Debian on an external storage

[matrob]

Is it possible to install debian on an USB drive to use all the disk space on the NAS?

[vzhilov]

Yes, sure.

I believe the USB drive will be detected as /dev/sdc1 and then last lines of /initrd/init will be:

mount -o rw /dev/sbc1 /mnt/root 2>&1 >/dev/null
if [ -h /mnt/root/sbin/init -o -e /mnt/root/sbin/init ]; then
  boot
else
  rescue_shell
fi

Internal RAM of the NAS will boot, then it will decrypt the NAS and then turn the further booting over to Debian on USB drive

[matrob]

Thanks for the working information. After correcting the small typo I could successfully start from /dev/sdc1.

mount -o rw /dev/sdc1 /mnt/root 2>&1 >/dev/null
if [ -h /mnt/root/sbin/init -o -e /mnt/root/sbin/init ]; then
  boot
else
  rescue_shell
fi

[matrob]

I have also evaluated another approach that is more flexible and does not rely on hard-coded /dev/sdX1 drive specifications. After further testing I will hopefully be able to release it soon.

[vzhilov]

I have changed the init script adding a little dialog with a boot option from external device

[mnemonicj]

Hello! Thank you for the great work. How can I set the boot to default, or permanent to /dev/md1? It is asking me everytime to choose. Thank you, Regards Rainer