Question

3

Installing Ubuntu from an external hard drive

rated 0 times [ 3] [ 0] / answers: 1 / hits: 34301 / 2 Years ago, thu, december 9, 2021, 7:13:23

So I've been trying to install Ubuntu for a while now with no success. I don't have a thumb drive, and my computer doesn't have a CD drive, but I have an external hard drive.

I already went through the instructions at Ubuntu's site and when I got to the restart and hit F12 part, it gave me weird error messages like No Texts!.

I decided to delete what I put on the hard drive and re-download it.

That time it actually brought up a screen asking if I wanted to try Ubuntu or install, or other options.

But when I selected Install Ubuntu it just gave me a black screen with a blinking underscore in the upper left.

I'm assuming the problem must be the hard drive since I'm pretty sure I downloaded the right things and took all the right steps that would apply to a USB drive.

So since the only discrepancy is the fact that I'm using an external hard drive, that has to be the problem, right?

Is there anything I need to do to my hard drive to make it work, maybe reformat it?

Answers

Only authorized users can answer the question. Please sign in first, or register a free account.

curatekill

Add To Favorites

Follow

Total Points: 376

Total Questions: 117

Total Answers: 102

Location: Wales

Member since Mon, May 17, 2021

3 Years ago

answered 2 Years ago olouredping · Accepted Answer

If it is OK to overwrite the external drive, you can use several tools, that normally are used to work with USB pendrives, and make the external drive a live drive and it will be seen like it were a USB pendrive by the system.

Start by backing up whatever data you want to keep from the external drive to another drive or to an internet cloud service.

In Ubuntu: mkusb-dus might notice that it is a hard disk drive (or SSD), and ask if you really want to install into that drive. After confirming things will work the same way as if it were a USB pendrive.

In Windows: After checking the md5sum you can clone the Ubuntu iso file with Win32 Disk Imager to the external drive.

Check and double-check, that you have selected the correct target drive. Otherwise you might overwrite valuable data. Format the external drive with a file system, that Windows can see, for example NTFS, FAT 32 or exFAT. Use the available tools in Windows to identify and select the correct drive. See the following picture,

You can also use Rufus. It can also find a hard disk drive (or SSD), as illustrated with the following picture.