running Ubuntu off USB stick and retaining settings?

Tony Pursell ajp at princeswalk.fsnet.co.uk
Sat Apr 30 13:45:11 UTC 2011


On Sat, 2011-04-30 at 15:23 +0200, Nils Kassube wrote:
> stan wrote:
> > How can I set up a USB stick so that I can boot my machine into
> > Ubuntu off of it, and preserve setings changes I amke while running
> > fo the next reboot?
> 
> You can install Ubuntu to the USB stick like an installation on the 
> harddisk. Then your settings should be preserved over reboots. But make 
> a backup of your data on the USB stick first, because you should format 
> it with ext2/3/4 during the installation. An advantage over a live USB 
> system is update the system and that you can also install additional 
> packages and if needed.
> 
> 
> Nils
> 

You can do a full install like Nils has said to a USB. I have never done
it myself, but from my experience with a EEEPC with only a 4GB SSD I
would say that you really need a USB stick bigger than 4GB.

The alternative is a live system on a USB with a persistent storage
area.  You can do this with System > Administration > Startup Disk
Creator.  With persistent storage, all your settings changes get saved,
and you can download and install most updates and additional packages.
The exception seems to be kernel updates.  With this method, 4GB is
probably OK. I have done it with 2GB sticks and they run out of space
after a while due to updates being stored.

Tony







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