33 replies to this topic

[steve6375]

Steve6375, is there anyway I can boot from a E2B pendisk but simply point to the iso and to the persistence file on a ntfs volume?

I don't have a problem in booting from my E2B pendrive however I do have an issue with it being so slow. If the bootup to grub4dos was to be accomplished on the pendrive, would it be possible to point it to a casper-rw persistence file which is on a ntfs filesystem?

Thanks and sorry for my persistence with this issue

 

E2B supports many linux ISOs with persistence files (on FAT32, NTFS, exFAT or ext2/3/4!).

It is all documented, with YouTube videos and blog posts, etc.

http://www.easy2boot...es/persistence/

 

If you use a fast USb 3.0 drive or USB SSD it is pretty fast!

[john3voltas]

Ooops. Sorry, just noticed that I didn't express myself properly.

What I meant to say was, is it possible to use an E2B pendisk just to boot up grub4dos and then use an ntfs volume on the actual computer's hard drive?

So, the pendisk would be there just to start grub4dos, everything else would happen on the local hdd.

TIA

Cheers

[steve6375]

Yes, but I am not sure if it will work as I haven't tested it...

Method 1: Use linux cheat codes to specify the name of the persistence file.
Not all linux's have the capability (the cheat codes). e.g. persistent-path=xxxx
https://sites.google...als/linuxmint14
I don't know if it will find it on another disk and I don't know if it will search all disks and all partitions to find it...

Maybe if you specified a /dev/sdax devicename too?

 

Method 2. Use the grub4dos partnew command to map the persistence file on the internal hard disk.
The internal hard disk must be in simple MBR format (not GPT) and must have one Primary partition table entry empty.
The persistence file must be on the same physical disk as the MBR partition table
e.g

partnew (hd1,3) 0 (hd1,1)/temp/mypersistence-rw

[john3voltas]

Unfortunately method 2 is not a viable solution for most PC's out there today. Everybody is moving to UEFI and if I understand this properly, everybody on UEFI must choose GPT, right?

Anyway, on my particular case, I need to leave everything unchanged. That is to say that I need to leave the disk in GPT and I need to keep 2 big NTFS partitions on it and a small FAT partition which is Windows' system partition for bootmgr.

So that means that method 2 is a no go for me.

Which leaves me only with method 1. Linux cheat-codes or whatever they're named.

But having a cheat-code to read/write a persistence file on another volume doesn't mean that it'll work, right? Otherwise I would have succeeded with Ubuntu, right? Ubuntu doesn't allow persistence on NTFS volumes.

So it seems like I'm locked inside a phone booth with no key to open the door. Aaaarrgghhhh, I'm beginning to get desperate.

[Wonko the Sane]

Unfortunately method 2 is not a viable solution for most PC's out there today. Everybody is moving to UEFI and if I understand this properly, everybody on UEFI must choose GPT, right?

Anyway, on my particular case, I need to leave everything unchanged. That is to say that I need to leave the disk in GPT and I need to keep 2 big NTFS partitions on it and a small FAT partition which is Windows' system partition for bootmgr.

So that means that method 2 is a no go for me.

Which leaves me only with method 1. Linux cheat-codes or whatever they're named.

But having a cheat-code to read/write a persistence file on another volume doesn't mean that it'll work, right? Otherwise I would have succeeded with Ubuntu, right? Ubuntu doesn't allow persistence on NTFS volumes.

So it seems like I'm locked inside a phone booth with no key to open the door. Aaaarrgghhhh, I'm beginning to get desperate.

Look, there are HUNDREDS of distro's around, among which TENS are good, reliable and well maintained, (and BTW UBUNTU, while well maintained and reliable is IMHO not that "good") among the TENS, there are several that do have adequate cheat codes and that CAN have a persistence file on NTFS, it is then most probably your fixation of having specifically UBUNTU with a persistence file on NTFS that is stopping you.

 

And here we get to the usual CATCH22 when it comes to Linux, you either are not expert enough to understand/feel the difference between Ubuntu and *any* other distro or you are a sophisticated enough Linux user to be capable to add the NTFS module and if needed add a cheat code to the Ubuntu kernel and recompile it.

