1

WHAT'S IN NAME?

I do not know the term for what I am going to describe: for the purpose of this conversation I will call it an unconventional installation. If it had a name and I knew it, I would Google it :) If this method of installation has a name, then bonus for calling it out. Numerous attempts to boot from USB have failed: unfortunately, this does not seem to be an option

CONTEXT

The goal is to outfit the neighbor's laptop with an SSD and run 32-bit Ubuntu or lubuntu. The laptop boots only from the SATA HDD. Laptop is an Asus EEE 1000HE RAM:2GB Intel Atom N280 Atom @1.66Ghz

METHOD

I would like to place a new SSD drive into a USB enclosure to connect to my Ubuntu or Windows box. I would then configure the SSD's file system with partimage (unsure which FS is best for an SSD, but I'd like to have SSD 'trim' support engaged). How would one configure and outfit the drive so that when it is installed in the laptop it will boot up and configure the operating system?

QUESTIONS

If this is possible, them I believe that this has been done before and there is good documentation of how to do this. I simply do not know the term to Google to find this info. If you have done this before: what is a good URL to learn how to outfit a self-installing drive? Are there any pitfalls or lessons-learned? If you have performed this successfully, please state this in your reply. Thank you

Community
  • 1
gatorback
  • 6,523

1 Answers1

1

All you should need to do is install a 32-bit version of Ubuntu to the SSD using your other computer; after that, once the drive is transferred to the neighbor's laptop, chances are good it will detect and adjust to the new hardware without problems.

Connect the SSD to your computer via USB cable, then boot your computer into a 32-bit live Ubuntu DVD or USB stick (as if you were going to install Ubuntu on the computer). However, in the Ubuntu installer, you will be choosing to install Ubuntu to the SSD, not your computer's main hard drive. Also make sure that when the installer asks where to install the GRUB bootloader, you choose to install it to the SSD (not your main hard drive).

Once the Ubuntu installer is complete, you should be able to transfer the SSD into the ASUS laptop and it should boot into Ubuntu.

Nick Weinberg
  • 4,636