install Linux on an external hard drive so that you don’t have to modify your internal hard drive for a dual-boot Linux/Windows setup.
(Sorry about the quality of the image above — it was taken with my cell phone.)
The reason that I recommend having Linux around for SEO is because of the scriptable shell and text processing abilities. For example, if you wanted to find the number of outbound links on a page you could just type the following into a terminal:
lynx -dump "http://pocketseo.com/" | egrep -o "http:.*" | wc -l
That is just a very basic example. There are many great possibilities with Linux, and I will cover more-interesting SEO scripting recipes in the future.
Install Ubuntu on External Hard Drive
I’m currently running my main operating system from a 120 Gb external hard drive that I got at Best Buy for $101 including tax. Here are the steps:
- Download a copy of Ubuntu Linux. I’m using version Ubuntu 7.04 “Feisty Fawn”.
- Burn the CD image to a CD-R with these instructions. You will end up with a Linux live CD.
- Turn off the computer and remove the internal drive(s). Otherwise you risk getting the MBR overwritten when you install Linux.
- Boot the computer from the live CD. As soon as the Ubuntu start screen appears, plug in the external hard drive that you want to install to. Start Ubuntu from the menu that is provided.
- Once the Ubuntu desktop has loaded, double-click on the install icon and follow the installation instructions. The installation process should take between 20 to 40 minutes.
When the installation is done, remove the live CD and reboot the computer from the external hard drive. You should then be running a full installation of Ubuntu. You can put your regular hard drive back in the computer and just boot from the external hard drive when you want to use Linux. You can take your Linux installation with you wherever you go. Any computer that you plug the external hard drive into will have your entire operating system on it.
If you haven’t used Linux before, check out the Ubuntu help docs and the Ubuntu Forums.
If you want to experiment with the latest Linux desktop, try the Sabayon Linux Live DVD. An example is below:
More about Linux and SEO techniques is coming soon.
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Ok, after I restart the system, can I re-enable the deselected settings in the Removable drives & media window, so I could use other devices like my ipod or my memory stick
Also, when do I reinsert my internal HDD, and after it is inserted, how will my computer BOOT, and how would others when I connect my USB HDD
AND MOST IMPORTANT, how can I transfer files and data from one drive to another???(In my case Windows to Ubuntu and vice versa)
I’m not sure which settings you mean — are those settings in Windows or Linux?
After you install Ubuntu on the external drive you can turn off your computer an put your internal hard drive back in. Set your BIOS to boot from the USB drive first. That way if your USB hard drive is plugged in it will boot Linux. If it’s not plugged in, it will boot Windows.
I use this program to read my Linux drive from Windows.
To read Windows from Linux you have to mount the Windows drive. I recommend searching UbuntuForums.org for information about how to do that.
this is very interesting you can do exactly the same thing with linux portable on usb flash
how do you put in an second hardrive into an lineux systum
i have one right noe but i need to put in one more for more room
@julia
Is it a desktop or laptop? Which Linux distro? I recommend asking in a Linux forum like http://ubuntuforums.org/
This won’t mess up my laptop’s MBR if i disable my HD in the BIOS?
Thanks.
@Joe
I don’t know — it deleted my MBR on my other drive when I had my HD in my laptop. That’s why I recommend removing other internal drives.
When you say Turn off the computer and remove the internal drive(s).I assume you are disabling in BIOS. And after installation one could again in the BIOS choose external 1st and internal 2nd. So in my case with a 20GB HD I would now have 200 GB capacity with my 160 external. Most informative article on subject I have read thus far thanks
@Allen Meyers
Thanks for the feedback.
I recommend physically pulling your existing hard drive out of the computer so that the only hard drive attached to the computer is the new external hard drive that you want to install Linux on. If Ubuntu detects your existing internal hard drive, it will probably overwrite the MBR.
If Ubuntu writes over your internal hard drives MBR, it can be fixed, but it’s just one more thing to have to deal with. That’s why I recommend just physically removing the internal drive during the installation process.
Hi
I have an external hard drive 320GB and I am trying to install Ubuntu Linux.But I donot want to install linux on the whole hard drive..how do I partion in the following order 160GB as linux and the rest for storage under XP.
I am stuck on this partion screen
/dev/sda like 16GB and the rest approx 304GB as ubuntu which I do not want
@Robert
You can partition the drive with gparted. I think it gives several options for partitioning the drive when installing Ubuntu though. I recommend asking on http://ubuntuforums.org/ because someone there might have more current information. I haven’t done this since I wrote this post.
ok, so im done installing linux on my external hard drive. But how do i make my computer use linux???? I have connected my usb to my computer. What do i do next??? PLEASE RESPONddDDDD
@ALi
Reboot your computer from the USB drive and Linux will boot if it was installed correctly.
Can i make a partition on my external HDD and put Linux on one part and keep my data on the over half?
When booting with the CD with linux on it, when i have my external HDD pluged in will it ask me or allow me to choose which partition to apply it to?
