yellowdog-newbie digest, Vol 1 #573 - msgs 8/9

[Harvey Ussery]

>
> You should consider getting an external drive and install Linux on
> that.  You'll be able to dual boot between the Mac OS and Linux,
> instantaneously but the data on your Mac will be physically separate
> from the data on the drive dedicated to Linux.  That is a very wise and
> good thing to do.  Your model may only have space for one internal hard
> drive.  In the event that the universe decides that your hard drive 
> will
> crash; the universe will tend, being the efficient and reasonable Being
> it is, to crash one drive, not two.
>
> Also the physical manner in which the read/write head of the drive
> behaves is different for Linux than for other OS's and so two
> independent drives acting separately and in a uniform manner on that
> particular drive lengthens the life of the hard drive.  Whereas one the
> same drive the read/write head has to shuttle between the Linux OS and
> the Mac OS portion and write files accordingly.  Consider the nearly
> blinding speed at which the read/write head is moving across the 
> various
> platters or disks and it should not be a problem to imagine how a hard
> drive could crash, or otherwise loose data or other physical problem.
>
>
>
Derick,   This is an intriguing idea, but one which is basically new to 
me. I like the idea of instantaneously switching from Mac to Linux on 
the fly (have I understood you correctly on that?), as well as the idea 
of reducing wear on the hard drive. I assume that--with an additional 
(external) drive--I could use "the other drive" as the place to backup 
files to? So that if either drive crashed, I would have a complete data 
set on the still-viable drive?

I have an iMac, so of course cannot add any drive into the existing 
hardware. So an external drive would connect how, thru the Ethernet 
port? Would I have to choose a model that is compatible with Mac or 
with Apple hardware, or would the external drive function entirely 
independently of such considerations? Could Linux on the external drive 
establish/utilize a Net connection via the iMac's wireless connection 
(Airport)? Could it utilize an external USB modem plugged into the 
iMac? With an external drive for Linux, should I still use YDL, or 
would I be free to use any Linux distro?

Got any recommendations for specific hardware? What's the cost likely 
to be?

Thanks.    --Harvey