Installing Arch on a USB Key Partition

I'm new to Arch Linux, and installed it on a partition on my USB Key to try it out (it's cool!.... so far). One problem though. It's an 8GB drive with two partitions. I installed Arch on the first partition (2.5GB) and the rest is for storage. This is fine on computers that run Linux, but Windows only recognizes the first partition and does not see the storage partition.
Is there a way I could copy my entire Arch filesystem so I could reformat my USB Key with the partitions in the correct order? I was looking into Partimage and CloneZilla. I am also open to other solutions.

Clonezilla worked fine! For anyone else who wants to restore an image of a partition to a different partition, make sure you read this:
http://drbl.org/faq/fine-print.php?path … tition.faq
Last edited by zangderak (2011-09-10 01:19:20)

Similar Messages

Having trouble installing Arch Linux to USB key

Hello,
I have read the wiki article, but it doesn't answer my question. I am having trouble installing Arch to a USB key (8GB Sandisk Cruzer). I installled GRUB correctly, it booted, but the flash drive was write-protected. In the fstab file, I have the defaults and noatime flags in there. I have never experienced an error like this, and I don't know how to fix it. I have tried to reboot into the Arch CD and mounted the USB, but it just stalls and displays no output. Obviously, if I boot into my USB (you can still boot into it), and do "nano /etc/fstab", it says that I cannot write. In case you were wondering, I am using the root user. Thank you for all your help!
EDIT: I have Syslinux, the kernel parameters is RW. If I run mount -o remount,rw /dev/sda1, it tells me something like:
ata3.00: status: {DRDY ERR}
ata3.00: error: {IDNF}
end_request: I/O error, dev sda, sector 21
Buffer I/o error on device sda1, logical block 0
EXT4-fs error (device sda1): ext4_remount:4665: Abort forced by user
I did NOT hit CTRL+C.
Last edited by aqua123 (2013-09-07 02:01:30)

I'm a nub, and I think I'll piggy back of aqua's post. Perhaps we have the same problem
I have an Asus UX31A with Xubuntu (with grub) currently installed. I created the bootable USB as per the Arch Wiki UEFI bootable usb page. I can boot into the main prompt where you can choose "Arch Linux Iso", "shell v1", "shell v2" and "Default prompt."
Choosing the first option (to get to the the command prompt and begin installing) makes the screen flash once, then just hangs black. Before the flash I think I see three text lines in the upper left corner, but they flash so fast I can't read them.
Choosing either of the shell options presents the error:
"Error loading \EFI\shellx64_v1.efi: Unsupported" (replace "v1" with "v2" for the other option)
Any thoughts?

Installing Arch Linux on USB key: error while booting

Hello,
first of all, I must say I've followed the steps from this article on arch wiki to install archlinux on my USB key: https://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/In … _a_USB_key
So what I did is to use one of my 2 usb keys to INSTALL linux, and the second one to RUN linux. I used dd to write on the 1st usb, eveything worked fine when booting, then I do install arch on the my second usb following the stept from the link above, everything works until I get this error while booting (at the middle):
Waiting 10 seconds for device /dev/sdc/
Root device '/dev/sdc' doesn't exist. Attempting to create it.
ERROR: Unable to determine major/minor number of root device '/dev/disk/by-uuid/lotsofnumbers'
You are being dropped to a recovery shell
Type 'exit' to try and continue booting
/bin/sh: Can't contact tty; job control turned off
[ramfs /]#
To summarize I'll show you my conf files that could help you to resolve my problem:
/etc/fstab.conf
/dev/sdc1 /boot ext2 defaults 0 1
/dev/sdc2 / ext3 defaults 0 1
/dev/sdc3 /home ext3 defaults 0 1
So here I've sdc1 boot 32MB partition; sdc2 root 3GB partition; sdc3 home 978MB partition for a total of 4GB USB key~
I didn't make a swap partition as in the tutorial they are writing it's unnecessary for some kind of reasons.
/etc/mkinitcpio.conf
HOOKS="base udev usb autodetect pata scsi sata filesystems"
I've added to here, "usb" to the hooks
installed GRUB on my sdc, here is the menu.ist:
# (0) Arch Linux
title Arch Linux (USB)
root (hd0,0)
kernel /vmlinuz26 root=/dev/sdc ro vga=773
initrd /kernel26.img
So, I boot GRUB without problems, start Arch Linux, but then I got this error above.
I've searched alot on some forums and read many stuffs, but sitll can't fix it and it seems complicated.
I've tried to boot with UUID, also, but didn't make difference. I tried to remove some parameter from the hooks, but unfortunately this wasn't working still. I've read somewhere to use chroot, but I didn't catch on how to do that and what was the use of chroot, I'm still noob user of arch linux and currently learning. Maybe it's the problem, as some forum were talking about creating a new image, but I still don't know how to make it. By the way, I'm not sure this could have fixed my current problem. I've also read somewhere it could be due to my lack of space, but I wrote you how I did partition my USB key, let me know if you have any suggestion please.

