Problem installing from 12.2 kde live 64 to a USB attached external HDD

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1

I am trying to install 12.2 kde 64 to a usb attached hdd from 12.2 kde live 64 on a USB stick. This system is in the process of being built and will have it’s hard disks and optical disks moved into it from another system. The only HDD is the external drive I am trying to install onto.

Prior to the installation I deleted all partitions on the disk. During the installation I accepted the proposed partitioning. The installation fails with

 Kernel image:   /boot/vmlinuz-3.4.6-2.10-desktop
 Initrd image:   /boot/initrd-3.4.6-2.10-desktop
 KMS drivers:     i915
 Root device:    /dev/disk/by-id/usb-Myson_Century__Inc._USB_Mass_Storage_Device_100-part2 (/dev/sdd2) (mounted on / as ext4)
 modprobe: Module hid_generic not found.
 WARNING: no dependencies for kernel module 'hid-generic' found.
 Kernel Modules:    thermal_sys thermal processor fan scsi_dh scsi_dh_emc scsi_dh_alua scsi_dh_rdac scsi_dh_hp_sw video button i2c-algo-bit drm drm_kms_helper i915 usb-storage xhci-hcd hid-logitech-dj 
 Features:       acpi kms plymouth block usb resume.userspace resume.kernel
 Perl-Bootloader: 2012-09-26 22:02:15 ERROR: Command '/usr/sbin/grub2-install --force --skip-fs-probe /dev/sdc >/var/log/YaST2/y2log_bootloader 2>&1' failed with code 256 and output: /usr/sbin/grub2-bios-setup: warning: Attempting to install GRUB to a disk with multiple partition labels.  This is not supported yet..
 /usr/sbin/grub2-bios-setup: error: embedding is not possible, but this is required for cross-disk install.
 

 There was an error generating the initrd (1)

I suspect that it is trying to use the usb stick to boot the hdd but I could well be wrong. I have seen references to setting the HDD to be the primary boot device to get grub installed on that particular device. That is in fact how I installed window 7 ultimate after 11.3 while keeping the booting completely separate. I can’t see any way to identify a non bootable usb HDD as the primary boot device.

The other interesting thing is that the motherboard is an ASUS P8H57-M PRO which is a UEFI board. I am assuming (very dangerous) that if the installation is trying to set up an EFI boot then it will have partitioned the disk correctly for EFI. I also assume that if the installation was trying to do a standard BIOS type boot, if there was going to be an EFI problem it would happen when attempting to boot the HDD. The disk is an old 50GB laptop hdd and I do not have any way of connecting it as an internal disk.

2

The few things I suggest/notice is that in the Booting section 1) The install does not seem to install generic boot code in the MBR even though checked by default, which is required if you load Grub 2 into the / or root partition of any disk other than /dev/sda. This will prevent your boot from working on the external hard drive. 2) It appears it is best to select Grub 2 to go into a custom diisk/partition like /dev/sdb (where having no partition number means MBR) or what ever your external hard drive is called. Make sure a SWAP, Root Partition and /home all exist on this external disk putting 20 GB in for the / or root partition doing custom partitioning. Uncheck the option to load the MBR with generic boot code. Not sure it matters about marking the / or root partition active for booting. And, you must select the external hard drive as your boot drive in your BIOS setup.

Thank You,

3

Thanks for the quick reply. I shall try your uncertain advice but certainly not before tomorrow.

4

One thing is for sure, do this when you have time and nothing else more important to do. Good luck and come back and ask for more advice if required.

Thank You,

5

I think that I followed your uncertain advice and I now have a usb HDD that appears to boot so your advice was probably correct.

6

That is what I like around here, uncertain help. lol! Happy to hear of your success vindevienne.

Thank You,