[ale] how do I boot a Virtualbox vm from a USB HDD

[Ron Frazier]

Hi guys.  Thanks to James, Tim, and Chris for their replies on this 
thread.  I'm amazed at how prolific the people on this list are and how 
many messages come through.  I can  barely keep up.  I haven't had any time 
to try the tips revealed in the replies, but hope to soon when I can find a 
few free hours.  I'll also elaborate more on the nature of my project.  To 
answer James' question though, I'm simulating an entire dual boot system 
with Ubuntu and Windows, plus data.  My host computer doesn't have enough 
hard drive space to store the vm.  I need full access, including booting, 
to the external usb drive.  I can and have simply swapped the external 
drive into my host laptop as its main drive.  That works fine, but then I 
lose access to my host system, its data, and the ability to take screen 
shots of the test system from the host.  The best scenario for me is to run 
the vm on the host will full and total access to the external drive, 
including booting, and data access when the vm os is not running, such as 
when the vm has been booted from a backup utility, etc.

Hope this makes any sense whatsoever.  I'll have to work more on it 
later.  I'll be glad to share my results.

Ron

At 8/17/2010 03:33 PM -0400, James Sumners wrote:
>VirtualBox does not support booting from a USB drive. You can do some
>hackery to do so[1]. But why don't you just copy the VM to your local
>machine?
>
>
>[1] - 
>http://www.twm-kd.com/computers/software/boot-virtualbox-machine-from-a-usb-flash-drive/
>
>On Tue, Aug 17, 2010 at 2:38 PM, Ron Frazier
><atllinuxenthinfo at c3energy.com> wrote:
> > I may not be able to experiment with this for a few days, but I wanted to
> > go ahead and put this out to see what you guys think.  Thanks in advance
> > for responses.  I need to capture screen images to work on the slides
> > mentioned in the Linux Fest post above.  I need to capture them from a
> > virtual machine running in Virtualbox inside of Ubuntu 10.04.  Now, I know
> > I can do that by hitting print screen.  The catch is that the system I'm
> > testing is too large for CD or for the virtual HDD inside the virtual
> > machine.  I have to boot the virtual machine from an external USB HDD
> > attached to the host, but the virtual machine boot screen only allows
> > booting it from the virtual HDD, CD, or network.  Any idea how I can get
> > the virtual machine to boot from USB?
> >
> > Sincerely,
> >
> > Ron
> >
> > --------------------------
> > (PS - If you email me and don't get a quick response, you might want to
> > call on the phone.  I get about 300 emails per day from alternate energy
> > mailing lists and such.  I don't always see new messages very quickly.)
> >
> > Ron Frazier
> >
> > 770-205-9422 (O)   Leave a message.
> > linuxdude AT c3energy.com
> >
> > _______________________________________________
> > Ale mailing list
> > Ale at ale.org
> > http://mail.ale.org/mailman/listinfo/ale
> > See JOBS, ANNOUNCE and SCHOOLS lists at
> > http://mail.ale.org/mailman/listinfo
> >
>
>
>
>--
>James Sumners
>http://james.roomfullofmirrors.com/
>
>"All governments suffer a recurring problem: Power attracts
>pathological personalities. It is not that power corrupts but that it
>is magnetic to the corruptible. Such people have a tendency to become
>drunk on violence, a condition to which they are quickly addicted."
>
>Missionaria Protectiva, Text QIV (decto)
>CH:D 59
>
>_______________________________________________
>Ale mailing list
>Ale at ale.org
>http://mail.ale.org/mailman/listinfo/ale
>See JOBS, ANNOUNCE and SCHOOLS lists at
>http://mail.ale.org/mailman/listinfo


--------------------------
(PS - If you email me and don't get a quick response, you might want to 
call on the phone.  I get about 300 emails per day from alternate energy 
mailing lists and such.  I don't always see new messages very quickly.)

Ron Frazier

770-205-9422 (O)   Leave a message.
linuxdude AT c3energy.com