1. What I did is re-installing entirely from my installation disk or USB to test out different setting in my config files, because I don't know how to edit my .conf as I can't really finish to boot to the end and get in terminal mode? If there is a quicker way to edit files from any terminal to go into my current USB sdc to modify directly my file from there, I'd enjoy probably. So rebuilding the initpio, no, I just re-installed to test out different configs.
2. Yes, same error.
3. Tested out by-id/by-path and uuid = no difference
4. Didn't know about larch, it seems to be a nice tool, I'll check it out

[Solved] Boot process hangs for installed Arch and installation usb

Hi. I've been using Arch Linux for around 6 months now and I'm in love with it. It is now my primary OS. However, I might have done something or performed some update, and I can no longer boot into Arch. The boot process hangs right before it should show the login screen (I'm using Gnome 3.6 with GDM). I see the following messages on the screen:
Loading Linux core repo kernel ...
Loading initial ramdisk ...
/dev/sda3: recovering journal
/dev/sda3: clean, 330610/1749664 files, 5585671/6996827 blocks
And then it hangs right there. I have to hard-reboot after this.
I then tried to boot using the Arch Linux Installation USB (archlinux-2012.12.01-dual.img), which also hangs at a particular point, before it should show me the prompt. I took a picture of the screen where it hangs: Screen Capture. This is an issue with just my laptop, because the USB boots just fine on another laptop I tried.
I also have Windows 7 and Ubuntu 12.10 installed on my system, and I'm able to boot into both of them.
I have 2 hard drives: /dev/sda is a 120GB SSD, and /dev/sdb is a 500GB hard disk. My partitions are as follows:
sda1 - Windows 7 100MB System Reserved Partition (boot flag enabled)
sda2 - Windows 7 OS
sda3 - ArchLinux (boot flag enabled)
sdb1 - Ubuntu 12.10 (boot flag enabled)
sdb2 - Just data
I ran bootinfoscript and below is the output:
Boot Info Script 0.61 [1 April 2012]
============================= Boot Info Summary: ===============================
=> Grub2 (v1.99) is installed in the MBR of /dev/sda and looks at sector 1 of
the same hard drive for core.img. core.img is at this location and looks
in partition 99 for .
=> Grub2 (v1.99) is installed in the MBR of /dev/sdb and looks at sector 1 of
the same hard drive for core.img. core.img is at this location and looks
in partition 99 for .
sda1: __________________________________________________________________________
File system: ntfs
Boot sector type: Windows Vista/7: NTFS
Boot sector info: No errors found in the Boot Parameter Block.
Operating System:
Boot files: /bootmgr /Boot/BCD
sda2: __________________________________________________________________________
File system: ntfs
Boot sector type: Windows Vista/7: NTFS
Boot sector info: No errors found in the Boot Parameter Block.
Operating System: Windows 7
Boot files: /Windows/System32/winload.exe
sda3: __________________________________________________________________________
File system: ext4
Boot sector type: -
Boot sector info:
Mounting failed: mount: /dev/sda3 already mounted or sda3 busy
sdb1: __________________________________________________________________________
File system: ext4
Boot sector type: -
Boot sector info:
Operating System: Ubuntu 12.10
Boot files: /boot/grub/grub.cfg /etc/fstab
sdb2: __________________________________________________________________________
File system: ntfs
Boot sector type: Windows Vista/7: NTFS
Boot sector info: No errors found in the Boot Parameter Block.
Operating System:
Boot files:
============================ Drive/Partition Info: =============================
Drive: sda _____________________________________________________________________
Disk /dev/sda: 120.0 GB, 120034123776 bytes
