Linux on USB Stick.

[boomam]

Hi.
Can anyone recommend a version of Linix that'll run on a USB stick without killing it off fast?

Im looking at creating two diagnostic USB keys (both 16Gb), one with Linux, and one with Windows, both with the ability to be plugged into any PC on boot and have it work.

Ideas?

Thanks in advance. .

[GlennT]

If it's purely for diagnostics, you can use UBCD on a stick from what I remember.
UBCD for Windows

[Geoff]

I have SysRescueCD on a USB stick. I followed this howto to make it.

Howto install-usb-stick - SystemRescueCd

[DaveJ2717uk]

Pendrive Linux

Run Linux from within Windows without rebooting | Portable Pendrive Linux | USB Pen Drive Linux

Works for me.

[CyberNerd]

ubuntu
USB Ubuntu 8.04 Persistent install from Linux | USB Pen Drive Linux


personally I use TRK
Trinity Rescue Kit | CPR for your computer

[boomam]

If it's purely for diagnostics, you can use UBCD on a stick from what I remember.
UBCD for Windows

I was planning on having the windows one just for diagnostics, but the Linux one as my own stick, so i'd be needing a version of Linux on it that was fully functional.
Unfortunatelly, whilst i can find plenty of guides on how to do it, none specify which ones have all the write heavy operations disabled/minimised or not. Because normal usage would kill a USB stick pretty fast. .

[OutToLunch]

Anything that thrashes the stick will kill it quicker - look for one of the distributions that you can boot into memory instead of from the stick. IIRC you used to be able to run Knoppix with a -tomem switch if the machine had over 512mb, or for something lighter, try DamnSmallLinux which only needs 128/256 I think...

[saihaynes]

puppy linux is ace, Ive been using it off a usb stick for the past year or so and cant fault it.

[boomam]

Is there a way to cut down Ubuntu and have that work off a stick without excessive writes?

[dhicks]

Can anyone recommend a version of Linix that'll run on a USB stick without killing it off fast?

Slax will do the load-into-RAM thing, and can be easily customised.

--
David Hicks

[srochford]

There are some interesting numbers about possible life expectancy for flash memory here - it suggests that it's nowhere near as bad as it used to be and could well be many years of continuous writing

UBCD is designed to run from a CD so it obviously doesn't write to the boot device at all (it loads itself into a RAM disk); I'm guessing that many of the portable Linuxes do the same so I don't think you have much to worry about. Given that 8Gb drives are < £20 (and I doubt you need a drive that big for this!) I think the life/cost balance should be OK.

[pete]

DSL information is rather good.

[maniac]

I've used RIPlinux which installs onto a memory stick easily. I like it because of it's quite small file size, and it's relatively quick boot time, and it has a lot of useful tools built in.

Information from wikipaedia, Recovery Is Possible - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Link to Download it http://www.tux.org/pub/people/kent-r...looplinux/rip/

Mike.

[Joedetic]

There are online tutorials for putting ubuntu onto a usb key. To cut down on the number of writes i /believe/ it doesn't use a /swap partition.

[SYNACK]

I just found this which looks like it makes the whole process of putting a distro on a USB key into a one click operation:
Linux On A Stick: Fedora 9 Puts Your Desktop on a USB Drive