Installing BT 5 R3 on external hard drive

[Bronk]

Hi guys,

I just started to use backtrack a couple of days ago and this is my 1st time that I am using a non windows OS.
I searched around the forum to find answers to my question but noticed that many people had problems and since I am not experienced with Linux I would really appreciate if someone who knows how to do this helps me out

I have booted BT on USB with unetbootin, working fine so far.
I am using the newest BT5R3-GNOME-32 version. I would like to install BT but I dont want to put it on my internal hard drive not to compromise my windows installation.
I have a 1 TB external hard drive and I would like to install BT on it. I am not really using it for anything so I can use the entire thing.

Can someone please give my detailed instructions on how to do this, preferably if you have done it yourself? What i need to pay attention to and all that. and what I shouldnt do under any circumstances?
I am new to linux but i want to learn so please have patience with me.
I really dont want to mess up my windows installation, since I have important data there.

I appreciate you helping me on this, sharing is caring :-)

[snafu777]

1) Backup all important files on the drive in question

2) TRY.....

3) If you fail do some googling.

4) Implement google search ideas

5) Try again

6) If all else fails, do a detailed post here and people will probably help you.......

[Bronk]

1) Backup all important files on the drive in question

2) TRY.....

3) If you fail do some googling.

4) Implement google search ideas

5) Try again

6) If all else fails, do a detailed post here and people will probably help you.......

that is the thing
i dont want to mess up my windows installation and after that get some advice that I could use.
can you please tell me if this is the way to do it?

Here's how I got this to work:

1) Boot from Live BT DVD
2) startx
3) Click "Install.sh" on the desktop
4) Select Guided mode
5) Select the appropriate external usb hard drive
6) Click "Advanced"
7) Select the location of the same external usb hard drive from step 5 above as the location to install the Grub bootloader

To boot from your regular OS change your bios to boot from where ever your normally boot from. To boot your external usb hard drive into BT plug your usb into your computer, change the bios to boot from usb and enjoy.

By the way, thanks, in a twisted sort of way for letting me figure this out on my own. It was frustrating for a while but I learned something by you allowing me to become "quieter."

Again, many thanks....

Glenn

[Arndtwe]

That won't work. The Backtrack installation from LiveCD will only allow internal HDD's not USB. There are two options, depending on what you want out of it. Do you want the setup to retain all changes you make? i.e downloaded files/programs, custom configurations etc. OR do you want it to still act like a LiveCD in that it will just go back to defaults after every boot without saving any changes or files you added?

[maverik35]

Sorry Bronk, this is not the place for Linux newbbies..The section is for BT5 beginners, newbbies, but in the BT5, NOT LINUX....You want a "detailed instructions...", to do something?...

Let me quote some of your doubts:

1. " I just started to use backtrack a couple of days ago and this is my 1st time that I am using a non windows OS"..Wrong place to start...Start with Ubuntu, get some basics and come back...Sorry....This is not a linux for beginners..

2. "I searched around the forum to find answers to my question but noticed that many people had problems and since I am not experienced with Linux...."... get some Linux basics...Read...

3. " I am using the newest BT5R3-GNOME-32 version. I would like to install BT but I dont want to put it on my internal hard drive not to compromise my windows installation"....Read about linux before posting this kind of things (Highlighted and underlined)..Read..

4. " What i need to pay attention to and all that"...You need to READ. Go to Ubuntu wiki and read..Start there...Then come back and ask.

5. " I really dont want to mess up my windows installation, since I have important data there"..Then do not use any linux distro..

Sorry...Do not feel ofended but this is not the way to ask for help...

Luck.

[Bronk]

That won't work. The Backtrack installation from LiveCD will only allow internal HDD's not USB. There are two options, depending on what you want out of it. Do you want the setup to retain all changes you make? i.e downloaded files/programs, custom configurations etc. OR do you want it to still act like a LiveCD in that it will just go back to defaults after every boot without saving any changes or files you added?

