Aim: a full (not live) install on a 32Gb USB Flash Drive

[Mr. Green]

Also just ran gparted to see what it shows, and all the partitions are exactly as I set them up on install.

Don't know why fsck only seems to be recognising partition 1?

[kiyop]

"fsck -c -c" is not enough to check any partition. You must add the device file name of the partition to be checked.

"fsck" may be not useful for VFAT, NTFS filesystem partitions, but works for ext2/3/4 filesystem partitions.
I am not sure what partitions with what filesystem are in your problematic USB media.
Maybe I have known, but I forget. I do not have spare time to read through this thread again now.

Of course, you should execute "fsck" with root privilege. To get root privilege,

Code: Select all

su -

and type root password.
Or ... if you boot some linux which is addicted to "sudo",

Code: Select all

sudo COMMAND

to execute COMMAND with root privilege, as you know.

I want to know the much information on your PC and your USB media, but it is elaborate for me to write many commands to show the information.
So, could you please boot "boot-repair" on your PC while your USB media is connected and generate "boot-info" URL and post the generated "boot-info" URL?
As for boot-repair and boot-info URL, read https://help.ubuntu.com/community/Boot-Repair

ADDED AT Sun Oct 6 13:42:27 JST 2013;

"fsck -c -c" is not enough to check any partition.

The above is wrong.
Mere "fsck -c -c" tries to check partitions written in /etc/fstab.

Code: Select all

man fsck

gives:

If no filesystems are specified on the command line, and the -A option
is not specified, fsck will default to checking filesystems in
/etc/fstab serially.

[Mr. Green]

Thanks very much for you time in trying to help me kiyop, much appreciated.

In the time I was trying to fix this, and waiting for ideas from others, I decided to have another go on another flash drive.

Debian failed for me again with the same issues. But I tried another go at installing LMDE, and am delighted to say that it worked! And I am now writing to you from within a fully functioning GNU/Linux OS on my flash drive.

So I think I shall just enjoy the fruits of my labours for now.

Not sure whether to mark this "solved" or not - as the issue with Debian was not - but I have achieved my ultimate aim in having a working GNU/Linux, so in that sense, my issue is indeed solved.

Thanks again for your help.

[kiyop]

I decided to have another go on another flash drive.

Debian failed for me again with the same issues. But I tried another go at installing LMDE, and am delighted to say that it worked!

Congratulations!
Although I could not help you, I am happy to hear your success
I am interested in the reason the former installation failed, but you need not try to find the reason

[Cisse]

To Mr. Green...

I stumbled across your question/post - although it was written a while ago it is not marked SOLVED - since I have the same desire to have my Debian OS with me all the time to use on all kinds of computers across the globe (I do a lot of international traveling/offshore work and applying for the manifest every time to bring my laptop with is becoming more of a pain in the *ss than one would like).
The goal is somewhat the same (learning LINUX as we go); but also to have my correspondence, documents etc... with me all the time when I need them independent of the computer I would be using (I don't like to leave a lot of traces of my documents on a HDD).
So I was wondering if you managed to get your Debian OS installed on the USB-drive - or if it would be possible on a external HDD nowadays ?
And if so, did it go through the installer menu or did you have to pull your socks to get it done?

Mind you, I'm switching from Windows to Debian (after a pleasant Fedora experience) and have little experience with the Debian OS - somewhat similar to you when you started the post, I guess .

Looking forward on your reply (or any of the members here present @ the topic or forum).

[kiyop]

since I have the same desire to have my Debian OS with me all the time to use on all kinds of computers across the globe (I do a lot of international traveling/offshore work and applying for the manifest every time to bring my laptop with is becoming more of a pain in the *ss than one would like).
The goal is somewhat the same (learning LINUX as we go); but also to have my correspondence, documents etc... with me all the time when I need them independent of the computer I would be using (I don't like to leave a lot of traces of my documents on a HDD).
So I was wondering if you managed to get your Debian OS installed on the USB-drive - or if it would be possible on a external HDD nowadays ?
And if so, did it go through the installer menu or did you have to pull your socks to get it done?

Welcome to great debian world!
I installed debian for i386 on a partition in an external USB-HDD almost two years ago and the installed debian can boot on many computers including desktop PCs and laptops of x86. I use a CD with my script ( http://kiyoandkei.blog68.fc2.com/blog-entry-52.html ) in order to boot the installed debian on a PC which does not support boot from an USB media but supports boot from a CD.

[Cisse]

kiyop, thank you for the welcome... although I had been playing around with Debian before (and I do mean playing because I broke the installation in no time ), I decided to give Fedora a go after a colleague of mine told me he never had experienced a greater distro. I cannot disagree, but I agree to disagree (LOL). But having said that, I return to the distro I first tried and frankly like very much.

Anyhow, I'll be having fun to get this working and will probably turn grey over night as to why it won't work.
But since it has been done, it will be done again.
I'm active on offshore platforms with computers sometimes dating back from the time that Dinosaurs still walked on the planet - my son would love that btw - , I'm sure your script will come in handy so I'll have a look and see what it can do for me .

PS: did you use the normal installer or did you need to perform some tricks to get the installation on the USB-HDD done?

Thanks for the update, appreciate it...

