Sun, 21 Jan 2024 12:30:58 +0900 Masaru Nomiya <nomiya@lake.dti.ne.jp> :

[BTF] == "Ben T. Fender" <slowroller@trixtar.org> has written:

BTF> I got me a used Lenovo T470 with w10 preinstalled and using uefi or BTF> whatecver they call that fancy boot crap.

BTF> In order to stay on the safe side of the alley I just installed BTF> Tumbleweed on a 1tb usb-ssd prepartitioned the same as the 1tb ssd of my BTF> desktop to eventually just host a copy of it. This way I can make a BTF> 'dd' copy of the entire laptop ssd for a backup of the entire BTF> on-board built-in hsithouse with windows included. I 'think' in case BTF> of a mishap I would just dd that file back to that or another same BTF> size ssd and be done with it.

BTF> 3 questions

BTF> - is the above a workable arrangement?

If you are asking if it is possible to backup and restore ssd with Windows and Tumbleweed using the dd command, the answer is "yes".

That's the good part. The rest.. I ran into some problems. First I installed TW on a sata ssd using a usb adapter and the same partitioning scheme as for my desktop, then I stuck all my fingers up my stack all the way to my armpit; I don't know what I did but it cost me many hours to recover and it wasn't even surgery. But all is well now, all back to normal, I'm starting the T470 rodeo almost from scratch. I made a dd copy of my entire 1tb identical ssd. Either ssd boots with grub any one of my 7 Linux systems on my desktop, the two ssd's are identical, there are no problems. When I plug the one of the ssd's into a T470 usb port and start the alternate boot method both the on-board 256gb pci-ssd and my external 1tb e860 plugged into the usb port via a usb adapter show up in the alternate booting menu. ATA HDD0: SK hynix SC311 SATA 256GB USB HDD: Samsung SSD 860 EVO 1TB But... selecting MY ssd doesn't load the grub menu from it, it does nothing but relight the laptop's alternate boot menu above. For what it may be worth the disc partitioning is as follows: # fdisk -l Disk /dev/sda: 931.51 GiB, 1000204886016 bytes, 1953525168 sectors Disk model: Samsung SSD 860 Units: sectors of 1 * 512 = 512 bytes Sector size (logical/physical): 512 bytes / 512 bytes I/O size (minimum/optimal): 512 bytes / 512 bytes Disklabel type: gpt Disk identifier: 2CB71AC7-D2DB-4B81-A559-02802643D197 Device Start End Sectors Size Type /dev/sda1 2048 2099199 2097152 1G EFI System /dev/sda2 2099200 4196351 2097152 1G BIOS boot /dev/sda3 4196352 16779263 12582912 6G Linux swap /dev/sda4 16779264 226494463 209715200 100G Linux filesystem /dev/sda5 226494464 436209663 209715200 100G Linux filesystem /dev/sda6 436209664 645924863 209715200 100G Linux filesystem /dev/sda7 645924864 855640063 209715200 100G Linux filesystem /dev/sda8 855640064 1065355263 209715200 100G Linux filesystem /dev/sda9 1065355264 1275070463 209715200 100G Linux filesystem /dev/sda10 1275070464 1484785663 209715200 100G Linux filesystem /dev/sda11 1484785664 1694500863 209715200 100G Linux filesystem /dev/sda12 1694500864 1946159103 251658240 120G Linux filesystem The EFI partition is there for future use but is inactive. I wonder if it's mere existance is in the way and tricks the T470 into expecting to find a boot menu there?

Sun, 21 Jan 2024 19:58:00 +0900 Masaru Nomiya <nomiya@lake.dti.ne.jp> :

Hello,

In the Message;

Subject : Re: T470-w10+Tumbleweed/Slowroll Message-ID : <20240121052502.8d7ac812e879b3bd158928e2@trixtar.org> Date & Time: Sun, 21 Jan 2024 05:25:02 -0500

[BTF] == "Ben T. Fender" <slowroller@trixtar.org> has written:

BTF> Sun, 21 Jan 2024 12:30:58 +0900 BTF> Masaru Nomiya <nomiya@lake.dti.ne.jp> : [...] MN> > BTF> - is the above a workable arrangement? MN> > MN> > If you are asking if it is possible to backup and restore ssd with MN> > Windows and Tumbleweed using the dd command, the answer is "yes".

