Can one run Linux Rescue media directly off hard disk?

Mike,

Some users do this very thing.  You would need a USB to SATA adapter cable to make this easy.  The self power models work best especially for HDD's.  First you would create a 2 GB partition on the data hard drive formatted as FAT32.  Now, run the Acronis Media creation tool, select the option to create Linux media, select the USB option and point it to the partition that you made on the HDD.

That's it.  Enjoy! 

Hi Enchantech,

Thanks for getting back to me.

Is there any other way to do this w/o using the USB/SATA adapter? 

....Mike

Just create a 2GB FAT32 partition on the internal drive. It can be at the beginning or the end of the dive. Then create Linux recovery media on a separate USB flash drive. Now copy all files and folders from the USB flash drive to the 2 GB FAT32 partition on your internal drive. That should make it bootable.

Mustangs method works too. :)

So,

I created a FAT 32 partition (6 Gig) on the data drive.

Then created Linux recovery media on a separate USB flash drive.

Then copied contents of the USB flash over to the FAT 32 partition on the data drive.

I shut down the system, removed the WIN 10 disk and inserted the data disk w. FAT 32 partition into the system.

Rebooted and got the following message: MBR Error 1 Press any key to boot from floppy.

NOTE: the FAT 32 partition was not made active.

When I repeated the above procedures but set the FAT 32 partition as active, then I got a message that PC couldn't find operating system.

I feel like I'm close but I have to resolve the MBR error to make it work.

Any thoughts?

....Mike

What happens when you try to boot the PC using the USB flash drive you created? Does it boot the Linux recovery environment?

What method did you use to copy the contents of the flash drive to the 6GB partition you created?  I would suggest that you try again and use command line xcopy with the hidden files switch set.  If your flash drive gives the same or similar error than your MBR is corrupted for the boot media.

Yes it boots into the Linux recovery environment.

When I make the copy from the USB to the hard disk partition, should I copy over the System Volume Information folder as well?

...M

Try a different approach here that has worked for me in the past.

Make an Acronis disk backup of your working Linux USB flash drive then restore that backup to the partition on your data drive, including the MBR and Track 0 if asked.

If you have a System Volume Information folder on your Linux USB flash drive, then use the Exclusions default settings to not include it, this is caused by opening the drive from within Windows and is not needed for the boot media.

This has never failed me...

Create the partition as Enchantech mentioned.

Create a USB boot disk (use the smallest flash drive you can, or at least smaller than the partition you made on the main drive)

Backup the entire USB recovery boot drive with Acronis

Restore the backup to your 6Gb partition

That's it.  It will be fully bootable and guaranteed to work without any trial and error.

Steve,

Your suggestion worked!

Thank you everyone who responded to my question.

....Mike

Woot!  Awesome sauce.