255 heads, 63 sectors/track, 14593 cylinders, total 234441648 sectors
Units = sectors of 1 * 512 = 512 bytes
Sector size (logical/physical): 512 bytes / 512 bytes
Partition Boot Start Sector End Sector # of Sectors Id System
/dev/sda1 * 2,048 206,847 204,800 7 NTFS / exFAT / HPFS
/dev/sda2 206,848 178,466,084 178,259,237 7 NTFS / exFAT / HPFS
/dev/sda3 * 178,466,085 234,440,703 55,974,619 83 Linux
Drive: sdb _____________________________________________________________________
Disk /dev/sdb: 500.1 GB, 500107862016 bytes
255 heads, 63 sectors/track, 60801 cylinders, total 976773168 sectors
Units = sectors of 1 * 512 = 512 bytes
Sector size (logical/physical): 512 bytes / 512 bytes
Partition Boot Start Sector End Sector # of Sectors Id System
/dev/sdb1 * 63 20,948,759 20,948,697 83 Linux
/dev/sdb2 20,964,824 976,771,071 955,806,248 7 NTFS / exFAT / HPFS
"blkid" output: ________________________________________________________________
Device UUID TYPE LABEL
/dev/mmcblk0p1 6665-3162 vfat
/dev/sda1 CA6A20CC6A20B75B ntfs System Reserved
/dev/sda2 1EE242D5E242B137 ntfs
/dev/sda3 65db0c59-9f04-46f1-975d-8a4c28132137 ext4
/dev/sdb1 bb9818db-ce7c-43a4-8ad5-8d3702001aed ext4
/dev/sdb2 3C2E3A4E2E3A0206 ntfs
================================ Mount points: =================================
Device Mount_Point Type Options
/dev/mmcblk0p1 /media/dhaval/6665-3162 vfat (rw,nosuid,nodev,uid=1000,gid=1000,shortname=mixed,dmask=0077,utf8=1,showexec,flush,uhelper=udisks2)
/dev/sdb1 / ext4 (rw,errors=remount-ro)
=========================== sdb1/boot/grub/grub.cfg: ===========================
# DO NOT EDIT THIS FILE
# It is automatically generated by grub-mkconfig using templates
# from /etc/grub.d and settings from /etc/default/grub
### BEGIN /etc/grub.d/00_header ###
if [ -s $prefix/grubenv ]; then
set have_grubenv=true
load_env
fi
set default="0"
if [ x"${feature_menuentry_id}" = xy ]; then
menuentry_id_option="--id"
else
menuentry_id_option=""
fi
export menuentry_id_option
if [ "${prev_saved_entry}" ]; then
set saved_entry="${prev_saved_entry}"
save_env saved_entry
set prev_saved_entry=
save_env prev_saved_entry
set boot_once=true
fi
function savedefault {
if [ -z "${boot_once}" ]; then
saved_entry="${chosen}"
save_env saved_entry
fi
function recordfail {
set recordfail=1
if [ -n "${have_grubenv}" ]; then if [ -z "${boot_once}" ]; then save_env recordfail; fi; fi
function load_video {
if [ x$feature_all_video_module = xy ]; then
insmod all_video
else
insmod efi_gop
insmod efi_uga
insmod ieee1275_fb
insmod vbe
insmod vga
insmod video_bochs
insmod video_cirrus
fi
if [ x$feature_default_font_path = xy ] ; then
font=unicode
else
insmod part_msdos
insmod ext2
set root='hd1,msdos1'
if [ x$feature_platform_search_hint = xy ]; then
search --no-floppy --fs-uuid --set=root --hint-bios=hd1,msdos1 --hint-efi=hd1,msdos1 --hint-baremetal=ahci1,msdos1 bb9818db-ce7c-43a4-8ad5-8d3702001aed
else
search --no-floppy --fs-uuid --set=root bb9818db-ce7c-43a4-8ad5-8d3702001aed
fi
font="/usr/share/grub/unicode.pf2"
fi
if loadfont $font ; then
set gfxmode=auto
load_video
insmod gfxterm
set locale_dir=$prefix/locale
set lang=en_US
insmod gettext
fi
terminal_output gfxterm
if [ "${recordfail}" = 1 ]; then
set timeout=-1
else
set timeout=10
fi
### END /etc/grub.d/00_header ###
### BEGIN /etc/grub.d/05_debian_theme ###
set menu_color_normal=white/black
set menu_color_highlight=black/light-gray
if background_color 13,37,73; then
clear
fi
### END /etc/grub.d/05_debian_theme ###
### BEGIN /etc/grub.d/10_linux ###
function gfxmode {
set gfxpayload="${1}"
if [ "${1}" = "keep" ]; then
set vt_handoff=vt.handoff=7
else
set vt_handoff=
fi
if [ "${recordfail}" != 1 ]; then
if [ -e ${prefix}/gfxblacklist.txt ]; then
if hwmatch ${prefix}/gfxblacklist.txt 3; then
if [ ${match} = 0 ]; then
set linux_gfx_mode=keep
else
set linux_gfx_mode=text
fi
else
set linux_gfx_mode=text
fi
else
