#SSD cannot be used as booting device, have installed Linux Mint 4 times on it

16 messages · Page 1 of 1 (latest)

glossy knot
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I have tried everything I can find on the internet, from completely wiping the SSD and restarting, to manually installing certain portions of mint onto the ssd in a more specific way according to some results I found

For starters, the first time I tried, it installed onto my internal computer drive, which was NOT selected - thankfully, it didn't overwrite anything critical, and here I am on Windows still.

Since, I've been using the 'something else' selection, and have done manual partitions very carefully several times, however no matter what I seem to do, when I restart my computer, my Samsung SSD is simply not a bootable option.

I"ve tried doing things to make it more 'visible' to my computer (based on some results I found about computers sometimes having compaibility issues / issues seeing certain devices), still nothing.

The SSD appears functional in all other ways so far, and it's brand new, but I'm starting to see results that if I have this much trouble, it's probably a faulty drive. This is really unfortunate because I can't return it, and my messing around has already voided warranty.

My question is - what might I be missing, before I give up and order a new external SSD?

For info - I'm on Lenovo Legion, the hard drive is Samsung T7 1TB, and I've spent AT LEAST 4 hours on this install and cannot make my SSD visible to boot. By all accounts, Linux mint is meticulously installed on it with no errors, I spent over an hour in ther terminal making sure no errors, but still no 'visibility' to the system. I've even rewiped the SSD several times before partiitioning.

P.S. when I complete the install and restart, I get a black screen with 'GNU something or other' at the top, and a message about limited bash script functionality or something. I have to restart and go into boot menu manually to avoid this screen and actually boot into windows / Linux installer USB.

Please help, I don't want to buy another SSD just to see if maybe my current one is broken..

untold nacelle
umbral yarrow
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My main drive is nvme01 something or other - 500gb, has windows boot and now has ubuntu boot by mistake. Old files seem to be mostly intact, all thats screwed up so far is date and time stuff.

Then i have my 64gb thumb drive for installation, it works fine with Linux Mint on live boot, no issues there.

Then i have my Samsung T7 1TB external - drive 'sda' in lsblk - this is my target

My sda has EFI, SWAP, and root partitions, ive done it 5 times 5 ways but always those three in that order at the 'start' of memory (have also tried placing at 2048 for start to try and standardize, no dice. As far as i can tell, the installation to the SSD (SDA1) was successful - i checked it 8 ways to Sunday in the terminal and had no errors by the time i rebooted - but still, no T7 / SSD option on boot.

I have secure boot disabled, will have to check fast boot.

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Sorry, im the same guy as OP, this is just the account I have on my app and am not at home -

untold nacelle
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Ok, it still very unclear what is your configuration

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don't mention nvme or sda etc, simply explain like that :
Drive 1 (SSD/HDD) : EFI | Windows | Whatever
Drive 2 (SSD/HDD : Linux | Whatever | Etc..

rugged wave
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go into Lenovo BIOS. and check boot priorities, moreover - the bbs boot priorities and ensure u find the ubuntu loader, and set it to top

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the ubuntu loader may in fact have gone on your Windows drive's ESP

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but it will still work to launch GRUB

umbral yarrow
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To answer prior question:

SSD internal: system / reserved / primary / recovery - the auto partitions from the laptop, i supposed

SSD external: system / unknown / unknown

I swear i partitioned them EFI / swap / root, not sure if windows diskmanager just fails to display these, or
Maybe theres an additional cmd line prompt i need to better answer you

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Regarding Stunner's comment - im loading the ubuntu booter from
My internal drive, but how can I know if I have linux on my external SSD if I cant boot from it?

I won't have my internal drive to boot from when i plug this external into my new computer, so i'm just not sure how to know itll work, if its not 'seeing' my Samsung drive. I would assume if I boot from the internal, im also using the internal as my Linux drive, and if i try and boot my new computer (not yet built, soon to be here), im worried I'll just see - nothing to boot

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That said, i am booting right into cinnamon! I just have no concept of if its because my internal drive has both options, or somehow booting from my internal drive has 'fixed' my invisible Samsung

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I'm now seeing that my internal drive has the /boot /efi mountpoints but my external doesnt, despite me doing that 15 times... let me try again

umbral yarrow
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I had to go through the entire process again but, what was happening is it refused to mount my boot/efi, then when i did the files werent even in there, so i had to manually remount it 4-5 times before i got it all right, manually put the files there, then manually update GRUB

I THINK its working now, i can see the drive when I boot!

rugged wave
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what you can do, is run the live ISO, and the boot repair app included, with advanced options - and force it to install grub to the external drive's efi partition (ESP)

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Once done and tested working, u can wipe out the ubuntu folder from the windows drive's ESP