EggXpert

Running Linux from a USB flash drive is a great way to test it, and at the same time to have a distribution, that one can easily move from one machine to another.

I'd been testing different methods to do so, and at the end of this post I'll list them, with a comment about it. If you know any other resources, please post it, so we all can share it.

The first thing is to be sure that your computer's BIOS support USB Boot. Check your computer's manual to know how to get into the BIOS, once there, in the Boot options look for something like: USB-HDD, USB-ZIP or HDD Generic USB SD Reader.

Another thing to keep in mind, is that USB flash drives have a limited erase/write cycles of about 100,000.00, and the OS writes every two seconds to it. Which it means, the installation would be good just for a few months/weeks only. Depending how much one uses it.

Right now, I'm using this USB reader. Which allows me to change the card easy and inexpensively. I have flash cards for each of the different distros I'm using. All I do is change the card, according to the one I feel using at the moment.

Regardless of which method you choose to use, the best way is to download the ISO of the distribution before hand. Use an empty USB flash drive, and if there are files to erase,  Windows can be use to format it fat32.

Here is the list of the resources I tried:

For Ubuntu

http://rudd-o.com/new-projects/portablelinux

https://launchpad.net/usb-creator

For Fedora

https://fedorahosted.org/liveusb-creator/

Great utility, easy to run, I liked the most the choice to choose the size of the Persistent Storage.

For any distribution:

http://www.pendrivelinux.com/

Great detailed tutorials.

And the one, which I considered the best, because it's easier, faster and works with all the distributions.

http://unetbootin.sourceforge.net/

It  can be implemented from Windows. Indeed, it works better from it.  So if you don't want to double boot Linux and Windows, but still want to use Linux, this is a better option than a Live CD. Of course, UNetbootin can also be run from an existing Linux installation.

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You are on a roll there LT. I need to start working on some more run books to keep up with you. 

Tracer76:

Thanks ladytekki for the info this is great Somthing that I was looking for.

Oh, thanks, I'm glad to share.

root:

You are on a roll there LT. I need to start working on some more run books to keep up with you.

 

Please go ahead.

I'm almost done, according to the list I posted on the Uber's forum, only one more to go. There is so much we still need to learn about Linux.

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Thank you so much Ladytekki

I am planning on portable Ubuntu so I think this is very informative 

Keep up the great work 

WOW, this is so great.  I will also have my boyfriend check it out and I am sure this would be very helpful for his work. Thanks for sharing, Ladytekki. Please go ahead as we are expecting...

intelguy:

Thank you so much Ladytekki

I am planning on portable Ubuntu so I think this is very informative

Keep up the great work

 
You're welcome! I really would like you to try a distro other than Ubuntu. May I suggest Fedora? it's pretty cool.

whitelotus:

WOW, this is so great.  I will also have my boyfriend check it out and I am sure this would be very helpful for his work. Thanks for sharing, Ladytekki. Please go ahead as we are expecting...

I'm glad to help. Wait a second? Do you mean you're pregnant? Wow! If that so, congratulations.

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