Frugal Install

1) Copy the “pmagic” folder from the CD to the the ”/boot” folder of any partition on your computer. It can be any file system supported by the Linux Kernel, including NTFS or FAT16/32.

2) Set-up GRUB to boot the kernel and initramfs almost exactly like you would any other distribution.

Example (Grub”1”):

title PartedMagic
root (hd0,0)
kernel /boot/pmagic/bzImage root=/dev/sdXX directory=boot edd=off load_ramdisk=1 prompt_ramdisk=0 rw vga=normal loglevel=9 max_loop=256 vmalloc=288MiB
initrd /boot/pmagic/initrd.img

For Ubuntu and it's derivatives, add something like the following to /etc/grub.d/40_custom (Grub2):

menuentry "PartedMagic" {
insmod part_msdos
insmod ext2
gfxpayload=1024x768x16,1024x768
set root='(hd0,msdos1)'
linux /boot/pmagic/bzImage root=/dev/sdXX directory=boot edd=off load_ramdisk=1 prompt_ramdisk=0 rw vga=normal loglevel=9 max_loop=256 vmalloc=288MiB
initrd /boot/pmagic/initrd.img
}

Then run:

sudo update-grub

root=/dev/sdXX

Starting with PartedMagic 6.2 the search for the pmagic-<version>.sqfs file will begin with the removable devices, unless a device/partition (root=/dev/sdXX), label (label=XXXXXXXX) or partial uuid (uuid=XXXXXX) is stated. Without such a kernel boot parameter a 10 seconds delay will occur.

directory=/boot

Previous versions of this document said to copy the “pmagic” folder to ”/”. This carried the risk of a subsequent run of PartedMagic from a CD or a USB stick to find the pmagic-<version>.sqfs file on the disk instead of the on the media - something you would not want in the majority of cases.
Starting with PartedMagic 6.2 the risk is inverted: a subsequent run of PartedMagic from the disk might find the pmagic-<version>.sqfs file on the media.
The solution in both cases is to “hide” the “pmagic” folder on the disk in e.g. the ”/boot” folder.