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When trying to boot Ubuntu 20.04 downloaded onto an external hard drive it does not show up as a boot option

cn flag

I have been using Ubuntu 16.04 for several years on a System76 Gazelle, but after a recent update, the OS will not boot and instead displays either a black screen or error messages. I am now trying to overwrite the OS with a newer version (Ubuntu 20.04) from an external Solid State Drive. The issue I am having is that the SSD does not appear as an option from my Aptio Setup Utility.

Any help is much appreciated.

user535733 avatar
cn flag
Did you make the SSD bootable? Or did you simply copy the installer .iso onto the SSD without making it bootable?
guiverc avatar
cn flag
https://ubuntu.com/tutorials/tutorial-create-a-usb-stick-on-ubuntu#1-overview https://ubuntu.com/tutorials/tutorial-create-a-usb-stick-on-macos#1-overview https://ubuntu.com/tutorials/tutorial-create-a-usb-stick-on-windows#1-overview
cn flag
user535733 - You might have a point, I simply downloaded ubuntu onto the SSD without taking any special steps .. keep in mind i am NOT on Windows. My understanding is that Ubuntu should boot automatically from an external device but is this not right? Thanks.
user535733 avatar
cn flag
Your understanding was in error, sorry. A random .iso file on a random disk's filesystem is not bootable. Review @guiverc's tutorial links for how to properly create an Ubuntu installer from the .iso image. Note that the tutorials work with plain, cheap, common USB sticks precisely to avoid many hardware-specific issues. If your SSD is not visible in BIOS (Aptio Setup Utility), then your SSD-based method is likely a dead end, and you should borrow a USB stick from a friend. Note that System76 has a good reputation for supporting their hardware -- they may have a better solution.
guiverc avatar
cn flag
If properly written to your media (so it's bootable), it will boot. You can write media to a hard disk, ssd, thumb-drive, compact-flash, in fact any device that your hardware will boot from - but it needs to be written in a bootable form; having it a file on a file-system isn't bootable (without you modifying your boot loader of installed OS/system to give you the option to boot an ISO on a file-system's which is more work than writing an ISO to boot media in my experience - but worth it for devices that don't have a working USB port for example!)
cn flag
user535... and guiverc, thank you both. didn't know I needed to make the image bootable, I will try that next.
cn flag
To follow up, both user535733 and guiverc were spot on, I had not made my Ubuntu file bootable. In the end I followed [this tutorial](https://youtu.be/UAAcQVJxfPk) This talked me through creating a bootable USB drive from a Chromebook. Then my Aptio Setup Utility recognized the removable thumb drive so I could select it and proceed from there.
Zanna avatar
kr flag
I suggest posting an answer (rather than a comment - but similar in content to your last comment) to your own question to help others with the same problem in the future.
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