I finally succeeded in installing FC5 on USB drive.
 
I took a closer look at James' http://www.vigla.eclipse.co.uk/usb_install.pdf. It was definitely very helpful, and I would also recommend it as a FC USB installation guide with some changes for FC5 installation, eg mkinitrd format.
 
I could run mkinitrd without needing --force-lvm-probe; however some messages were generated, such as /sys/block: no such file or directory and /tmp/initrd.nxl062/lib/scsi_mod.ko (sd_mod.ko).

Good for you! I have to try one more step in the process, as I think I have it solved, as well.
 
Thanks, james419. I think you hit the nail on the head!

I am trying to get FC5 on my usb drive. I have two sata drives in my system, as sda and sdb, and the usb drive is sdc.
I have been trying to follow the tips on this matter, but with the LVM partitions. I can't mount the /dev/LogGoup00/LogVol00 (or whatever it's called), because my /dev folder doesn't show them at all, even though running fdisk -l shows my sdc has the following two partitions:
 
/dev/sdc1 boot ext3
/dev/sdc2 LVM partition
 
am I missing something in here? I also tried looking in the /dev/mapper folder, but I have only 'control' in there.
Am I barking at the wrong tree anyway? Has no one been able to get it to work with LVM on USB drives? Should I just try partitioning it without LVM, and then the instructions work (basically - running the mkinitrd with the needed modules, and running it once from the grub console)?
 
I tried it several time a few weeks ago, and I think I was able to get the mkinitrd stage right (it failed later, but now I see I missed some things along the way), and I just can't remember how I mounted the LVM partition.
 
Thanks for the help anyway, it's a good forum, and a good thread.

Quote:Am I barking at the wrong tree anyway? Has no one been able to get it to work with LVM on USB drives? Should I just try partitioning it without LVM, and then the instructions work (basically - running the mkinitrd with the needed modules, and running it once from the grub console)?

It seems that the system's bios has a lot to do with the problem. I just tried again and the boot failed, although I was able to configure the graphical grub screen, which was missing before.

Most of the directions that I have seen speak to IDE drives, not sata. The situation is complicated more by using LVM for the filesystem choice.

theng got it going with the traditiional Linux setup for partitions (no LVM) and FC5 seems to have changed some things. Most directions seem specific for FC4.

He also noted;

Quote:I thought it was just ticking the box that specified 'Hide RAID device/ LVM Vol Group members'; however the same 'magic number' still appeared at FC initialisation then I realised that LVM was still created. Hence, I chose Anaconda's custom layout option for disk partitioning.

Which makes sense, as "hidden" just means that, that the partition is hidden from view, not that it is not created. In his case, he changed over to the traditional partitioning scheme.

I found some other snags in the process and will report back and let everyone know my progress.

I have found that it is easier to partition the hard drive before trying to install. Since I also have Windows I use Partition Magic. There is a linux partitioner available as a bootable cd to do a similar job.There are distros that just refuse to partition a USB drive but install and run fine if the drive is prepartitioned.
 
For FC5 I used a prepartitioned drive and then specified the custom layout option to select my partitions. I do not use LVM and everytime I am given that option or selection I decline. After the installer is finished and a reboot is specified I leave the disk in the drive and boot usint "linux rescue".
I then follow the information given in the two references I listed earlier. It is necessary to change the mkinitrd command due to a slight change in syntax, the new command being:
 
mkinitrd --preload ehci-hcd --preload usb-storage --preload scsi_mod --preload sd_mod /boot/initrd-<kernel version>.img <kernel version>
 
NOTE the above line is to be typed on one line- no carriage returns!
 
At different installs I have and have not received various error messages. I have ignored them and found the FC5 booted ok.
In one case I had to redo the mkinitrd to get it to boot.
 
I have found that one of the earlier kernel replacements would not boot to USB. I just deleted it. FC5 keeps the latest installed kernel when installing a new one to insure that a bootable kernel is available.
 
I have not seen any one report that they got LVM to boot from a USB drive. I have also seen several threads in various forums about booting with both SATA and USB drives. A search through the Fedora Forum and Linuxquestions might be helpful.

I have got as far as making the new initrd file with the LVM volumes. However, on boot, /proc and /sys fail to load. The directories are empty.
 
Any thoughts, james419?

danleff
 
I got only as far as you when I tried a LVM install. I admit I an new to linux and have a lot to learn. As yet I do not see the advantage of the LVM install and do not think I would use it even on normal installation. I will say that when I did my USB LVM installation I wanted to see what was in the various files and tried to look at them with a live CD. The drive looked blank I had found some way to mount the file in one of the discussions in the fedoraforum.org but do not remember how to do it. When I used that method I was able to see the files but did not look in them.
 
By the way this comes from a fresh FC5 install on a new USB drive. The updates were a bear- just to many. Me thinks it would be nice to get an updated DVD.
 
I wish I could be of more help but I feel clueless.
 
Jim (james419)
 
By the way for those who are looking for a very good install and setup reference for most versions of Fedora look at the guides at
stanton-finley.net. He does not cover installing on USB but otherwise his guides are a must have for the novice- like me.

Thanks for the response. I was sufing for an answer and found what I think may do it, but lost the link! Looks like someone wrote a script to do the job, so it's not user friendly for the average user.
 
Yes, that install link for FC is a good one! I have a bookmark for it, but have no referenced it in a while. Thanks for the reminder.

hi
 
i have hp pavilion5200dx notebook with me and have a mistubushi external usb hard drive. i visited this forum and installed fc5 in my external drive, made a new initrd image and edited the grub.conf but the problem now is while booting, the system stop responding while starting udev
 
can any one tell me why the notebook stops responding while starting udev.
 
please tell me a solution.
 
eagarly waiting to see FC5 boot in my laptop.
 
waiting for ur replies
 
thank u................