HOWTO: partedMagic -> boot from external HDD (harddisc)

[PPb]

Hi everybody.
Since now i used pm on an USB-stick. But now i bought a new external Harddisc and i want pm to boot from this device instead of an USB-stick.

Btw. My OS is Windows XP.

Here is what i did:
- On Harddisc: created 2 Partitions (16 GB fat32 - for pm ; 950 GB NTFS for files, like disc-images)
- Marked the 16 GB fat32 part as active

Then i tried 2 diffent ways:

1.) With UNetbootin and the downloaded partedmagic-iso-file i made the 16GB part. bootable.

2.) corresponding to your guide (http://partedmagic.com/documentation/13 ... veusb.html) i also tried the handy-way.

When i try to boot from this devices i realize the following:

Way 1: PC starts from the external Device, but hangs before showing the pm boot-menu. Black screen, just a cursor is blinking. nothing more happens. Does not react on keypressed.

Way2: PC starts up from ex. Device. pm bootmenu shows up. I select the language i want to use and hit return. The "4 tuxes" appear and it says: "searching for pmagic-5.4.sqfs..." After a few minutes this is beeing canceled automaticly and it says that "pmagic-5.4.sqfs" could not be found...So it does not work, too

I don't know what to do now. Can anybody help me, to get pmagic working on an external harddrive?

Thx a lot

[Patrick Verner]

You moved the pmagic-5.4.sqfs out of it's standard location. Place the pmagic folder in your partition and don't rename it. Don't rename anything. If windows changed all the files to uppercase, manually change them back or use a better archiving tool. Most windows archiving tools truncate file names for some ridiculous reason. If you move the pmagic-5.4.sqfs, use the directory= parameter. Hit <TAB> at the first boot screen to see all the options.

[PPb]

Hey Patrick, thank's a lot!
You really helped me out. I did not realize that all foldernames where uppercase after extracting the image with winRAR. Now i used 7zip and all went ok.
Now i am able to boot from the external Harddisc. *Horray!*

For all the others out there, here is a little HOW-TO:

1. Download parted magic iso file: http://partedmagic.com/download.html
2. Download last SYSLINUX version from the following URL: http://www.kernel.org/pub/linux/utils/boot/syslinux/
3. Extract both files
4. copy content of extracted iso-file to the root-folder of your external boot-device (must be folder: boot and pmagic)
5. Extracted files of SYSLINUX archive: Locate the syslinux.exe for your system (in my case (Win XP 32bit) it's the one inside \win32\
6. Open a prompt and type:

Code: Select all

syslinux.exe -d \boot\syslinux -ma -f <DeviceYouWantToMakeBootable>

(for example: syslinux.exe -d \boot\syslinux -ma -f E:)
7. Check if everything went OK: prompt =>

Code: Select all

type E:\boot\syslinux\ldlinux.sys

. Now you can see the versionnr. of SYSLINUX you integrated in step 6.
8. We're finished: Reboot your system and have a try if pmagic works

Here is the content of my "bootable device" after completing the steps 1-8:

C:\> Dir E: /S

Datentr„ger in Laufwerk E: ist FAT32
Volumeseriennummer: 0082-E353

Verzeichnis von E:\

11.09.2010 18:41 <DIR> boot
11.09.2010 18:41 <DIR> pmagic
0 Datei(en) 0 Bytes

Verzeichnis von E:\boot

11.09.2010 18:41 <DIR> .
11.09.2010 18:41 <DIR> ..
11.09.2010 18:41 <DIR> syslinux
11.09.2010 18:41 <DIR> sgd
11.09.2010 18:41 <DIR> pxelinux
11.09.2010 18:41 <DIR> plpbt
11.09.2010 18:41 <DIR> mhdd
11.09.2010 18:41 <DIR> isolinux
0 Datei(en) 0 Bytes

Verzeichnis von E:\boot\syslinux

11.09.2010 18:41 <DIR> .
11.09.2010 18:41 <DIR> ..
02.07.2010 20:20 19.680 chain.c32
29.06.2010 23:11 724.505 hdt.gz
02.07.2010 20:21 440 mbr.bin
02.07.2010 20:21 25.244 memdisk
17.07.2010 23:19 165.080 memtest
11.07.2010 20:52 1.084 message.txt
16.09.2009 19:37 413 message2.txt
16.09.2009 19:37 1.089 message3.txt
16.09.2009 19:12 483 message4.txt
02.07.2010 20:20 800 reboot.c32
16.09.2009 19:12 113.778 splashpm.png
14.08.2010 03:33 12.056 syslinux.cfg
02.07.2010 20:21 159.392 vesamenu.c32
13 Datei(en) 1.224.044 Bytes

Verzeichnis von E:\boot\sgd

11.09.2010 18:41 <DIR> .
11.09.2010 18:41 <DIR> ..
02.11.2009 01:41 369.257 sgd.gz
08.06.2010 22:26 540.377 sgd2.gz
2 Datei(en) 909.634 Bytes

Verzeichnis von E:\boot\pxelinux

11.09.2010 18:41 <DIR> .
11.09.2010 18:41 <DIR> ..
06.08.2010 01:52 148 sample_pxelinux.cfg
13.07.2010 16:11 2.597 split-initramfs.sh
2 Datei(en) 2.745 Bytes

Verzeichnis von E:\boot\plpbt

11.09.2010 18:41 <DIR> .
11.09.2010 18:41 <DIR> ..
04.08.2010 00:48 43.213 plpbt.bin
1 Datei(en) 43.213 Bytes

Verzeichnis von E:\boot\mhdd

11.09.2010 18:41 <DIR> .
11.09.2010 18:41 <DIR> ..
12.01.2010 00:01 423.173 mhdd.gz
1 Datei(en) 423.173 Bytes

Verzeichnis von E:\boot\isolinux

11.09.2010 18:41 <DIR> .
11.09.2010 18:41 <DIR> ..
25.08.2010 23:55 2.048 boot.cat
02.07.2010 20:21 24.576 isolinux.bin
14.08.2010 03:33 12.056 isolinux.cfg
3 Datei(en) 38.680 Bytes

Verzeichnis von E:\pmagic

11.09.2010 18:41 <DIR> .
11.09.2010 18:41 <DIR> ..
25.08.2010 04:19 4.798.240 bzImage
25.08.2010 23:54 482.841 initramfs
11.09.2010 18:41 <DIR> pmodules
2 Datei(en) 5.281.081 Bytes

Verzeichnis von E:\pmagic\pmodules

11.09.2010 18:41 <DIR> .
11.09.2010 18:41 <DIR> ..
25.08.2010 23:55 125.485.056 pmagic-5.4.sqfs
1 Datei(en) 125.485.056 Bytes

Anzahl der angezeigten Dateien:
25 Datei(en) 133.407.626 Bytes
29 Verzeichnis(se), 70.458.343.424 Bytes frei