Page 1 of 2 12 LastLast
Results 1 to 10 of 12

Thread: using knoppix tohd=/dev/sda1 boot option when sda1 is an external USB HD

  1. #1
    Member registered user
    Join Date
    Feb 2008
    Posts
    31

    using knoppix tohd=/dev/sda1 boot option when sda1 is an external USB HD

    knoppix tohd=/dev/sda1 boot option does not seem to work when /dev/sda1 is an external USB hard drive. It this the expected behavior?

  2. #2
    Moderator Moderator
    Join Date
    Nov 2010
    Location
    Germany/ Dietzenbach
    Posts
    1,124
    'Are you sure, your external drive is '/dev/sda' and the partition is '/dev/sda1'? Please boot Knoppix again without the cheatcode "tohd=/dev/sda1" an tell us the output from
    Code:
    blkid
    and
    Code:
    fdisk -l

  3. #3
    Member registered user
    Join Date
    Feb 2008
    Posts
    31
    I've already checked this, but I'll try again after the machine finishes a 24-hour memory check. What log files should I look at then? The machine is old and may have intractable hardware problems, but I can use it a little longer if I can get Knoppix running with persistence. It boots reliably only from the DVD drive. (The external USB drive is the only other functioning drive on the machine, and it comes up as sda.)

  4. #4
    Member registered user
    Join Date
    Feb 2008
    Posts
    31
    Tried again. The USBHDD is installed as sda. There is nothing obvious to the untutored eye in the dmesg methods that describe detecting and installing sda. There seem to be no messaged from Knoppix in /var/log. But the files are simply not copied to the USBHDD with option tohd.

    If tohd is known to work for USB hard drives, then I will simply write this off to hardware failure in an old computer.

  5. #5
    Moderator Moderator
    Join Date
    Nov 2010
    Location
    Germany/ Dietzenbach
    Posts
    1,124
    What you want to install is the "Poor man's install" as I described it at
    http://knoppix.net/wiki/Category:Har...e_Installation
    and I never heard from other peoples about problems using an USB drive for this method.

    But it's a little tricky to boot this installaton. If your BIOS can boot with the USB drive, why not use "Flash disk Install to HD" or "HD Install"?

  6. #6
    Member registered user
    Join Date
    Feb 2008
    Posts
    31
    If your BIOS can boot with the USB drive, why not use "Flash disk Install to HD" or "HD Install"?

    That works fine when it works, but more often than not, I get messages saying that the boot medium is defective (though the flash drive works consistently on another machine, and I get the same messages about defective medium using a perfectly good Puppy Linux bootable flash drive). The capability to boot from USB was added only in the final upgrade version for that BIOS before it was discontinued, and so any bugs would have gone unfixed. I can only boot reliably from the DVD drive, so it would be nice to boot from the DVD and then transfer control to the external drive. But I guess that box is headed for the junk heap.

  7. #7
    Moderator Moderator
    Join Date
    Nov 2010
    Location
    Germany/ Dietzenbach
    Posts
    1,124
    You can create a Knoppix boot-CD or download a bootonly CD from the Knoppix mirrors.

  8. #8
    Member Blacksimon's Avatar
    Join Date
    Oct 2011
    Location
    Italy
    Posts
    93
    Are you sure you mean tohd and not fromhd option ?

  9. #9
    Member registered user
    Join Date
    Feb 2008
    Posts
    31
    Quote Originally Posted by Werner P. Schulz View Post
    You can create a Knoppix boot-CD or download a bootonly CD from the Knoppix mirrors.
    But I require persistence as well, have only an external USB hard drive to work with, and no USB boot.

  10. #10
    Member registered user
    Join Date
    Feb 2008
    Posts
    31
    Quote Originally Posted by Blacksimon View Post
    Are you sure you mean tohd and not fromhd option ?
    Yes. I first tried these options on another computer in a virtual machine to see how they work. They work as advertised on a virtual hard drive. In contrast, on my target machine, with only an external USB hard drive, tohd fails to copy the knoppix files to the external hard drive. Apart from ignoring the boot option, it boots normally, with no relevant messages.

    Since the hard disk is probably installed earlier in the boot process than USB devices, it seems possible that tohd might not work with USB devices.

Page 1 of 2 12 LastLast

Posting Permissions

  • You may not post new threads
  • You may not post replies
  • You may not post attachments
  • You may not edit your posts
  •  


A-Tech 8GB DDR3 1600 PC3-12800 Laptop SODIMM 204-Pin Memory RAM PC3L DDR3L 1x 8G picture

A-Tech 8GB DDR3 1600 PC3-12800 Laptop SODIMM 204-Pin Memory RAM PC3L DDR3L 1x 8G

$13.99



HyperX FURY RAM DDR4 16GB 8GB 32GB 4GB 3200 2666 2400 2133 Desktop Memory DIMM picture

HyperX FURY RAM DDR4 16GB 8GB 32GB 4GB 3200 2666 2400 2133 Desktop Memory DIMM

$9.64



CRUCIAL DDR3L 8GB 16GB 32GB 1600 MHz PC3-12800 Laptop Memory RAM SODIMM 204-Pin picture

CRUCIAL DDR3L 8GB 16GB 32GB 1600 MHz PC3-12800 Laptop Memory RAM SODIMM 204-Pin

$14.35



A-Tech 8GB PC3-12800 Desktop DDR3 1600 MHz Non ECC 240-Pin DIMM Memory RAM 1x 8G picture

A-Tech 8GB PC3-12800 Desktop DDR3 1600 MHz Non ECC 240-Pin DIMM Memory RAM 1x 8G

$13.99



A-Tech 16GB 2 x 8GB PC3-12800 Laptop SODIMM DDR3 1600 Memory RAM PC3L 16G DDR3L picture

A-Tech 16GB 2 x 8GB PC3-12800 Laptop SODIMM DDR3 1600 Memory RAM PC3L 16G DDR3L

$27.98



Team T-FORCE VULCAN Z 16GB (2 x 8GB) 288-Pin PC RAM DDR4 3200 (PC4 25600) Intel picture

Team T-FORCE VULCAN Z 16GB (2 x 8GB) 288-Pin PC RAM DDR4 3200 (PC4 25600) Intel

$35.99



A-Tech 16GB 2x 8GB PC3-12800 Desktop DDR3 1600 MHz 240pin DIMM Memory RAM 16G 8G picture

A-Tech 16GB 2x 8GB PC3-12800 Desktop DDR3 1600 MHz 240pin DIMM Memory RAM 16G 8G

$27.98



HMT84GL7AMR4C-RD 32GB DDR3 Server Memory RAM 14900L ECC REG 4Rx4 SK Hynix Cisco picture

HMT84GL7AMR4C-RD 32GB DDR3 Server Memory RAM 14900L ECC REG 4Rx4 SK Hynix Cisco

$13.99



Hynix 64GB 4Rx4 PC4-2133P-L LRDIMM DDR4-17000 ECC Load Reduced Server Memory RAM picture

Hynix 64GB 4Rx4 PC4-2133P-L LRDIMM DDR4-17000 ECC Load Reduced Server Memory RAM

$64.99



A-Tech 64GB 4x 16GB 2Rx4 PC4-19200R DDR4 2400MHz ECC REG RDIMM Server Memory RAM picture

A-Tech 64GB 4x 16GB 2Rx4 PC4-19200R DDR4 2400MHz ECC REG RDIMM Server Memory RAM

$87.96