External/OS Question [Installing, booting, ext...]

[Flikerator]

I got an external hard drive (250Gb LACIE F-A-PORSCHE, USB and FireWire ports) and someone told me I could install on OS on it, and boot is a regular hard drive.

Are there any guides/information places that I could look for answers? If so could you link me? If not could you help me on some information; (Im going to install Linux if I can, I have never used Linux so I thought it would be neat to try on a fresh hardrive).

Can I install Linux? on it
Can I use it as a regular storage device?
Would it cause problems if/when the Ex-HD was pulled out while using it?
Could I switch between the Ex-HD and my regular computer while its in, or more generally how could I switch back and fourth?
What do I have to do to boot it up once its installed?
Can I set up a section that the OS on the Ex-HD doesn't even see (If not I can partition)? ie I want to use a part for regular storage?

Please if these are answered in a guide/site feel free to link me instead I don't mind reading (Yes I looked online, but I keep going to sites and reading about irrelevant [yet interesting] things. So I thought asking people who knew would be more productive).

Thank you for your time.

[Clayton]

I'm by no means an expert in this matter, but I do believe you should be able to install it on there (if I'm wrong correct me please). You should be able to boot from it in the BIOS. Just enter it on boot up, and boot from an external device before you would your hardrive.

[rdrake]

If you can boot from the USB drive, then you can install an OS on it and do this. However there are a few issues.

You need to load the USB driver in the installer in order to first access the drive. After that's done, you need to partition the drive and install files on it. Finally, you must install Grub to the MBR of the external HDD. Then when the drive is plugged in (provided the drive is set to boot first), it will load Grub which lets you boot linux instead of winders .

Relevant information can be found here. I warn you though, read this guide carefully. If you have any more questions, ask them here instead of just going ahead.

[Flikerator]

I have installed Linux Fedora on my EH. Its in the first partition (200GB), and when I boot it no operating system is detected. I thought maybe something went wrong with the install, because when I checked the drives on my XP computer it said 100% space free on partition; but it was labeled "Fedora Core". When I go to reinstall it, I have the option to "update" and it reads my EH partition as Fedora.

Im not really sure why it would be 100% free and have Fedora Core, but I figured the problem was that maybe I didn't have GRUB. I'm stuck as to how I install it on my EH, can I do it from XP or do I have to boot from a disk/floppy?