 

Wonko

[steve6375]

Ubuntu doesn't work if the persistence file is on an NTFS volume.

But why can't you create another ext3 volume called casper-rw, or a FAT32 volume with a persistence file on it.

I don't know if Ubuntu will detect a GPT ext3 or FAT32 volume though...

[john3voltas]

And here we get to the usual CATCH22 when it comes to Linux, you either are not expert enough to understand/feel the difference between Ubuntu and *any* other distro...

Look, I couldn't care less about Ubuntu. Actually I despise Canonical.
I assure you that I fully understand the difference between Ubuntu and other distros.
If I were in charge we would all be running something Arch Linux based on our computers. Maybe Manjaro.
 

...you are (not?) a sophisticated enough Linux user to be capable to add the NTFS module and if needed add a cheat code to the Ubuntu kernel and recompile it.

Plain right. I am not enough experienced on Linux. I stated that right from the beginning. Adding NTFS module and adding the cheat code to the kernel is unfortunately completely out of my league.
 

Look, there are HUNDREDS of distro's around, among which TENS are good, reliable and well maintained, (and BTW UBUNTU, while well maintained and reliable is IMHO not that "good") among the TENS, there are several that do have adequate cheat codes and that CAN have a persistence file on NTFS, it is then most probably your fixation of having specifically UBUNTU with a persistence file on NTFS that is stopping you.

The problem is Arch to my knowledge doesn't have a conventional LiveCD/LiveUSB. The Arch LiveUSB only boots a minimal image that allows you **only** to install the OS. It is not a full blown desktop system...
Manjaro can do that but unfortunately Manjaro doesn't have live persistence on Easy2boot.
What's left? Red Hat based and Debian based, right? That means Fedora, CentOS, Ubuntu, MINT, Gentoo, etc.
CentOS is in essence RHEL and that means it's oooold. Gentoo is a bit like Arch, it's for geeks and seems to have a live system which was not built solely to help install the OS.
Between Ubuntu and MINT I would opt to go with the original and since I've had big yum issues with Fedora when I last tried it I ended up with Ubuntu...
But I would gladly go with Manjaro if it had persistence.
Or you could possibly point me to some distros that have a LiveCD/USB desktop environment, that have persistence and that can be used on a NTFS file system preferably not based on slackware and which have a proper package manager (not like Puppy). That would be of great help.
 

Ubuntu doesn't work if the persistence file is on an NTFS volume.
But why can't you create another ext3 volume called casper-rw, or a FAT32 volume with a persistence file on it.
I don't know if Ubuntu will detect a GPT ext3 or FAT32 volume though...

Steve I've pointed out that this laptop is not mine. It's my boss'. I am not allowed to install apps or OSes on it and less should I play with repartitioning.
It comes with 2 big NTFS partitions with Windows 7 installed on the first one and that's what I have to live with.
Hence why I tried Easy2boot from the beginning. I was only interested in putting the persistence file on the NTFS volume because using it on the USB pendisk is very very slow. At least on this computer it is way slow.

[Wonko the Sane]

"TENS" does not mean "Arch Linux instead of Ubuntu" 

Just §@ç#ing try Porteus!  (as you were already suggested, BTW).

Wonko

[alacran]

Try Linux Lite (x86 and x64) it is Light weight, fast and you are not going to miss Windows. DVD or USB bootable, Including persistence in USB, you can use Yumi to install it to USB and create the persistence file (on USB FAT32 partition).

 

If you like CCleaner, it has its own little tool to do a system and browser cleaning (you can´t find it in other distros), also comes with a program called SystemBack to let you create backups to your HDD or live backups to install to USB, from there you can reinstall the OS when it is fully updated and as you like it.

 

I'm trying it now fully installed on a 20GB ext4 partition on my HDD (MBR partitioned) and it uses about 5 to 6 GB depending on other software you installed.

 

Linux Lite:

 

https://www.linuxliteos.com/

 

Yumi:

 

http://www.pendrivel...ot-usb-creator/

 

Yumi has an option to select all drives, not only USB, you may try this one or install to USB to see if all goes well in your PC before making any changes to your equipment, and later if you want from USB install to a partition on HDD.

 

alacran