Thanks for replying mate.
Yeah I want the setup to retain all changes on the external drive so that I can save whatever I do.

[Bronk]

Sorry Bronk, this is not the place for Linux newbbies..The section is for BT5 beginners, newbbies, but in the BT5, NOT LINUX....You want a "detailed instructions...", to do something?...

Let me quote some of your doubts:

1. " I just started to use backtrack a couple of days ago and this is my 1st time that I am using a non windows OS"..Wrong place to start...Start with Ubuntu, get some basics and come back...Sorry....This is not a linux for beginners..

2. "I searched around the forum to find answers to my question but noticed that many people had problems and since I am not experienced with Linux...."... get some Linux basics...Read...

3. " I am using the newest BT5R3-GNOME-32 version. I would like to install BT but I dont want to put it on my internal hard drive not to compromise my windows installation"....Read about linux before posting this kind of things (Highlighted and underlined)..Read..

4. " What i need to pay attention to and all that"...You need to READ. Go to Ubuntu wiki and read..Start there...Then come back and ask.

5. " I really dont want to mess up my windows installation, since I have important data there"..Then do not use any linux distro..

Sorry...Do not feel ofended but this is not the way to ask for help...

Luck.

I am not offended.
I am sure you have more experience than me but I am really asking very simple things for someone who has experience in Linux. I have already said that I dont have. But for what I have used backtrack so far I have been successful and I have a couple of tutorials to help me along the way. I appreciate your comments but you havent really helped me any further. I just want to know if I can install it on my ex. HD and how since there is not much information here about it and I want to make sure that my internall HD with my windows installation is safe.

Thanks

[daedalus1776]

try this:
http://lmgtfy.com/?q=install+backtra...nal+hard+drive
or if that doesn't help, try this:
http://lmgtfy.com/?q=install+linux+external+hard+drive

[Bronk]

I found some good instructions at

http://www.linuxbsdos.com/2012/03/12/install-backtrack-5-revolution-2-on-external-hard-drive/

but here is what is bugging me...
the article says

For Swap space, select “swap area” from the “Use as” dropdown menu. The installer will attempt to create it as a Logical partition. You may accept that or choose Primary to create it as a primary partition.

Are both Primary and Logical equally good and which should I use?

In this article the guy says that he has 2 internal drives and he is installing BT on the 3rd external drive so that would be the sdc but take a look at the last picture of the article. There should be no changes with sda and sdb, correct?
but take a look at this picture


why does it say that partition #5 (sda) will also be formatted?

[maverik35]

I think you did something wrong..If you have W7 already installed, it will be erased..W7 should be using /dev/sda1..The extended should be sda2 and logics are from sda5 and up..

Why sda5?..Because primary partitions allowed by BIOS is 4. For example: 2 IDE connectors will only accept as much as 4 HDD, each with a primary Partition as a maximum, and I mean primary...

So this means in linux, is the same, you have 4 primary Partitions (sda1 to sda4)..If you want more, they will start from 5 (sda5) and up, but they have to be in an Extended partition.

So in an extended partition the first one starts from 5..The swap partition is a different partition, is not counted in the sdx partitions...So you need one Swap partition and it can be used by as many linux distros as you have installed.

So, in your case, W7 should be using sda1...If linux is using it, it might delete W7 partition...Make sure you mapped the HDD correctly..

You should have:
/dev/sda1 -------ntfs (Windows 7) (xx Gb)
/dev/sda2-------extended (xx Gb) here you decide the size if you've shrunk the hdd.
sda5-------BT5 (Mounting point "/") (Filesystem ext4) You give the size (from within the extended)
swap -----swap (1Gb no need for more)
That is all you shoud have...

Use gparted to partition the disk...Once you do that, you do not need to format the filesystem since it will be done by gparted...

Please post map of HDD. And how you partitioned it. Did you use gparted?..

Luck....