How do I create a multi-bootable SD card?
I am looking to make a backup & rescue micro-SD card for Microsoft Surface Pro 2 which has a micro-SD slot built-in. I probably won't be able to choose just one solution to use as a rescue disk, and will want to create a Multi-Boot disk.
I need to use flash card as a multi-bootable disk that I can also put disk image backups and other data on. I will at least need to back up a Windows 8.1 installation.
There are a lot of questions and tutorials for making (multi-)boot CDs/DVDs. What do I need to know about flash cards specifically, in comparison to CDs/DVDs? In particular, which filesystem and bootloader will I need to use; is anything else specific to flash cards?
I prefer an open-source cross-platform solution.
boot dual-boot sd-card
asked Apr 30 '14 at 1:33
Nickolai LeschovNickolai Leschov
3,269123470
add a comment |
I am looking to make a backup & rescue micro-SD card for Microsoft Surface Pro 2 which has a micro-SD slot built-in. I probably won't be able to choose just one solution to use as a rescue disk, and will want to create a Multi-Boot disk.
I need to use flash card as a multi-bootable disk that I can also put disk image backups and other data on. I will at least need to back up a Windows 8.1 installation.
There are a lot of questions and tutorials for making (multi-)boot CDs/DVDs. What do I need to know about flash cards specifically, in comparison to CDs/DVDs? In particular, which filesystem and bootloader will I need to use; is anything else specific to flash cards?
I prefer an open-source cross-platform solution.
boot dual-boot sd-card
asked Apr 30 '14 at 1:33
Nickolai LeschovNickolai Leschov
3,269123470
There is an option to format the SD card using gParted and some plugins. Check this out: askubuntu.com/questions/457993/…
– Tebuax
Apr 30 '14 at 2:51
Take a look at Yumi.
– Mitch♦
Apr 30 '14 at 6:07
@Mitch YUMI is a proprietary Windows software, is it not? I guess I should update my question stating that I prefer open-source cross-platform solutions. I thought on Ask Ubuntu I wouldn't need to explain that.
– Nickolai Leschov
Apr 30 '14 at 17:20
@Tebuax What problem will gParted with plugins solve for me?
– Nickolai Leschov
Apr 30 '14 at 17:31
Yumi is available for Winodws and Linux. You can download YUMI for Ubuntu Linux here.
– Mitch♦
Apr 30 '14 at 17:38
add a comment |
I am looking to make a backup & rescue micro-SD card for Microsoft Surface Pro 2 which has a micro-SD slot built-in. I probably won't be able to choose just one solution to use as a rescue disk, and will want to create a Multi-Boot disk.
I need to use flash card as a multi-bootable disk that I can also put disk image backups and other data on. I will at least need to back up a Windows 8.1 installation.
There are a lot of questions and tutorials for making (multi-)boot CDs/DVDs. What do I need to know about flash cards specifically, in comparison to CDs/DVDs? In particular, which filesystem and bootloader will I need to use; is anything else specific to flash cards?
I prefer an open-source cross-platform solution.
boot dual-boot sd-card
asked Apr 30 '14 at 1:33
Nickolai LeschovNickolai Leschov
3,269123470
I am looking to make a backup & rescue micro-SD card for Microsoft Surface Pro 2 which has a micro-SD slot built-in. I probably won't be able to choose just one solution to use as a rescue disk, and will want to create a Multi-Boot disk.
I need to use flash card as a multi-bootable disk that I can also put disk image backups and other data on. I will at least need to back up a Windows 8.1 installation.
There are a lot of questions and tutorials for making (multi-)boot CDs/DVDs. What do I need to know about flash cards specifically, in comparison to CDs/DVDs? In particular, which filesystem and bootloader will I need to use; is anything else specific to flash cards?
