From owner-freebsd-mobile@FreeBSD.ORG Mon Nov 28 09:18:34 2005 Return-Path: X-Original-To: freebsd-mobile@freebsd.org Delivered-To: freebsd-mobile@freebsd.org Received: from mx1.FreeBSD.org (mx1.freebsd.org [216.136.204.125]) by hub.freebsd.org (Postfix) with ESMTP id C961D16A41F for ; Mon, 28 Nov 2005 09:18:34 +0000 (GMT) (envelope-from openbsd.org@fluet.com) Received: from gateway.fluet.com (S0106000c41aa90a8.ed.shawcable.net [68.148.166.135]) by mx1.FreeBSD.org (Postfix) with ESMTP id 241D543D5A for ; Mon, 28 Nov 2005 09:18:33 +0000 (GMT) (envelope-from openbsd.org@fluet.com) Received: from [192.168.1.10] (unknown [192.168.1.1]) by gateway.fluet.com (Postfix) with ESMTP id C221260D5 for ; Mon, 28 Nov 2005 02:19:05 -0700 (MST) From: openbsd.org@fluet.com To: freebsd-mobile@freebsd.org Date: Mon, 28 Nov 2005 02:18:31 -0700 User-Agent: KMail/1.8 References: <20051117120042.139AE16A43D@hub.freebsd.org> In-Reply-To: <20051117120042.139AE16A43D@hub.freebsd.org> MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="iso-8859-1" Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit Content-Disposition: inline Message-Id: <200511280218.31226.openbsd.org@fluet.com> Subject: Re: Installation of Freebsd on external (USB) hard drive (using GRUB) X-BeenThere: freebsd-mobile@freebsd.org X-Mailman-Version: 2.1.5 Precedence: list List-Id: Mobile computing with FreeBSD List-Unsubscribe: , List-Archive: List-Post: List-Help: List-Subscribe: , X-List-Received-Date: Mon, 28 Nov 2005 09:18:34 -0000 > Date: Wed, 16 Nov 2005 22:40:51 +0100 > From: Marco Calviani > Subject: Re: Installation of Freebsd on external hard drive > > Hi Eric and list, > unfortunately my BIOS (of a Travelmate 8005) does not support boot from USB > devices. > I'll search for some other information that comes from multi-os users. > > Thanks again, > MC > > > I've installed it on USB keys and external USB drives with no problem. > > > > Since I was only using those for experimentation, I never modified my > > boot loader. My BIOS provides a boot menu for selecting the boot > > device, of which "external USB device" is an option. I found this > > cleaner, since when not using those devices I do not have to go through > > the FreeBSD boot menu. > > > > Hints? > > For my situation... I booted from the CD. When asked to slice and > > partition my disk... I chose the external USB device. I selected the > > 'standard boot loader'. Then the rest of the magic is handled by my BIOS. > > > > Don't know if that helps you much. I'm a little late replying, but I thought I would reply if only for archival searches on this subject. I have an Acer C300 TabletPC and the BIOS does not support booting from USB. This doesn't matter, however, since you can install a boot loader onto the LAPTOP'S hard drive that will boot the USB partitions for you. I don't recall if the FreeBSD boot loader does this, but GRUB (/usr/ports/sysutils/grub) definitely does. Here is my grub /boot/grub/menu.lst: -------------------------------------------------- title WindowsXP rootnoverify (hd0,0) chainloader +1 makeactive savedefault title FreeBSD RELENG-5 root (hd0,1,a) kernel /boot/loader savedefault title FreeBSD RELENG-6 root (hd0,2,a) kernel /boot/loader savedefault title FreeBSD Portable Disk root (hd1,1,a) kernel /boot/loader savedefault title OpenBSD Portable Disk root (hd1,2) chainloader +1 makeactive savedefault -------------------------------------------------- As you can see, on the laptop's hard drive (hd0), I have WindowsXP and two FreeBSD installations. On the USB drive (hd1), I have a non-bootable DOS partition (no entry but would be entered hd1,0), a FreeBSD partition, and an OpenBSD partition. I hope this helps some. -- Kevin