Running linux from a portable HDD

[tougas]

A little side info: I am currently going to school for computer engineering and most of my future will be spent in a Linux environment. However I like to use windows for most of my day to day tasks and as such I have my desktop rig as well as a Surface Pro 3 and both are on windows 8.1. I have a spare SSD lying in an old laptop that I dont use anymore and I was thinking about using it as an external, transportable linux system. I would like to be able to keep all of my linux files and work on this SSD while being able to simply boot to it from my Surface or from my desktop and have all of the same files. I feel like it is possible but being new to linux I wanted to ask, first if it was possible, and second if that there were any special steps to make it function.

in short:
-Install linux on portable drive so that I can boot any of my machines from it and have the same file structure.

Thank you.

 

[USAFRet]

Pendrivelinux

And to test compatibility with your specific devices:
http://www.pendrivelinux.com/testing-your-system-for-usb-boot-compatibility/

 

[tougas]

Thanks USAF and if that stands for what I think it does thanks for your service. What distro would you recommend?

 

[USAFRet]

Thanks USAF and if that stands for what I think it does thanks for your service. What distro would you recommend?

(yes it does and you're welcome)

What distro? All depends on your personal preferences. There are hundreds.
For a beginner, Ubuntu or LinuxMint, maybe.

 

[McHenryB]

Any Linux distribution whatsoever can be installed on an external drive in exactly the same way that you would install it on an internal drive. And if you are using a USB or (unlikely) Thunderbolt connection I doubt that you would notice the difference. Just pick the distribution that you like best.

 

[tougas]

I ran that mem test on my desktop and it booted fine, however it is not going so well on my surface pro 3. Apparently there are known issues with that, Ill have to get back to this thread when I discover a solution. thanks for the help guys.

 

[skittle]

Surface pro 3 support was only added in very recent kernels. Specifically the patch to add support for type cover 3 was added in november.
http://git.kernel.org/cgit/linux/kernel/git/torvalds/linux.git/commit/?id=be3b16341d5cd8cf2a64fcc7a604a8efe6599ff0

MORE specifically the patch was added into the mainline kernelversion 3.19
http://kernelnewbies.org/Linux_3.19-DriversArch#head-aca5574fa8eb0c1af67d1df0ebd0a36e8cff8033

What does this mean? You need to aquire kernel 3.19+ to support your surface pro 3. Ubuntu does not yet have kernel 3.19.

How to get kernel v3.19 easeist way: You can try Fedora 'Rawhide", OpenSuse "Factory", or ArchLinux will have 3.19 in the main repository in a few days (i have been using 3.19 for a months via testing repository)
You can also get a PPA for Ubuntu:
http://kernel.ubuntu.com/~kernel-ppa/mainline/v3.19-vivid/

Or if you feel adventurous you could download the source and build for your self:
https://www.kernel.org/

supposedly Ubuntu 15.04 will come with kernel 3.19 but as of now still has 3.18

 

[tougas]

Thats a whole lot of information there skittle and I appreciate it. Currently my school runs Ubuntu and as such most of my assignments are done in that OS. Do you know of an impending release of 15.04? I have another machine that I can use to run Ubuntu but it is an old 17" ASUS gaming laptop that is a bit cumbersome to carry hence the idea of the portable drive. I know I can run it on my desktop but that doesn't do me much good if I am not at home and since I work basically as an intern I have a lot of downtime that I can focus on using Linux on my surface and thats what drove this whole idea. Im not one to complain to get my way so i guess Ill have top wait patiently for the Ubuntu 15.04 to use it on my surface.

 

[skittle]

15.04 Will be in April.

You don't have to wait though, its easy enough to get kernel 3.19 working on current Ubuntu 14.04 or 14.10.

 

[tougas]

i spent a lot of time yesterday reading up on that exact thing. hopefully my hdd enclosure comes in tomorrow and i can start working on it. im really looking forward to using a command style OS again. I have a lot of experience with network equipment and especially cisco cli and i know how rewarding it can feel when you finally get things working the way you want.

 

[skittle]

... im really looking forward to using a command style OS again...

You may prefer ArchLinux or Gentoo over Ubuntu then

I am really enjoying ArchLinux with i3wm on my Acer720