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Install Artix on an external disk

Hi.
I want to install Artix to an external USB hard disk (visible as sdc)
with calamares in artix-community-qt-openrc-20210101-x86_64.iso (on an usb stick as sdb),
and I can't; sdc just doesn't show up in calamares' destination list; only the built-in sda is available, which I don't want to use any more, it's dying.
Every other tool sees sdc, I even managed to repartition it.

Re: Install Artix on an external disk

Reply #1 –
I used to encounter situation when Artix installation media not recognizing certain internal partition, and re-creating file system on that partition did not fix the issue. Only when I dd zero the partition (just about first 40Mb) and creating file system worked. Not exactly same situation as yours though. My laptop is very old, gpt partition, bios boot.

Re: Install Artix on an external disk

Reply #2 –
The installation media (the usb stick, with the iso copied to it with dd) is OK, I think, because everything else works in the system started from it. calamares also starts, just that only function doesn't work in it, to select the target device.
Thanks

Re: Install Artix on an external disk

Reply #3 –
It was this issue.
This device was install media before, and had an iso9660 label (or whatever). I reformatted it, and then I managed to install artix to its sdc1.
But it WON'T BOOT!
I get a screen with
GRUB _
and nothing else.
And moreover:
I can't boot anymore from the inner disk, sda1. It says:
Code: [Select]
GRUB loading.
Welcome to GRUB!

error> no such device: ---------- (a long uuid, that of the external disk partition I installed to)
error> unknown filesystem.
Entering rescue mode...
grub rescue>
As if it had put a bootloader to the inner disk, when I clearly told calamares to put it to sdc.
Now I can only boot from the stick with the iso. HELP!
Or I also would be thankful if you told me a way to persist the changes in the system booted from the stick.

Re: Install Artix on an external disk

Reply #5 –
I tried (3cf5.... is the target partition's uuid, aka sdc1):
Code: [Select]
artix:[root]:~# artix-chroot /run/media/artix/3cf5....
sh-5.1# grub-install --recheck /dev/disk/by-uuid/3cf5....
Installing for i386-pc platform.
grub-install: warning: File system `ext2' doesn't support embedding.
grub-install: warning: Embedding is not possible.  GRUB can only be installed in this setup by using blocklists.  However, blocklists are UNRELIABLE and their use is discouraged..
grub-install: error: will not proceed with blocklists.
sh-5.1# grub-mkconfig -o /boot/grub/grub.cfg
Generating grub configuration file ...
Found theme: /usr/share/grub/themes/artix/theme.txt
Found linux image: /boot/vmlinuz-linux
Found initrd image: /boot/initramfs-linux.img
Found fallback initrd image(s) in /boot: initramfs-linux-fallback.img
  WARNING: Failed to connect to lvmetad. Falling back to device scanning.                                         
grub-probe: error: cannot find a GRUB drive for /dev/sdb1.  Check your device.map.                                
Found Artix Linux (rolling) on /dev/sda5                                                                          
Found Manjaro Linux (20.2.1) on /dev/sda6                                                                         
Found memtest86+ image: /boot/memtest86+/memtest.bin
done
and still
GRUB _

/run/media/artix/3cf5..../boot/grub/grub.cfg is 53928 bytes long, should I really copy it here?

My goal is that this same disk be someday the builtin disk in the laptop, that's why I treated it (or wanted to) like an inner disk and used calamares and it used grub.

Re: Install Artix on an external disk

Reply #6 –
here about
Code: [Select]
grub-install: warning: File system `ext2' doesn't support embedding.
grub-install: warning: Embedding is not possible.  GRUB can only be installed in this setup by using blocklists.  However, blocklists are UNRELIABLE and their use is discouraged..

https://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/GRUB/Tips_and_tricks

You are getting the warning because you are installing grub to a partition instead of the MBR. This means grub can not be embedded in the unused space between the MBR and the first partition. Instead it has to have the list of blocks that /boot/grub/core.img resides in placed into the MBR. This setup is subject to being broken by things like defrag and so is not recommended, hence the warning. Since it is only a warning, you can ignore it.

but you should install GRUB to MBR....
maybe can you try syslinux instead grub?

Re: Install Artix on an external disk

Reply #7 –
My bad. A really installed it to sdc1, because it had an uuid.
I redid (in artix-chroot) grub-install with /dev/sdc , and then the boot went further, the boot menu appeared, but still I got an error: something like
new_root: not file system specified
Somehow I figured out that I should press an 'e' on the menu item, and edit the text changing sdc to sdb - and then the system started. Then I redid again grub-install with /dev/sdb and grub-mkconfig.
Now it's OK.
The original issue is now SOLVED, but I think calamares' issue 879 is still an issue, even if it's a wontfix. It was very hard for me to find out what the heck.