Ubuntu – My machine runs Ubuntu Desktop 15.04 and I want to separately run Ubuntu from an external encrypted hard drive

15.04bootdual-bootencryption

I need to create an isolated setup, without knowing too much about how that might be achieved by other more technical means.

This setup never goes online (the wireless adapter is unplugged) and file transfer to and from here is very rare (except during the initial installation of the programs I plan to use and I will probably use a drive or USB stick for that. Also I'd want to keep the OS and apps up to date, but how?

So I purchased a machine pre-installed with Ubuntu Desktop 15.04 and I want to enable it to separately run (dual boot?) (Ubuntu Desktop 15.04) from an external encrypted hard drive, as a way to achieve my goal of an isolated system.

More or less, I think it would look like this:

I'd unplug my wireless adapter, restart the machine, be asked if I want to boot from the external (eSATA?) drive (attached for this purpose only, otherwise not attached) and be prompted for the encryption password (separate from the Ubuntu password) which would mount the encrypted file to access the (Ubuntu Desktop 15.04) operating system files, run those files and I'd be greeted with the request for my Ubuntu password for this isolated system.

Best Answer

The easy way of doing this is to:

  1. remove the existing boot drive from your machine
  2. remove the the external drive from its enclosure and insert it into your machine
  3. Boot a LiveDVD
  4. install it as you want
  5. move the freshly installed HDD to the external enclosure.

Then when you want to boot that, just go into your BIOS and boot from the external HDD.

To keep the system updated, you need to follow this official documentation

The more complex solution would be:

  1. Hook up all drives
  2. remove UEFI and convert to BIOS boot.
  3. Boot a LiveDVD
  4. Install Ubuntu
  5. take "something else"
  6. Take care to put the boot manager (grub) on the external hard drive together with its system files
  7. Install everything you want
  8. shut down the machine
  9. remove the external drive

The result is the same: externally bootable HDD that needs off-line updates.

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