Bootable Linux Distro for USB stick

Kato

I am looking to set up my jump drive with the ability to boot up Linux. I want to provide myself a generally more secure system and also just learn what it is. Back in college again and this is interests me far more now than before. Any suggestions on a good distro to use and learn that can boot from a flash drive? How much space does it generally take for an install? Also...if anyone knows of a good tutorial or manual for an install, that would be great as well.

Or...should I just skip on doing it because it will run completely slow and not be worth it? How bad is it?

elliotw2

Ubuntu fits this perfectly. Go download Unetbootin and pick Ubuntu.

It doesn't take much space, it runs almost full speed, and you don't really need a tutorial for the installs anymore. I actually find installing Windows XP harder at times.

Kato

Any suggestions on which version of Ubuntu to use? Or just the most recent?

elliotw2

Personally, I'd do one version back, since they just switched to a new UI, and I'm not a great fan of it.

Kato

Ok...I have a question. I did as the link above wanted to do and installed Ubuntu 10.4 live. I am making this post from the install right now. Although, I have noticed that when I make changes to Ubuntu or Firefox or run updates...I can turn it off and it does not save the changes for the next time I boot up Ubuntu. Any ideas?

Zilla360

Pretty obvious, but do you have any kind of write protection/read-only mode enabled on the USB stick?

Otherwise: https://help.ubuntu.com/community/LiveCD/Persistence

splash

I run Linux off a DVD for class and it isn't slow, so the USB stick will be plenty fast.

Darmak

If I use Unetbootin, will I have to reformat my usb drive? I have some stuff on mine I'd rather not get rid of.

lunchbox12682

Generally, yes. You may be able to partition the drive to maintain the items, but that would have it's own issues. I'd recommend backing up your stuff, making the bootable drive with a filesystem partion (probably Fat32), and then saving your files back to the partition. This should give you the best of both worlds.

Darmak

I'll try that, thanks

elliotw2

Actually, you don't have to reformat for unetbootin. I have an older Ubuntu version along with some random stuff on mine, and they don't affect each other.

Darmak

Yeah, I used unetbootin and it didn't format and the files are still on there. Awesome!

splash

Funny enough I heard a lot of USB sticks only allow FAT16? But logically thinking the ones over 16GB allow FAT32?

rockmonkey

I'm no expert on linux or putting it on removable storage, but I just happened to do this the other day. I used LinuxLive USB Creator and put Unbuntu on a 2GB free usb stick I got from work and it runs great. I did have to set how much space I wanted to devote to persistence and then when booting to it, I was asked which mode I wanted to boot into. One that was Live and changes were lost after each use or one with persistence where changes actually saved (up to the free space I had left on my stick and had designated for this purpose).

It was super easy to do. The site is www.linuxliveusb.com

citizen059

I have Xubuntu running on a USB drive with persistence. It's a great tool to have around as an IT guy, especially with a good antivirus scanner loaded.

It's helped me rescue more than a few Windows computers and it's nice to know that I can essentially carry around my own personalized system that I can use just about anywhere.