set linux_gfx_mode=keep
fi
else
set linux_gfx_mode=text
fi
export linux_gfx_mode
if [ "${linux_gfx_mode}" != "text" ]; then load_video; fi
menuentry 'Ubuntu' --class ubuntu --class gnu-linux --class gnu --class os $menuentry_id_option 'gnulinux-simple-bb9818db-ce7c-43a4-8ad5-8d3702001aed' {
recordfail
gfxmode $linux_gfx_mode
insmod gzio
insmod part_msdos
insmod ext2
set root='hd1,msdos1'
if [ x$feature_platform_search_hint = xy ]; then
search --no-floppy --fs-uuid --set=root --hint-bios=hd1,msdos1 --hint-efi=hd1,msdos1 --hint-baremetal=ahci1,msdos1 bb9818db-ce7c-43a4-8ad5-8d3702001aed
else
search --no-floppy --fs-uuid --set=root bb9818db-ce7c-43a4-8ad5-8d3702001aed
fi
linux /boot/vmlinuz-3.5.0-21-generic root=UUID=bb9818db-ce7c-43a4-8ad5-8d3702001aed ro quiet splash acpi_osi=Linux acpi_backlight=vendor $vt_handoff
initrd /boot/initrd.img-3.5.0-21-generic
submenu 'Advanced options for Ubuntu' $menuentry_id_option 'gnulinux-advanced-bb9818db-ce7c-43a4-8ad5-8d3702001aed' {
menuentry 'Ubuntu, with Linux 3.5.0-21-generic' --class ubuntu --class gnu-linux --class gnu --class os $menuentry_id_option 'gnulinux-3.5.0-21-generic-advanced-bb9818db-ce7c-43a4-8ad5-8d3702001aed' {
recordfail
gfxmode $linux_gfx_mode
insmod gzio
insmod part_msdos
insmod ext2
set root='hd1,msdos1'
if [ x$feature_platform_search_hint = xy ]; then
search --no-floppy --fs-uuid --set=root --hint-bios=hd1,msdos1 --hint-efi=hd1,msdos1 --hint-baremetal=ahci1,msdos1 bb9818db-ce7c-43a4-8ad5-8d3702001aed
else
search --no-floppy --fs-uuid --set=root bb9818db-ce7c-43a4-8ad5-8d3702001aed
fi
echo 'Loading Linux 3.5.0-21-generic ...'
linux /boot/vmlinuz-3.5.0-21-generic root=UUID=bb9818db-ce7c-43a4-8ad5-8d3702001aed ro quiet splash acpi_osi=Linux acpi_backlight=vendor $vt_handoff
echo 'Loading initial ramdisk ...'
initrd /boot/initrd.img-3.5.0-21-generic
menuentry 'Ubuntu, with Linux 3.5.0-21-generic (recovery mode)' --class ubuntu --class gnu-linux --class gnu --class os $menuentry_id_option 'gnulinux-3.5.0-21-generic-recovery-bb9818db-ce7c-43a4-8ad5-8d3702001aed' {
recordfail
insmod gzio
insmod part_msdos
insmod ext2
set root='hd1,msdos1'
if [ x$feature_platform_search_hint = xy ]; then
search --no-floppy --fs-uuid --set=root --hint-bios=hd1,msdos1 --hint-efi=hd1,msdos1 --hint-baremetal=ahci1,msdos1 bb9818db-ce7c-43a4-8ad5-8d3702001aed
else
search --no-floppy --fs-uuid --set=root bb9818db-ce7c-43a4-8ad5-8d3702001aed
fi
echo 'Loading Linux 3.5.0-21-generic ...'
linux /boot/vmlinuz-3.5.0-21-generic root=UUID=bb9818db-ce7c-43a4-8ad5-8d3702001aed ro recovery nomodeset
echo 'Loading initial ramdisk ...'
initrd /boot/initrd.img-3.5.0-21-generic
menuentry 'Ubuntu, with Linux 3.2.0-29-generic' --class ubuntu --class gnu-linux --class gnu --class os $menuentry_id_option 'gnulinux-3.2.0-29-generic-advanced-bb9818db-ce7c-43a4-8ad5-8d3702001aed' {
recordfail
gfxmode $linux_gfx_mode
insmod gzio
insmod part_msdos
insmod ext2
set root='hd1,msdos1'
if [ x$feature_platform_search_hint = xy ]; then
search --no-floppy --fs-uuid --set=root --hint-bios=hd1,msdos1 --hint-efi=hd1,msdos1 --hint-baremetal=ahci1,msdos1 bb9818db-ce7c-43a4-8ad5-8d3702001aed
else
search --no-floppy --fs-uuid --set=root bb9818db-ce7c-43a4-8ad5-8d3702001aed
fi
echo 'Loading Linux 3.2.0-29-generic ...'
linux /boot/vmlinuz-3.2.0-29-generic root=UUID=bb9818db-ce7c-43a4-8ad5-8d3702001aed ro quiet splash acpi_osi=Linux acpi_backlight=vendor $vt_handoff
echo 'Loading initial ramdisk ...'
initrd /boot/initrd.img-3.2.0-29-generic
menuentry 'Ubuntu, with Linux 3.2.0-29-generic (recovery mode)' --class ubuntu --class gnu-linux --class gnu --class os $menuentry_id_option 'gnulinux-3.2.0-29-generic-recovery-bb9818db-ce7c-43a4-8ad5-8d3702001aed' {
recordfail
insmod gzio
insmod part_msdos
insmod ext2
set root='hd1,msdos1'
if [ x$feature_platform_search_hint = xy ]; then
