Ubuntu on an external hard drive

[MacBH928]

Hello,
A Toshiba laptop monitor failed, so I took its 60gb hard drive and put it into a case with USB.

I was wondering if its possible to install Ubuntu on it and boot from there, and maybe windows xp, I don't like many OS's on my main hard drive.

My computer is a unibody macbook 2.0 running 10.5.8

I tried to "mroogle" it but all the information I found are out-dated. Also couldn't find reliable information on google.

I hear that its not possible to boot using USB, only firewire, then I read its possible. Some places threaten that it will ruin my computer hard drive. I am lost.

Help please

 

[Darth.Titan]

I'm 99% positive that you can't boot Windows from an external drive. I'm not sure about Linux, but judging from a quick Googling, installing Linux to an external doesn't look good either.

 

[MacBH928]

bummer

 

[Bodhi395]

I know for a fact you can boot Ubuntu from an external harddrive to a PC laptop using USB. I just did it last night and its working fine. As for booting it from an external harddrive to a macbook I'm not as sure. I've never tried installing a Linux-based OS on a mac computer but think you might need to use bootcamp. I would just go ahead and try it and see what happens. I doubt it will damage your harddrive in any way. The worst would be it doesn't work and you can then erase the hard drive and just use it as extra storage.

 

[MacBH928]

I am not doing it any more, its a lot of hassle ,
my macbook is only 1 year old, I don't want to mess with it.
I just wanted to try linux and it seems difficult enough, maybe I'll find an old laptop in the future

 

[MacManiac76]

It can be done fairly easily using rEFIt. Check out the Myths and Facts page for more info about your concerns.