I prefer an open-source cross-platform solution.
boot dual-boot sd-card
boot dual-boot sd-card
asked Apr 30 '14 at 1:33
Nickolai LeschovNickolai Leschov
3,269123470
asked Apr 30 '14 at 1:33
Nickolai LeschovNickolai Leschov
3,269123470
edited Apr 30 '14 at 17:21
Nickolai Leschov
asked Apr 30 '14 at 1:33
Nickolai LeschovNickolai Leschov
3,269123470
asked Apr 30 '14 at 1:33
Nickolai LeschovNickolai Leschov
3,269123470
asked Apr 30 '14 at 1:33
Nickolai LeschovNickolai Leschov
3,269123470
3,269123470
There is an option to format the SD card using gParted and some plugins. Check this out: askubuntu.com/questions/457993/…
– Tebuax
Apr 30 '14 at 2:51
Take a look at Yumi.
– Mitch♦
Apr 30 '14 at 6:07
@Mitch YUMI is a proprietary Windows software, is it not? I guess I should update my question stating that I prefer open-source cross-platform solutions. I thought on Ask Ubuntu I wouldn't need to explain that.
– Nickolai Leschov
Apr 30 '14 at 17:20
@Tebuax What problem will gParted with plugins solve for me?
– Nickolai Leschov
Apr 30 '14 at 17:31
Yumi is available for Winodws and Linux. You can download YUMI for Ubuntu Linux here.
– Mitch♦
Apr 30 '14 at 17:38
add a comment |
There is an option to format the SD card using gParted and some plugins. Check this out: askubuntu.com/questions/457993/…
– Tebuax
Apr 30 '14 at 2:51
Take a look at Yumi.
– Mitch♦
Apr 30 '14 at 6:07
@Mitch YUMI is a proprietary Windows software, is it not? I guess I should update my question stating that I prefer open-source cross-platform solutions. I thought on Ask Ubuntu I wouldn't need to explain that.
– Nickolai Leschov
Apr 30 '14 at 17:20
@Tebuax What problem will gParted with plugins solve for me?
– Nickolai Leschov
Apr 30 '14 at 17:31
Yumi is available for Winodws and Linux. You can download YUMI for Ubuntu Linux here.
– Mitch♦
Apr 30 '14 at 17:38
There is an option to format the SD card using gParted and some plugins. Check this out: askubuntu.com/questions/457993/…
– Tebuax
Apr 30 '14 at 2:51
There is an option to format the SD card using gParted and some plugins. Check this out: askubuntu.com/questions/457993/…
– Tebuax
Apr 30 '14 at 2:51
Take a look at Yumi.
– Mitch♦
Apr 30 '14 at 6:07
Take a look at Yumi.
– Mitch♦
Apr 30 '14 at 6:07
@Mitch YUMI is a proprietary Windows software, is it not? I guess I should update my question stating that I prefer open-source cross-platform solutions. I thought on Ask Ubuntu I wouldn't need to explain that.
– Nickolai Leschov
Apr 30 '14 at 17:20
@Mitch YUMI is a proprietary Windows software, is it not? I guess I should update my question stating that I prefer open-source cross-platform solutions. I thought on Ask Ubuntu I wouldn't need to explain that.
– Nickolai Leschov
Apr 30 '14 at 17:20
@Tebuax What problem will gParted with plugins solve for me?
– Nickolai Leschov
Apr 30 '14 at 17:31
@Tebuax What problem will gParted with plugins solve for me?
– Nickolai Leschov
Apr 30 '14 at 17:31
Yumi is available for Winodws and Linux. You can download YUMI for Ubuntu Linux here.
– Mitch♦
Apr 30 '14 at 17:38
Yumi is available for Winodws and Linux. You can download YUMI for Ubuntu Linux here.
– Mitch♦
Apr 30 '14 at 17:38
add a comment |
1 Answer
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I think the real problem with this is that the Surface tablets use UEFI, so it is a more involved process to boot other OS's on them. There is no real difference between using UFD and SD cards for boot devices. Just format the SD card as FAT32 and follow the instructions for making a UFD multiboot disk. However, the real limitation comes with UEFI and making a disk that will work for that.
