Making a bootable HD

b0bd0d

Okay, I've been trying to install linuix on this laptop. See below. Well, I think something is wrong with the cd or something. It just does not wanna run off the cd. I ran a memory test and it came back fine. I checked the interigty of the cd and that's fine too. Is there some way I can install ubuntu or anything else much like how OEMs install OSeseses? I tried hooking up the HD to my desktop and installing it from there but once I transfer the HD to the laptop, it tries to load and then freezes. ... huh what now brain?

robaal

Yes, you do have to make the CD specifically bootable, though I'm not sure if the disc image won't take care of that.

You might also need to set the boot order in the BIOS (usually accessible by hitting delete during POST) so that it checks the CD before the hard drive.

b0bd0d

That's not what Im asking. I want to make the HD selfbooting. Meaning, I want to install the OS but not configure it fully. Like install the data and what not, but make it so that when I hook the HD to the laptop from the desktop the install continues without any extrenal help. You every use a computer that has a partiation on the hard drive with a backup of the OS? And if you ever need to install the OS again, you just boot and select that partation to load. Then just install it to the other partiation.

Lodbrok

Ok, this is not something I've ever done, but I can think of a number of ways of solving this. Hopefully someone more knowledgeble will reply.

First, what exactly did you do when you installed (Linux?) on the harddrive? Did you put the drive in your desktop computer and install on the laptop-drive? If so, a lot of the configuration will be messed up since it will be configured for the desktop. Also, if you left the other harddrive in, the bootloader might be on that harddrive which is not so good.

So, you might try to remove the harddrive from the desktop, plug in the laptop-drive to the desktop and make an install. This might work, but like I said the config will be messed up, although it might at least get you a running system... maybe. I guess it depends on how similar the systems are.

Another option might be to boot from a usb key. I know there are distros specifically designed for this like

http://www.puppylinux.org/user/viewpage.php?page_id=1

or

http://www.damnsmalllinux.org/

This is probably your best bet. One of these distros will enable you to boot from the usb drive and install to the harddrive. I would go this route I think,

DrFrylock

What you mean is that you want to copy a bootable CD to a hard drive such that the hard drive can be booted from and act as if you're booting the CD, because you're having problems reading your CD during Linux installation.

Bad note: I don't know how to do this for you. This article describes doing a CD-less install but there are more steps to go through.

I've had this problem before with Linux installers, particularly Ubuntu Server. For some reason, it just did not like my CD-ROM drive. Trying the install several times eventually got it to work. I have NO idea why this was; the drive itself is completely fine otherwise.

It may be that trying a different drive will give better results.