not sure of command to use help please

[mrgee]

hi im a newbie here and to linux .

i trying to do a full install of backtrack onto a 4gb usb drive so i
can boot into linux as a live cd . i understand it will run faster .

basically i want to do what this guy says in this tutorial
"Installing Backtrack to a USB Stick or Hard Drive" i cant post a link sorry
offensive-security.com/documentation/backtrack-hd-install.pdf

he says quote "The device I am using is /dev/sda" unquote

when he has booted up the backtrack live cd and opened up a shell promt his 1st command is
BT ~ # fdisk /dev/sda

when i plug my usb drive into laptop its drive L so what what i type there
for my 1st command ?

im not clued up on installations so would like to make sure i get it right

thanks in advance

[balding_parrot]

You only need to post once, your posts will take a while to appear as you are a new member. This was pointed out when you signed up, in the forum rules which you agreed to and when you posted this both times.


If it is showing as drive L you are in windows, you should be doing those commands from a computer booted from the BT2 cd.

[mrgee]

ok ive booted into linux live cd ive not typed startx yet

so how do i know what command to type as i cant see where my usb adapter
is
the tutorial uses this command ? /dev/sda will that be the same for me if im using a usb adapter ?
thanks

[balding_parrot]

To be honest with you, you would be better off using this method, just leave out the data partition, make the first partition 1G the swap partition 1G and the changes partition the rest of the stick.

It's the method I use for all my installs, USB HDD, USB sticks, even my 160GB internal HDD on one of my laptops.

[circuithead64]

No offense or anything as i am still a rookie myself but there is a great Intro to Linux at linux.org (you'll notice i did not make tis a link) ......anyway there is also a video tutorial accessible through offensive-security or remote-exploit ( i forget which but its there) that you can watch while you do it .....as to the identity of your drive....if you have two sata drives say then they will show up as sda and sdb. if your first drive (sda) has three partitions then they will be sda1,sda2,sda3 etc... learn the mount command, cat is also very useful( just views files, no danger you might accidentally edit one...oops!!darn those fat fingers) if your drives are older PATA drives( IDE) then they will be listed as hda, hdb etc....your usb drives will show up as sd? .....also learn about /etc/fstab and /proc/partitions both files you can view with the cat command....gotta go lots to learn and as always don't believe everything you read on the internet....at least try to verify as some people are mean but many more are just plain stupid.....the man command is also very useful

[Re@lity]

ok ive booted into linux live cd ive not typed startx yet

so how do i know what command to type as i cant see where my usb adapter
is
the tutorial uses this command ? /dev/sda will that be the same for me if im using a usb adapter ?
thanks

If you're not sure about it, watch dmesg as you insert the stick.
As it settles, you'll see what it's allotted. Nice easy method....
(console ----> type "dmesg")
Don't just assume sda - that could be your hdd, in which case the stick could be sdb, etc.....

[mrgee]

well im stuck at the 1st hurdle so may as well give up and just use a standard live usb version of backtrack live .ive put the usb dive in pc and booted up the backtrack live cd .
i opened a command promt and typed qtparted and it only found 2 drives .
one being a 79gb internal drive the other being a cdrom that i booted from and it failed to find my main 200gbb hard drive let alone my 4gb usb drive .

i was told to try partiton magic so i did only that didnt work in vista

[circuithead64]

my advice above applies as if you had followed it you would have learned quite a bit and you would know the answer to your question.........forget vista .....this isn't a windows OS and approaching the problem like it is isnt going to help.....i have used windows most of my life....LONG LIVE THE PENGUIN!!!

[mrgee]

i have tried the balding_parrot method too with still no luck

so heres what ive done .
ive booted into backtrack then command propt

typed qtparted and just as same as before it does not show any usb drives .
only shows my hard cd dive running backtrack live. it show a 70gb hard drive i have installled and still does not show my main 160 gb drive