how to install linux mint to a usb drive

In any case - while it was installing, I could see it say “looking for other operating systems” shortly after your screenshot above. Yes - just as I said - the installer put the bootloader on my sda, not the sdc where I had specified! Is this something to do with the BIOS possibly? I’ve read that UEFI can cause that, but my laptop boots in Legacy - which I thought was not UEFI.

I wouldn’t have imagined there would or should have been any interaction between the two, but just as you said even though i know which drive i chose the install did a number on my internal ssd’s bootloader. In spite of both of those, after rebooting the system grub on my internal ssd (which should have remained untouched as far as i would have thought) went to a rescue prompt and i had to boot in through the usb’s grub so i could re-install grub to my ssd. Thanks for any ideas - I’ll be happy to answer questions or post anything that might help. I’m sure there must be an easy way to do this, but thought my first question should be - is it even possible on the SSD - or does it need to be partitioned ahead of time to avoid the misplaced boot loader issue? Here are the boot settings in the BIOS for the one Win 7 laptop: This time I tried two different Windows 7-only laptops - and it was the same result each time - needing to restore/repair the boot loader and run a restore from my Macrium backup software. When I did successfully create the thumb drive, I used an old Vista/Mint dual boot laptop and it went fine. I have a lot of questions, but first - could it be possible that the SSD can’t be made into a bootable drive and that is why the installer wants to put the boot on the hard drive? However - trying to replicate that to put a full install on the external SSD has had various unexpected and somewhat catastrophic results - including the installer replacing the boot loader in my internal hard drive even though I was very sure to choose the external drive for the install. I have done this successfully on a thumb drive (in fact my current Mint is running on that right now). I have been having trouble doing a full install of Mint 19.1 on an external USB SSD. Hello! My first post here, and all suggestions welcome.

How to install linux mint to a usb drive