Thanks in advance
I tried to install Linux in my external hard drive but it is not detecting the external Hard disk…i mean Linux asking where to install it but i never see any drives in the section…i removed internal hard disk and attached External Hard disk…
Hi there,
i have a question regarding removing internal hard drive, since i have a laptop i dont feel comfortable with opening it up and probably damaging it… is there another way around it? BTW my BIOS recognizes my external hard drive and i can boot from it.
thanks in advance
Well>basically i have the same problems you guys are having. But atleast you didnt get screwed like me. When i bought my laptop the recovery partition installed was apparently for a different version of windows and i cannot recover a mb because of it. So now im deciding whether to jam back to BB and return my overpriced hunk of toshiba that has no recovery disks and the wrong fricken partition installed. –note–My Asus laptop from before came with all recovery disks–Thank you ASUS!!! Oh and i cannot for the life of me get the wireless to work, compiling RTL drivers to no avail, even ndiswrapper fails…basically reading in forums in other places people have been having the same problems with the Satellites trying to get linux distros up on em. I wish microsoft would quit being such a prick with the way they setup and desighn they’re systems.
All ranting aside,
I also tried 3 different ways to install linux. The first worked with ubuntu creating the live cd. But as stated before wireless is dead, so i eth0′ed it which works.
But, i seem to run into the 2 problems. 1 Recovering the MBR no go since problem stated above ie (wrong windows version recovery partition)=Cannot delete ubuntu or grub out of MBR now. And…in ubuntu no external hard drive showing up. Go to windows looked for it found it, installed ubuntu on external hard drive. Fails to boot windows locks it out and boots up instead. Now i know the problem could be with the way i compiled the installation. BUT, i auto it from the ubuntu live cd and it should work considering i got everything to work on the mini NB200 i had b4 from TOSHIBA…the only piece of equipment i have gotten to work without problems –minus sound drivers– That was 32 bit based, my new system is 64 bit based. Everything just seemed to work on the 32 bit based system i had but on this new 64 bit based system everything seems to just NOT work…wonder what the deal is…
Can anyone point out something i might be able to do to get things working b4 i take this thing back?
Update–contacted Toshiba support found out how to create the recovery disk inside windows. A bit different than what i was formally used to…guess its my fault for not being on top of technology….lol..thanks toshiba..
Thx;)
This I’ll definitely try. It doesn’t need much more than a small quick 40GB HDD to run.
This makes a great portable OS and doesn’t mess up windows booting.
I don’t see why linux resellers wouldn’t give that option. It should in top10 of linux’s forum topics at least.
1.
-USB???? You didn’t write the word USB.
2. “As soon as the Ubuntu start screen appears, plug in the external hard drive”
-Why not boot with the external HD pluged?
3. “You can take your Linux installation with you wherever you go. Any computer that you plug the external hard drive into will have your entire operating system on it.”
-How can an installation work on different machines with different components that need different configurations and drivers??
I have recently installed 7.04 fiesty fawn 32-bit on my 500g transcend external 2.5in hd using a laptop with 32-bit hardware. It boots up fine on that computer.. but i go to boot it up on my desktop which is 64-bit tell it to boot off the external. And i get errors, and it loads up a TUI and i can move around in that but frankly i dont know what i am doing in a TUI enviroment..
Please help me.
I’m not sure how to fix the errors you are seeing. For troubleshooting errors, please try:
http://ubuntuforums.org/
This tutorial is pretty straightforward. I have a Lenovo x60 with xp Pro and 100 GB hdd and have a 250GB drive in a usb enclosure. I haven’t decided on a distro yet, but as I think about this method it appears as though NO bootloader is involved, other than selecting USB 1st in BIOS, then internal hdd. If the usb drive is UN plugged will Windows hang while it searches for that usb boot device?
Is there a way to make this work while using the Windows bootloader for dual booting?
I’m also considering putting a small installation of Win98SE somewhere in this conglomeration. I need it to use my trusty old Logitech Pagescan (parallel port) Color Scanner. That’s one of the reasons I chose the Lenovo since the docking station has all those legacy ports!
iam ramesh
iwant to install the linsux 4.7 oel
when i was put the bootable cd with external cd drive
insert my cd and press del key
but this is not gointo to cd
why
window is opening
but not go to bootable cd contents
i tried no of times
why it is not booting
solutions please
Hey, quick question!
Instead of using an Ubuntu installer on a CD-R, could I put the installer on a USB flash drive and then boot from there, then install to the USB HDD?
Thanks ahead of time –
Zac
I think that would work. Maybe give it a try and see if it has that option.
Thanks for the quick reply! Going to give it a shot now, I’ll post back with the results – hopefully from Linux :]
“” You can take your Linux installation with you wherever you go. Any computer that you plug the external hard drive into will have your entire operating system on it.”"
I’m about to do this external drive ubuntu 11.10 install using my windows laptop. Will the external drive ubuntu work if I later plug it into a mac OS laptop ?
.
Thanks in advance. I’ve been looking EVERYWHERE for this
This post is over 4 years old. You could try it, but I don’t know what will happen. If the hardware settings are significantly different, it might not work… or at least require reconfiguring the settings.
@Kwame Nyarko it’s possible under the constrains that Josh said. I installed ubuntu 11.04 one year ago and I haven’t problem. However, I find a particular PC that doesn’t allow to run the ubuntu. Maybe, it’s the upgrading 11.1 that change the boot. If anyone has any idea how to solve that comment me please.