Installing Unbuntu on an EX SDD to replace original SSD

jigbeff

1/10/24, 5:24 PM

So a few years ago my old HD on my laptop died, it ran but nothing would happen, so a friend of mine gave me a USB with Unbuntu on and told me to follow his instructions, ie, to boot from USB, etc, and it would install on the old HD , which it did.

I now have that old laptop running Unbuntu. Still, now I have another laptop with a small ssd and have just bought a new one with 256gb on it and would like to install Unbuntu on that and replace the old ssd which has Windows on, completely so I would have two laptops both with Unbuntu on, but how do I go about installing it on my new ssd and then, would it be ok to replace the original ssd?.

Thanks , but I am new to all this, even reading it and trying it looks hard.

0 + 9

ssd

hard-drive

oldfred

1/10/24, 6:35 PM

Have you updated UEFI & SSD firmware. Most systems make it easier with Windows. But newer systems now are in https://fwupd.org/lvfs/devicelist you can update from Ubuntu. Otherwise I might keep a smaller Windows, but it still needs 30% free to work. And then dual boot. See https://ubuntu.com/tutorials/install-ubuntu-desktop#1-overview

jigbeff

1/10/24, 6:47 PM

Thanks, but the ssd is brand new so needs no new firmware, and excuse the ignorance, but what is UEFI?

oldfred

1/10/24, 8:04 PM

My brand new SSD had a firmware update, so best to check. UEFI replaced BIOS, in 2012. But many vendors still call it BIOS. If new laptop it will then be UEFI. See this old but current bug if not installing to internal drive. Best to partition in advance with gpt (not MBR) to make sure you have ESP on external drive. https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/ubiquity/+bug/1396379 UEFI bit more complicated as you have both UEFI & old BIOS, how you boot installer is then how it installs. Very new systems, do not have BIOS option at all.

guiverc

1/10/24, 9:49 PM

FYI: *just other words to what oldfred has already said*. Computers followed standards that told the machine how to boot, CSM/legacy/MBR & often called just BIOS was the old standard from 1981 (original IBM PC following PCs from 1970s). uEFI is a new system that replaced it that was *intended* to be more 'secure' (it has two modes, Secure-uEFI & uEFI; uEFI can also be written as EFI) but is mostly just different. uEFI requires an ESP (*uEFI System Partition*), and how the ISO is written to thumb-drive prior to booting can matter. Just follow documented procedures.

jigbeff

1/11/24, 1:04 PM

Thanks, I managed to get it to boot and to the grub screen but from there it won't work, I have tried to download it again but it has now decided to become read-only, so I m stuck and every time i mount it wants to format.

guiverc

1/11/24, 9:35 PM

It's not clear to me what device has become *read only*, but if it's a hard drive or SSD, perform SMART tests & check your hardware (including PSU; as even perfect devices misbehave on bad power). If it's your installation media; did you verify the ISO & subsequently write to media (*the write to media fails most for me*). Do this as per your *unstated* product/release requires, and if no issues there, ensure the product/release is appropriate for your hardware (esp. newer device), as you gave no specifics we cannot comment/help there.

jigbeff

1/13/24, 8:02 AM

So, I had a 32gb USB and a 256GB SSD, I downloaded Unbuntu through the links on the home page and used the designated downloader for both, but when I came to use them on my laptop, both had turned to read-only, I couldn't access them. I managed to format them both via diskpart, so now I am back to the begining.

guiverc

1/13/24, 8:04 AM

Ubuntu has many products (Ubuntu Core, Ubuntu Server, Ubuntu Desktop) as well as many releases (Ubuntu Core are *year* in format, eg. 22 for 2022, and Server & Desktop are *year.month* in format, eg. 22.10 for the 2022-October release), but beyond that there are many choices (eg. some have the default installer, some have an *alternate* installer etc) & I've not mentioned *flavors* of Ubuntu. You've given no specifics so how can we provide specific advice.

jigbeff

1/14/24, 10:08 AM

As I said, I am new to this but want to learn and use it so as to expand my knowledge. What I would like to do is Install Unbuntu on my SSD and then replace the original SSD in my laptop which has Windows on it, but this is where I am stuck.

Elon Musk

I sit in a Tesla and translated this thread with Ai:

EN: Installing Unbuntu on an EX SDD to replace original SSD

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