BTF> That's the good part. The rest.. I ran into some problems.

BTF> First I installed TW on a sata ssd using a usb adapter and the same BTF> partitioning scheme as for my desktop, then I stuck all my fingers up my BTF> stack all the way to my armpit; I don't know what I did but it cost me BTF> many hours to recover and it wasn't even surgery. But all is well now, BTF> all back to normal, I'm starting the T470 rodeo almost from scratch.

BTF> I made a dd copy of my entire 1tb identical ssd. Either ssd boots with BTF> grub any one of my 7 Linux systems on my desktop, the two ssd's are BTF> identical, there are no problems.

BTF> When I plug the one of the ssd's into a T470 usb port and start the BTF> alternate boot method both the on-board 256gb pci-ssd and my BTF> external 1tb e860 plugged into the usb port via a usb adapter show up BTF> in the alternate booting menu.

BTF> ATA HDD0: SK hynix SC311 SATA 256GB BTF> USB HDD: Samsung SSD 860 EVO 1TB

BTF> But... selecting MY ssd doesn't load the grub menu from it, it does BTF> nothing but relight the laptop's alternate boot menu above.

[...] BTF> The EFI partition is there for future use but is inactive. I wonder if BTF> it's mere existance is in the way and tricks the T470 into expecting to BTF> find a boot menu there?

I think this might be helpful for you;

https://bjm.me.uk/blog/thinkpad-t480s-ssd/

bookmarked, but for now no cigar (all else failing I may have to do it that way eventually). I want to boot an external ssd or spinner attached to a USB port. The T470 is *supposedly* capable of this but I have to figure out how. I've tried relabeling the EFI partition to swap and wiping it, also made a DOD spinner with no EFI on it. In BIOS I've tried the different ways of either prioritizing the external for USB boot or breaking into the normal boot for the alternative USB boot list. Nothing works.

Mon, 22 Jan 2024 07:28:50 +0900 Masaru Nomiya <nomiya@lake.dti.ne.jp> :

Hello,

In the Message;

Subject : Re: T470-w10+Tumbleweed/Slowroll Message-ID : <20240121081429.9b5900cf203e66b5d0f845af@trixtar.org> Date & Time: Sun, 21 Jan 2024 08:14:29 -0500

[BTF] == "Ben T. Fender" <slowroller@trixtar.org> has written:

BTF> Sun, 21 Jan 2024 19:58:00 +0900 BTF> Masaru Nomiya <nomiya@lake.dti.ne.jp> : [...] BTF> > I think this might be helpful for you; BTF> > BTF> > https://bjm.me.uk/blog/thinkpad-t480s-ssd/

BTF> bookmarked, but for now no cigar (all else failing I may have to do it BTF> that way eventually).

BTF> I want to boot an external ssd or spinner attached to a USB port. The BTF> T470 is *supposedly* capable of this but I have to figure out how. I've BTF> tried relabeling the EFI partition to swap and wiping it, also made a BTF> DOD spinner with no EFI on it. In BIOS I've tried the different ways of BTF> either prioritizing the external for USB boot or breaking into the BTF> normal boot for the alternative USB boot list. Nothing works.

To be safe, it is better to try with a bootable CD.

Question 1

What is your current boot method?　UEFI boot or Legacy boot?

It's "Both" [UEFI first]

Question 2

In the bios, does the USB HDD appear in the list of bootable devices?

It appears properly identified as the correct disk model and size. In the case of a Leagacy external sata ssd the boot the Select-Alternative-Boot menu just bounces back. The net is FULL of simlar complaints but I have found no fix so far. Secure-Boot is disabled. I booted the Tumbleweed install DVD in a usb port of the laptop and installed TW to a sata ssd plugged into another usb port. Under booting I had grub2-EFI specified. This disk won't boot either in the T470, slows down the appearance of boot menus to 5 minutes for a menu to appear! When I eventually select the otherwise properly identified ssd the next step also takes forever but eventually the selection menu comes back on exactly as it does in the case of a Legacy disk above (except it takes MUCH longer). To be continued, I'm trading the T470 in for one with 1tb ssd (seeing that I may have to forget about just plugging a 2.5" sata ssd into a usb or thunderbolt port the same way that I can do with my entirely Linux desktop).

