How to Copy Ubuntu Install from Internal Drive to Bootable USB

Question

Copy Ubuntu Install from Internal Drive to Bootable USB that boots BIOS or UEFI

An external drive can easily be copied to USB using dd or Disks 'Create Disk Image" / "Restore Disk Image".

However these methods only create a drive that boots in the same BIOS or UEFI mode as the original.

It is also handy to have a FAT32 or NTFS Data partition that can save data from the computer it was plugged into.

The question is: How can I create a bootable USB drive that is a clone of my desktop and boots in either BIOS or UEFI mode.

It should also have a data partition that can store data from Windows and Apple computers.

Answer 1

User's Desktop Ubuntu to Bootable USB, BIOS or UEFI

This is another mkusb hacking project

1. Create a Live USB drive using USB tool of your choice. Mkusb works well.

2. Create a Persistent USB drive using mkusb with defaults, (including sdx1 NTFS data partition). This is the Target Drive.*

3. Boot the computer using the Live USB.

4. Plug in the Persistent USB Target drive, (sdx).

5. Open GParted on Live USB and delete all target drive partitions except sdx1,sdx2 and sdx3.

6. Right click and copy the root partition from the internal drive, Right click the unallocated space on the target drive and select "Paste". This should become sdx4.

7. If there is a /home partition copy it as well. Do not include any boot or efi partitions from the internal drive.

8. If you use a swap partition designate space for it also.

9. Overwrite /dev/sdx3/boot/grub/grub.cfg with /dev/sdx4/boot/grub/grub.cfg.

• If you want the USB to have the ability to boot ISO files using grub, create the target drive using the usb-pack-efi option. (this replaces grub 2.04 with 2.02).