search --no-floppy --fs-uuid --set=root --hint-bios=hd1,msdos1 --hint-efi=hd1,msdos1 --hint-baremetal=ahci1,msdos1 bb9818db-ce7c-43a4-8ad5-8d3702001aed
else
search --no-floppy --fs-uuid --set=root bb9818db-ce7c-43a4-8ad5-8d3702001aed
fi
echo 'Loading Linux 3.2.0-29-generic ...'
linux /boot/vmlinuz-3.2.0-29-generic root=UUID=bb9818db-ce7c-43a4-8ad5-8d3702001aed ro recovery nomodeset
echo 'Loading initial ramdisk ...'
initrd /boot/initrd.img-3.2.0-29-generic
### END /etc/grub.d/10_linux ###
### BEGIN /etc/grub.d/20_linux_xen ###
### END /etc/grub.d/20_linux_xen ###
### BEGIN /etc/grub.d/20_memtest86+ ###
menuentry "Memory test (memtest86+)" {
insmod part_msdos
insmod ext2
set root='hd1,msdos1'
if [ x$feature_platform_search_hint = xy ]; then
search --no-floppy --fs-uuid --set=root --hint-bios=hd1,msdos1 --hint-efi=hd1,msdos1 --hint-baremetal=ahci1,msdos1 bb9818db-ce7c-43a4-8ad5-8d3702001aed
else
search --no-floppy --fs-uuid --set=root bb9818db-ce7c-43a4-8ad5-8d3702001aed
fi
linux16 /boot/memtest86+.bin
menuentry "Memory test (memtest86+, serial console 115200)" {
insmod part_msdos
insmod ext2
set root='hd1,msdos1'
if [ x$feature_platform_search_hint = xy ]; then
search --no-floppy --fs-uuid --set=root --hint-bios=hd1,msdos1 --hint-efi=hd1,msdos1 --hint-baremetal=ahci1,msdos1 bb9818db-ce7c-43a4-8ad5-8d3702001aed
else
search --no-floppy --fs-uuid --set=root bb9818db-ce7c-43a4-8ad5-8d3702001aed
fi
linux16 /boot/memtest86+.bin console=ttyS0,115200n8
### END /etc/grub.d/20_memtest86+ ###
### BEGIN /etc/grub.d/30_os-prober ###
menuentry 'Windows 7 (loader) (on /dev/sda1)' --class windows --class os $menuentry_id_option 'osprober-chain-CA6A20CC6A20B75B' {
insmod part_msdos
insmod ntfs
set root='hd0,msdos1'
if [ x$feature_platform_search_hint = xy ]; then
search --no-floppy --fs-uuid --set=root --hint-bios=hd0,msdos1 --hint-efi=hd0,msdos1 --hint-baremetal=ahci0,msdos1 CA6A20CC6A20B75B
else
search --no-floppy --fs-uuid --set=root CA6A20CC6A20B75B
fi
chainloader +1
### END /etc/grub.d/30_os-prober ###
### BEGIN /etc/grub.d/30_uefi-firmware ###
### END /etc/grub.d/30_uefi-firmware ###
### BEGIN /etc/grub.d/40_custom ###
# This file provides an easy way to add custom menu entries. Simply type the
# menu entries you want to add after this comment. Be careful not to change
# the 'exec tail' line above.
### END /etc/grub.d/40_custom ###
### BEGIN /etc/grub.d/41_custom ###
if [ -f ${config_directory}/custom.cfg ]; then
source ${config_directory}/custom.cfg
elif [ -z "${config_directory}" -a -f $prefix/custom.cfg ]; then
source $prefix/custom.cfg;
fi
### END /etc/grub.d/41_custom ###
=============================== sdb1/etc/fstab: ================================
# /etc/fstab: static file system information.
# Use 'blkid' to print the universally unique identifier for a
# device; this may be used with UUID= as a more robust way to name devices
# that works even if disks are added and removed. See fstab(5).
# <file system> <mount point> <type> <options> <dump> <pass>
proc /proc proc nodev,noexec,nosuid 0 0
# / was on /dev/sdb1 during installation
UUID=bb9818db-ce7c-43a4-8ad5-8d3702001aed / ext4 errors=remount-ro 0 1
=================== sdb1: Location of files loaded by Grub: ====================
GiB - GB File Fragment(s)
4.564525127 = 4.901121536 boot/grub/grub.cfg 1
5.130507946 = 5.508840960 boot/initrd.img-3.2.0-29-generic 2
5.851592541 = 6.283099648 boot/initrd.img-3.5.0-21-generic 2
6.317649364 = 6.783524352 boot/vmlinuz-3.2.0-29-generic 1
4.965751171 = 5.331934720 boot/vmlinuz-3.5.0-21-generic 2
5.851592541 = 6.283099648 initrd.img 2
5.851592541 = 6.283099648 initrd.img.old 2
4.965751171 = 5.331934720 vmlinuz 2
4.965751171 = 5.331934720 vmlinuz.old 2
I tried adding nomodeset and acpi=off to the boot parameters, but the boot process still hangs. Please let me know if I should provide any other information.
Last edited by dhavalparmar (2012-12-30 11:45:25)