[kiyop]

If a PC can boot from USB media, you need not use a CD with my script.

did you use the normal installer or did you need to perform some tricks to get the installation on the USB-HDD done?

I used the normal installer.

Install debian to a partition in a USB media (an external USB-HDD is good) with similar method as installation to a partition in an internal HDD. There is nothing difficult during the installation process of debian. Set partitions correctly. Set the location of grub2 (kernel loader, or boot loader) to the MBR of the USB media you install debian on.

[Cisse]

Thanks, I'll give it a try once I get home.

One question concerning the OS itself when booting on a different PC than the installation PC.
Does this not cause a problem driver and setting wise?
I mean, when Debian gets installed (on the USB-drive) it checks for the specific drivers to be installed according the hardware of the PC.
Since we are booting the OS on a different PC with different specs, I wonder how Debian deals with the settings and drivers installed while it will need different drivers to handle the specs of the second PC.

Just out of curiosity and I hope I can find out myself in short time notice .

[kiyop]

One question concerning the OS itself when booting on a different PC than the installation PC.
Does this not cause a problem driver and setting wise?
I mean, when Debian gets installed (on the USB-drive) it checks for the specific drivers to be installed according the hardware of the PC.
Since we are booting the OS on a different PC with different specs, I wonder how Debian deals with the settings and drivers installed while it will need different drivers to handle the specs of the second PC.

I think that you are right. It may cause a problem on drivers and settings.
But fortunately, my debian installed on a partition in the external USB-HDD could boot on all of my PCs and laptops, maybe because I have similar PCs and laptops.

[Richard]

I have MX-14 installed on a 32 GB Imation Nano Pro.
Really nice and fast. USB2, I think.
Formatted as follows: / =ext2=28.55GB; swap=1.27GB.

Yes, you are correct, especially regarding wireless.
Works on most boxes except those with Broadcom.
They work fine with the correct driver,
but are not always compatible with other Broadcom.

[llivv]

It appears to me that the usb media probably needs to be cleaned.
a suggestion for cleaning the usb media is:
dd if=/dev/zero of=/dev/sdc

then partition and install

please keep in mind as you read instructions written for installation to the machine itself that you need to accommodate for the differences when running an OS ( debian or any other) in a VM ( virtual machine), as well as compensating for the differences experienced when running from usb
as opposed to a normal install to harddisk.

Again, your method is extremely complex for a beginner leaning GNU programs and Linux kernel.

Edit: enjoy LMDE on usb
and running it in a VM

what will they think of next?

[Cisse]

Again, your method is extremely complex for a beginner leaning GNU programs and Linux kernel.

Nobody said life would be easy... And easy is definitely not my way of living.

Anyhow, the USB-installation would be to have the OS with me when offshore.
My home laptop would be my optimums prime.
It would only be to do basic tasks with my favorite applications without leaving the trace of activity on the shared PC.

And while doing so, I will learn more than I would while not having Debian running during my time offshore

I'll keep you all posted on the adventures.

Cheers

[kiyop]

To Cisse,

dd if=/dev/zero of=/dev/sdc

I think that you need not (raw-)write zero to the whole media. Writing to only first sectors may work in some cases. For example, you can add "bs=512 count=63" or "bs=512 count=2048".
Be careful about /dev/sdc. You should replace it with a proper one.
And ... I think that you need not write zero in many cases.

[llivv]

Thanks, I'll give it a try once I get home.

One question concerning the OS itself when booting on a different PC than the installation PC.
Does this not cause a problem driver and setting wise?
I mean, when Debian gets installed (on the USB-drive) it checks for the specific drivers to be installed according the hardware of the PC.
Since we are booting the OS on a different PC with different specs, I wonder how Debian deals with the settings and drivers installed while it will need different drivers to handle the specs of the second PC.

Just out of curiosity and I hope I can find out myself in short time notice .

the kernel does half and bloat does the other half
Download any major distros Live dvd that burns to usb and boot it on two different machines.

my post above was referencing the OP. sorry I didn't even notice you resurrected an old thread until just now.

[kiyop]

my post above was referencing the OP.

I see.

[Cisse]

@ kiyop, the home test case was a success... almost time to give it a try offshore .

One note - tip if you like - on the installation, when installing GRUB I had to install it on /dev/sdx and not on /dev/sdx1 (x being the drive number onto which Debian was installed - in my case /dev/sdc).
For the rest, it went like a charm...
Thanks for the input and time.

A happy bunny so far...

Kr,

Cisse

EDIT: and the happy bunny remains a happy bunny . Posting from my own Debian Wheezy KDE OS. Tomorrow the FXCE spinoff and off we go into the wonderfull world of Debian Offshore !

[kiyop]

Congratulations!

[stevepusser]

MX 14.2 offers very easy setup of a persistent liveUSB. This is where your original downloaded live system stays unchanged, but any changes you make during a session can be saved in a separate partition on the media (via rsync to detect any changes, such as in docs or adding programs). You can scrape by with a 1 GB drive, but I don't think they sell anything less than a 4 GB nowadays. A liveUSB runs faster than a true install, since you aren't writing anything back to the drive except during shutdown, and write speeds are very slow on that media compared to the reading and decompressing on-the-fly of the Live system