Tiny Core Linux

Tiny Core Base => CorePlus => Topic started by: Onktebong on December 22, 2025, 11:00:41 AM

Title: Can't install to mounted partition
Post by: Onktebong on December 22, 2025, 11:00:41 AM

So I have booted to desktop from a USB pendrive on a laptop, I have an ethernet cable plugged in, and now I want to install to HDD using tc-install.
I select the path to core.gz as /mnt/sdb/boot/core.gz
Then frugal, whole disk, install boot loader.
Disk for core is sda (the hard disk drive).
ext4
no boot options
Install type: Core and X/GUI desktop
Extensions: all
Proceed
Now I get this error message: "sda appears to have partition already mounted! Check if correct device, is so, umount it and then run installer again."
So I go to terminal:
sudo su
umount /mnt/sda1
Reply: "Can't umount /mnt/sda1: Device or resource busy"
What am I doing wrong? Thank you.

Title: Re: Can't install to mounted partition
Post by: Rich on December 22, 2025, 01:17:35 PM

Hi Onktebong
Do you have another version of Tinycore installed on that hard drive?
If you do, it's probably finding the tce directory and mounting that
partition.

To prevent that, when the  "Press ENTER to boot, TAB to edit, or press F1 for more information."
message comes up, hit  Tab  and add this boot code:

Code: [Select]

tce=noneThat way it won't be able to find the tce directory.

Title: Re: Can't install to mounted partition
Post by: Onktebong on December 22, 2025, 01:42:33 PM

No, there is Antix installed (but my machine is too slow for it).
Could that cause a problem?
Thank you!

Title: Re: Can't install to mounted partition
Post by: Rich on December 22, 2025, 01:51:53 PM

Hi Onktebong
Then it's probably finding a swap partition.
Try adding the boot code:

Code: [Select]

noswap

Title: Re: Can't install to mounted partition
Post by: Onktebong on December 22, 2025, 01:53:17 PM

OK, tried it, it worked, and now it's partitioning and formatting ...
Finally!
(I had to disable backup before I could reboot.)
This is very exciting!
Booting from hard disk ... success!!! Thank you!

Title: Re: Can't install to mounted partition
Post by: Leee on December 22, 2025, 07:15:33 PM

Quote from: Onktebong on December 22, 2025, 01:53:17 PM

OK, tried it, it worked, and now it's partitioning and formatting ...
Finally!
(I had to disable backup before I could reboot.)
This is very exciting!
Booting from hard disk ... success!!! Thank you!

I usually install to hard disk but, for my use cases, I haven't really found much of a performance boot by using an hdd over a USB stick (even a USB 2.0 stick).  I think so much just takes place in RAM that the storage media just doesn't matter all that much.  (I'm currently running from a USB3-connected HDD and it's just fine.)

Title: Re: Can't install to mounted partition
Post by: Onktebong on December 23, 2025, 12:18:51 PM

Point taken.
In this old laptop, the HDD is there and a USB stick tends to, erm, sticks out.

Title: Re: Can't install to mounted partition
Post by: Rich on December 23, 2025, 01:09:33 PM

Hi Onktebong

Quote from: Onktebong on December 23, 2025, 12:18:51 PM

... a USB stick tends to, erm, sticks out.

Not necessarily. This 8 Gbyte unit has a pretty small profile:
(https://forum.tinycorelinux.net/index.php?action=dlattach;topic=27921.0;attach=7159)

Title: Re: Can't install to mounted partition
Post by: gadget42 on December 24, 2025, 05:52:12 AM

a bit off-topic but informative nevertheless(and @Rich started it, ha!)

https://www.slashgear.com/1864943/largest-micro-sd-card-highest-capacity-can-buy/

https://www.slashgear.com/1890340/old-sd-card-uses/

Title: Re: Can't install to mounted partition
Post by: Leee on December 24, 2025, 02:48:47 PM

Quote from: Onktebong on December 23, 2025, 12:18:51 PM

Point taken.
In this old laptop, the HDD is there and a USB stick tends to, erm, sticks out.

Yeah.  To me that's a big factor as I've had at least one USB stick ruined because it stuck out and got caught on something.