Ok.. So my Arch Linux randomly decided to work. I'm sure I didn't do anything between my last "not working" state and my current "working" state. Below are a few things I tried:
I thought of trying an earlier build of ArchLinux, and downloaded archlinux-2012.11.01-dual.iso and made a bootable USB out of it. It still hung.
I was getting error messages during Arch boot that the last access time for the disks was at a future date. I found out that Ubuntu was using localtime instead of UTC and screwing up my hardware clock. I fixed it, and thought maybe the time issues were causing the boot problem. But fixing time didn't solve my problem.
I chrooted into Arch from my Ubuntu install, ran 'sudo pacman -Syyu' and updated my Arch install.
I thought maybe GDM isn't starting up. I re-enabled the service using 'systemctl enable gdm.service'.
I removed OpenNTPd and installed NTPd. Enabled the daemon using 'systemctl enable ntpd'
None of the above solved the problem, and rebooting to Arch still hung the system. So I stopped fiddling with it yesterday. Today, as usual, I just tried logging into Arch.. And it just worked out of the blue. The solution to me is as mysterious as the problem.
I told this to my friend who introduced me to Arch, and this is what he said:
Damn it computers, you were supposed to be deterministic!

Install Arch in an USB Flash drive from an existing image

I want to minimize the amount of writes to the flash drive by avoiding directly installing Arch into it.
I would like to know if it would be possible to install arch into an small partition, configure it, and then make an image of it and dump it at the USB drive(like when creating the USB install).
Does it worth the while doing so?
Thanks!
Last edited by cristian.rosa (2009-03-05 14:41:11)

Sure. You could do that, then just rsync or cp -ax it onto the Flash drive and set up GRUB.

Installed Arch on external usb drive: Drive errors after reboot

I installed Arch on my external usb hard drive and everything seemed to be working fine. After rebooting though, I had a bunch of filesytem errors (ext3) and the system was unstable. I am guessing that this has to do with the unloading of the usb modules at shutdown. If this happens to early, then the root drive doesn't have a chance to shutdown properly, hence the filesystem errors.
Anyone know how to solve this?
Thanks!