Your best bet for using Linux would be to install Ubuntu (or some other *nix OS) to the SD card itself using a generic driver install (contains drivers for all known hardware). This would be portable in a sense, but you could run into some trouble as this is not a live install.
The only other option is to use rEFInd (download it and extract the files to the SD card. Then put a Live ISO (or several Live ISOs) on the SD card. It should(tm) be able to boot them.
answered Apr 30 '14 at 17:36
ChrisR.ChrisR.
48537
So the solution like MultiCD won't work because of UEFI?
– Nickolai Leschov
Apr 30 '14 at 17:48
It could with the condition that you need the ability to turn on Legacy Booting in the UEFI. I am under the impression that it was not possible on the Surface tablets.
– ChrisR.
Apr 30 '14 at 21:13
I'm not sure if I want to turn on legacy booting. I remember reading something to the effect that modern operating systems work better with modern booting. I guess my first priority will be to learn how this UEFI booting works and what you can do with it. E.g. I remember that you should FAT32 filesystem for bootable drives, but that might only be true for legacy booting. Is GRUB legacy only?
– Nickolai Leschov
Apr 30 '14 at 22:57
No. Grub can handle UEFI boot. However, UEFI looks for a FAT32 partition when it is searching for *.efi bootloaders.
– ChrisR.
Apr 30 '14 at 23:36
So, formatting a removable drive as FAT32 was and still is the only option anyway, right?
– Nickolai Leschov
May 1 '14 at 1:32
|
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1 Answer
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1 Answer
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votes
I think the real problem with this is that the Surface tablets use UEFI, so it is a more involved process to boot other OS's on them. There is no real difference between using UFD and SD cards for boot devices. Just format the SD card as FAT32 and follow the instructions for making a UFD multiboot disk. However, the real limitation comes with UEFI and making a disk that will work for that.
Your best bet for using Linux would be to install Ubuntu (or some other *nix OS) to the SD card itself using a generic driver install (contains drivers for all known hardware). This would be portable in a sense, but you could run into some trouble as this is not a live install.
The only other option is to use rEFInd (download it and extract the files to the SD card. Then put a Live ISO (or several Live ISOs) on the SD card. It should(tm) be able to boot them.
answered Apr 30 '14 at 17:36
ChrisR.ChrisR.
48537
So the solution like MultiCD won't work because of UEFI?
– Nickolai Leschov
Apr 30 '14 at 17:48
It could with the condition that you need the ability to turn on Legacy Booting in the UEFI. I am under the impression that it was not possible on the Surface tablets.
– ChrisR.
Apr 30 '14 at 21:13
I'm not sure if I want to turn on legacy booting. I remember reading something to the effect that modern operating systems work better with modern booting. I guess my first priority will be to learn how this UEFI booting works and what you can do with it. E.g. I remember that you should FAT32 filesystem for bootable drives, but that might only be true for legacy booting. Is GRUB legacy only?
– Nickolai Leschov
Apr 30 '14 at 22:57
No. Grub can handle UEFI boot. However, UEFI looks for a FAT32 partition when it is searching for *.efi bootloaders.
– ChrisR.
Apr 30 '14 at 23:36
So, formatting a removable drive as FAT32 was and still is the only option anyway, right?
– Nickolai Leschov
May 1 '14 at 1:32
|
show 1 more comment
I think the real problem with this is that the Surface tablets use UEFI, so it is a more involved process to boot other OS's on them. There is no real difference between using UFD and SD cards for boot devices. Just format the SD card as FAT32 and follow the instructions for making a UFD multiboot disk. However, the real limitation comes with UEFI and making a disk that will work for that.
Your best bet for using Linux would be to install Ubuntu (or some other *nix OS) to the SD card itself using a generic driver install (contains drivers for all known hardware). This would be portable in a sense, but you could run into some trouble as this is not a live install.