Tue, 23 Jan 2024 07:18:04 +0900 Masaru Nomiya <nomiya@lake.dti.ne.jp> :

Hello,

In the Message;

Subject : Re: T470-w10+Tumbleweed/Slowroll Message-ID : <20240122075615.3fc36223bbca7f0802c5593b@trixtar.org> Date & Time: Mon, 22 Jan 2024 07:56:15 -0500

[BTF] == "Ben T. Fender" <slowroller@trixtar.org> has written:

BTF> Mon, 22 Jan 2024 07:28:50 +0900 BTF> Masaru Nomiya <nomiya@lake.dti.ne.jp> :

[...] MN> > Question 1 MN> > MN> > What is your current boot method?　UEFI boot or Legacy boot?

BTF> It's "Both" [UEFI first]

MN> > Question 2 MN> > MN> > In the bios, does the USB HDD appear in the list of bootable MN> > devices?

BTF> It appears properly identified as the correct disk model and size. In BTF> the case of a Leagacy external sata ssd the boot the BTF> Select-Alternative-Boot menu just bounces back. The net is FULL of BTF> simlar complaints but I have found no fix so far.

BTF> Secure-Boot is disabled.

BTF> I booted the Tumbleweed install DVD in a usb port of the laptop BTF> and installed TW to a sata ssd plugged into another usb port. Under BTF> booting I had grub2-EFI specified. This disk won't boot either in the BTF> T470, slows down the appearance of boot menus to 5 minutes for a menu BTF> to appear! When I eventually select the otherwise properly identified BTF> ssd the next step also takes forever but eventually the selection menu BTF> comes back on exactly as it does in the case of a Legacy disk above BTF> (except it takes MUCH longer).

BTF> To be continued, I'm trading the T470 in for one with 1tb ssd (seeing BTF> that I may have to forget about just plugging a 2.5" sata ssd into a BTF> usb or thunderbolt port the same way that I can do with my entirely BTF> Linux desktop).

You've got the bios's problem.

Google showed this site;

https://www.infofuge.com/lenovo-thinkpad-t470-boot-from-usb-for-linux-and-wi...

According to this, USB booting is not possible unless Lenovo ThinkPad T470 Boot from USB using Rufus is installed. The link to rufus-3.4.exe on this site is broken, but you can find it at;

https://www.filehorse.com/download-rufus/37646/download/

Good Luck & Best Regards,

"What is Boot from USB? It is a process of starting a Computer operating system from the USB drive". The above definition is wrong, what the article talks about is booting from a usb storage chip plugged into a usb port. What "I" have in mind is booting from a sata-ssd connected to a sata/usb-adapter and that connected to the usb port. The thunderbolt port is even better if it gives more speed and it can also be ramified as a manifold or dock. The article talks about booting an OS on a usb stick (live if you want any speed, actual RW if you want something slower than a dead dog). The typical OS drive I use is a 1tb ssd in a mobile rack that has a whole host of 100gb OS partitions of different distros. This will next change to 4tb, if I have to create it with windows that's a definite deal-breaker. I'd want to just plug this ssd or a copy of it into a sata-usb adapter and that into the usb port of the laptop and select the system to boot when grub shows me its boot menu. If I can do this I'm happy. If I cannot, then I split the laptop's onboard ssd and install my stuff on the larger 2/3 of it (I think such was your first advice too). Others suggest to install another ssd in the laptop in lieu of some unused device. That's Season-1/Episode-1, the saga will continue when I get my 1tb replacement T470 :-)

Tue, 23 Jan 2024 10:55:45 +0900 Masaru Nomiya <nomiya@lake.dti.ne.jp> :

Hello,

In the Message;

Subject : Re: T470-w10+Tumbleweed/Slowroll

BTF> What "I" have BTF> in mind is booting from a sata-ssd connected to a sata/usb-adapter BTF> and that connected to the usb port. The thunderbolt port is even BTF> better if it gives more speed and it can also be ramified as a BTF> manifold or dock.

With this, I finally figured out the connection status.

My bad, I often compose thinking that the reader is even better aware of what I want to say than I am, which wouldn't be hard to do :-)

[...] BTF> The typical OS drive I use is a 1tb ssd in a mobile rack that has a BTF> whole host of 100gb OS partitions of different distros.

The hard drive is a 3.5" one?

until nopw only 2.5 ssd or spining