EtreCheck looks at your log files for any kernel I/O errors. That is what it is reporting. EtreCheck just reports what it finds and tries to avoid judgements exception the most extreme cases. The drive might be OK. I am seeing more reports of this than I would have expected. It may just be a problem with Yosemite. It really prefers SSD disks in all cases. On my own machine, I have seen a slow external drive exhibit classic failure symptoms and sounds when connected via USB2. But then when I switched to FW800, it was fine. Other people are reporting that when they downgraded back to Mavericks, their disk errors went away.
So, I don't have a good answer for you. The drive might be bad, and it might be fine. Yosemite is definitely having problems with it. You may experience performance problems with that drive attached.

[SOLVED] Install Arch Linux on USB Stick!

So, here is the deal. I want to install Arch Linux on a USB Stick so I can plug it at any computer and have my system... with me
I've had a little bit experience with Arch so I know a few things about it... used it for a few months before on a real system.
My USB stick is a HighSpeed 17-20 MBPS and it's 16 GB capacity.
So how do I do it?
Last edited by 1lj4z1 (2012-04-05 07:25:53)

I'm using occasionally Arch installed on HDD-USB, I've just added usb hook to mkinitcpio.conf and removed autodetect (more modules=more hardware supported). So far it worked on 3 different computers (all of them have one main HDD so no grub issues, but it's no biggie if it doesn't boot right away, you can always edit grub on-the-fly by pressing "e")
About USB stick: installing on USB stick is not the same as running it in LIVE mode! Consider yourself warned.
If you just install it you really should read about SSD optimizations because USB flash cells also have limited read/write cycles (actually is less robust and sophisticated than SSD). Something to look at: noatime mount option, disable swap if not necessary, profile-sync-daemon and so on...
1lj4z1 wrote:Well I don't need to chroot, i am running it live. I'll see about mkinitcpio.conf but I can't understand what you mean rebuilding initramfs? What is that exactcly?
It means if you fiddle with mkinitcpio you should run:
# mkinitcpio -p linux
afterwards or bad things will happen
Last edited by masteryod (2012-03-27 15:37:13)

Can i install mictodoft on a usb key

I wont to install windows on my laptop but I don't wont it on my hard drive can I install it on a USB key

No, only on the internal drive.

Installing Arch without wipe of primary partition?

Hello,
Basically I used to run arch on my old system and I'd like to run it on my upgraded system, but I have no way of backing up my files, so I was wondering if I could install arch on a secondary hard drive instead of wiping my main SSD. Is there any way I could do this, I'd really like to keep all my files, if I installed grub on the secondary hard drive and got my PC to boot to that on start, would that work?
Thank You

Srgg wrote:
ANOKNUSA wrote:As with any Linux distribution, Arch will be installed to whatever disk you choose to install it to. Frankly, though, if your data is at all valuable to you, you shouldn't put it at risk until you're able to make a backup.
Okay, I'm going to put off the Arch Install until I have a method of backing up my data, let's say I ran it in a Virtual Machine, what would I be losing that I'd get from native Arch? The only thing I can think of at the moment is the OS won't be utilizing my hardware completely.
OpenGL is the biggest loss I can think of. If you use GNOME 3 you'll likely be forced to use llvmpipe to render all the fancy desktop effects (llvmpipe renders over your CPU so you'll notice a very high CPU load and worse graphical performance.) You may be able to mitigate some of this if you use VirtualBox or VMWare as IIRC they have experimental hardware acceleration via specially crafted video driver that can pass the OpenGL commands to the host GPU. Qemu/KVM has no such love (yet.)
Of course none of this matters if you run a DE/WM that allows you to disable compositioning (even KDE allows you to disable compositioning so you won't have to llvmpipe.) The rest of the Arch system should run about the same in a VM as it does on bare metal. There may be a small performance penalty from the virtualization overhead but from my experience it's not noticeable and most people achieve near native performance.

Can I install ARCH on a USB drive ??

Hi
I want to install and use ARCH on my PC on a 500GB drive I have that is connected to a USB 2.0 port
Can it be done?
Can it be used as an OS ?
Also, can I make partitions on that drive and make ARCH use like 40GB only of it ?
Thank you!

kludge wrote:
R00KIE wrote:If using USB2 and a fast drive (ex. a hd in a box) then no speed issues, if running from a flash drive then booting is ok but when using if you need to write something to disk then the system will slowdown. Tried it myself.
i've booted repeatedly off a usb1.1 external with a 3200 rpm drive with only occasional noticeable lags.
My experience with a takeMS 8G flash drive is like I said, boots fast enough but then try to open firefox and it crawls to halt even with more than enough ram to spare, no swap partition or file.
I've also tried with a notebook disk on an external box and there isn't much difference from running with the disk plugged inside the pc.