The only other option is to use rEFInd (download it and extract the files to the SD card. Then put a Live ISO (or several Live ISOs) on the SD card. It should(tm) be able to boot them.
answered Apr 30 '14 at 17:36
ChrisR.ChrisR.
48537
So the solution like MultiCD won't work because of UEFI?
– Nickolai Leschov
Apr 30 '14 at 17:48
It could with the condition that you need the ability to turn on Legacy Booting in the UEFI. I am under the impression that it was not possible on the Surface tablets.
– ChrisR.
Apr 30 '14 at 21:13
I'm not sure if I want to turn on legacy booting. I remember reading something to the effect that modern operating systems work better with modern booting. I guess my first priority will be to learn how this UEFI booting works and what you can do with it. E.g. I remember that you should FAT32 filesystem for bootable drives, but that might only be true for legacy booting. Is GRUB legacy only?
– Nickolai Leschov
Apr 30 '14 at 22:57
No. Grub can handle UEFI boot. However, UEFI looks for a FAT32 partition when it is searching for *.efi bootloaders.
– ChrisR.
Apr 30 '14 at 23:36
So, formatting a removable drive as FAT32 was and still is the only option anyway, right?
– Nickolai Leschov
May 1 '14 at 1:32
|
show 1 more comment
I think the real problem with this is that the Surface tablets use UEFI, so it is a more involved process to boot other OS's on them. There is no real difference between using UFD and SD cards for boot devices. Just format the SD card as FAT32 and follow the instructions for making a UFD multiboot disk. However, the real limitation comes with UEFI and making a disk that will work for that.
Your best bet for using Linux would be to install Ubuntu (or some other *nix OS) to the SD card itself using a generic driver install (contains drivers for all known hardware). This would be portable in a sense, but you could run into some trouble as this is not a live install.
The only other option is to use rEFInd (download it and extract the files to the SD card. Then put a Live ISO (or several Live ISOs) on the SD card. It should(tm) be able to boot them.
answered Apr 30 '14 at 17:36
ChrisR.ChrisR.
48537
I think the real problem with this is that the Surface tablets use UEFI, so it is a more involved process to boot other OS's on them. There is no real difference between using UFD and SD cards for boot devices. Just format the SD card as FAT32 and follow the instructions for making a UFD multiboot disk. However, the real limitation comes with UEFI and making a disk that will work for that.
Your best bet for using Linux would be to install Ubuntu (or some other *nix OS) to the SD card itself using a generic driver install (contains drivers for all known hardware). This would be portable in a sense, but you could run into some trouble as this is not a live install.
The only other option is to use rEFInd (download it and extract the files to the SD card. Then put a Live ISO (or several Live ISOs) on the SD card. It should(tm) be able to boot them.
answered Apr 30 '14 at 17:36
ChrisR.ChrisR.
48537
answered Apr 30 '14 at 17:36
ChrisR.ChrisR.
48537
answered Apr 30 '14 at 17:36
ChrisR.ChrisR.
48537
answered Apr 30 '14 at 17:36
ChrisR.ChrisR.
48537
48537
So the solution like MultiCD won't work because of UEFI?
– Nickolai Leschov
Apr 30 '14 at 17:48
It could with the condition that you need the ability to turn on Legacy Booting in the UEFI. I am under the impression that it was not possible on the Surface tablets.
– ChrisR.
Apr 30 '14 at 21:13
I'm not sure if I want to turn on legacy booting. I remember reading something to the effect that modern operating systems work better with modern booting. I guess my first priority will be to learn how this UEFI booting works and what you can do with it. E.g. I remember that you should FAT32 filesystem for bootable drives, but that might only be true for legacy booting. Is GRUB legacy only?
– Nickolai Leschov
Apr 30 '14 at 22:57
No. Grub can handle UEFI boot. However, UEFI looks for a FAT32 partition when it is searching for *.efi bootloaders.
– ChrisR.
Apr 30 '14 at 23:36
So, formatting a removable drive as FAT32 was and still is the only option anyway, right?