I'm on W7. How do I install Arch on a usb stick via Virtualbox?

I want to make a bootable USB arch install I use on computers i don't trust and other such case scenarios.
I get internet from my phone via wlan so i need to use Virtualbox to take andantage of it.

https://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/Mo … al_machine
Leave out the autodetect hook from mkinitcpio.conf, which tailors your initramfs to the specific hardware.
And maybe also use plain old vesa, instead of a specific video driver.

Install arch voodoo from usb flash memory

I am interested in anybody crazy enough to try this tutorial I made http://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/Ins … ash_memory , I tested it with my hardaware and until now it was worked out great, but i am looking for second opinions.
I also posted an updater script that will update the install packages, so you can always carry a freshly updated arch install, anybody willing to test it on any spare usb flash memory or external hd they might have, please do so.
Cheers!
Last edited by thewonka (2007-02-18 07:16:52)

tried out your wiki guide works ok here ... on a 256mb pendrive will say sed command caught me out [could you say in guide what you changed! in menu.lst]
Ok checked pendrive on Laptop boots fine :-) [0.8!!!]
thanks for sharing ;-)
Last edited by Mr Green (2007-02-18 09:33:21)

Installing arch to a USB device & mounting it.

Odd.... when I plugin my usb and boot up the live cd of arch, it doesn't automatically detect it. I've heard of the usb_storage and such but never really understood it. Can someone help me mount my usb?

Take a look at Achie and FaunOS, they both are based on ArchLinux
Archie: http://user-contributions.org/archie.html
FaunOS: http://www.faunos.com/

Install Arch Base to USB

I originally followed these instructions, which didn't work.
http://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/Usb … ch_Install
Then I decided to just use fsdisk to do everything, and followed the rest of the tutorial. All seemed to work fine, I reboot my computer
And I get an error saying it can't boot linux, saying it's not found and gives me the option of choosing a different boot image, which is what I am confused on. What should I do?
edit:
booted with /vmlinuz and I now get a kernerl panic error:
No filesystem could mount root tried:
kernel panic - not syncing: VFS: Unable to mount root FS on unknown-block(9,2)
Last edited by twiistedkaos (2007-09-09 05:37:47)

raymano wrote:
lilsirecho wrote:
Please consider trying the new release of FaunOS-9.3.2-usb.img.
This OS is based on archlinux, uses pacman and aufs, and permits save session to flash drive.
It requires a minimum of 1 GB flash drive.
It is available from the FaunOS website, a 900mb+ download.
I recommend a 2GB flash device which permits expanding the ext2 partition generated by the FaunOS download.
It allows for boot to RAM.
Best to you......................
The correct version is faunos-fortytwo-0.3.2-usb.img
Eh I am lookinh got a slim linux distro for USB, faunos seems to be bloated with things I don't need nor want. For example, KDE

Install Arch on USB flash drive (partitioning and UEFI)?

I am trying to install Arch on a USB flash drive. However I have few questions... in particular about pratitioning and UEFI.
What partition table should I use? dos or gpt? and from this... what partitioning tool should I use? (cfdisk, parted, gdisk... etc)?
Also... I am going to be using this USB flash drive with a new computer that has a UEFI BIOS. Should I do anything different because of this? (Have a different boot flag?)

I think you need to read up on UEFI. Depending on what partitioner you use the boot flag can mean something entirely different.
MBR(dos) or GPT is a personal preference, so asking that is like asking someone else what your favorite soap should be. There is one exception though. I have heard of some systems that have firmware bugs that won't allow GPT/bios and some that won't allow MBR/UEFI. There are also some machines that won't do a damn thing if they aren't MBR partitioned, but those all tend to not be UEFI.
As far as the tool to use, if you want to use GPT then use gdisk and friends, of you want to use MBR(dos) use fdisk and friends. Or you can learn how to use parted, which can apparently handle both. But, for example gdisk offers a number of different tools that can all achieve the same thing. Again, it is like asking someone else if you should prefer boxers or briefs...

Installing Arch on a USB Key Partition

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