– Nickolai Leschov
May 1 '14 at 1:32
|
show 1 more comment
So the solution like MultiCD won't work because of UEFI?
– Nickolai Leschov
Apr 30 '14 at 17:48
It could with the condition that you need the ability to turn on Legacy Booting in the UEFI. I am under the impression that it was not possible on the Surface tablets.
– ChrisR.
Apr 30 '14 at 21:13
I'm not sure if I want to turn on legacy booting. I remember reading something to the effect that modern operating systems work better with modern booting. I guess my first priority will be to learn how this UEFI booting works and what you can do with it. E.g. I remember that you should FAT32 filesystem for bootable drives, but that might only be true for legacy booting. Is GRUB legacy only?
– Nickolai Leschov
Apr 30 '14 at 22:57
No. Grub can handle UEFI boot. However, UEFI looks for a FAT32 partition when it is searching for *.efi bootloaders.
– ChrisR.
Apr 30 '14 at 23:36
So, formatting a removable drive as FAT32 was and still is the only option anyway, right?
– Nickolai Leschov
May 1 '14 at 1:32
So the solution like MultiCD won't work because of UEFI?
– Nickolai Leschov
Apr 30 '14 at 17:48
So the solution like MultiCD won't work because of UEFI?
– Nickolai Leschov
Apr 30 '14 at 17:48
It could with the condition that you need the ability to turn on Legacy Booting in the UEFI. I am under the impression that it was not possible on the Surface tablets.
– ChrisR.
Apr 30 '14 at 21:13
It could with the condition that you need the ability to turn on Legacy Booting in the UEFI. I am under the impression that it was not possible on the Surface tablets.
– ChrisR.
Apr 30 '14 at 21:13
I'm not sure if I want to turn on legacy booting. I remember reading something to the effect that modern operating systems work better with modern booting. I guess my first priority will be to learn how this UEFI booting works and what you can do with it. E.g. I remember that you should FAT32 filesystem for bootable drives, but that might only be true for legacy booting. Is GRUB legacy only?
– Nickolai Leschov
Apr 30 '14 at 22:57
I'm not sure if I want to turn on legacy booting. I remember reading something to the effect that modern operating systems work better with modern booting. I guess my first priority will be to learn how this UEFI booting works and what you can do with it. E.g. I remember that you should FAT32 filesystem for bootable drives, but that might only be true for legacy booting. Is GRUB legacy only?
– Nickolai Leschov
Apr 30 '14 at 22:57
No. Grub can handle UEFI boot. However, UEFI looks for a FAT32 partition when it is searching for *.efi bootloaders.
– ChrisR.
Apr 30 '14 at 23:36
No. Grub can handle UEFI boot. However, UEFI looks for a FAT32 partition when it is searching for *.efi bootloaders.
– ChrisR.
Apr 30 '14 at 23:36
So, formatting a removable drive as FAT32 was and still is the only option anyway, right?
– Nickolai Leschov
May 1 '14 at 1:32
So, formatting a removable drive as FAT32 was and still is the only option anyway, right?
– Nickolai Leschov
May 1 '14 at 1:32
|
show 1 more comment
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There is an option to format the SD card using gParted and some plugins. Check this out: askubuntu.com/questions/457993/…
– Tebuax
Apr 30 '14 at 2:51
Take a look at Yumi.
– Mitch♦
Apr 30 '14 at 6:07
@Mitch YUMI is a proprietary Windows software, is it not? I guess I should update my question stating that I prefer open-source cross-platform solutions. I thought on Ask Ubuntu I wouldn't need to explain that.
– Nickolai Leschov
Apr 30 '14 at 17:20
@Tebuax What problem will gParted with plugins solve for me?
– Nickolai Leschov
Apr 30 '14 at 17:31
Yumi is available for Winodws and Linux. You can download YUMI for Ubuntu Linux here.
– Mitch♦
Apr 30 '14 at 17:38