Why use install methods specific for Live USB?

[DZ*]

Why do people use install methods/programs that are specific for Live USB, like live USB creator, unetbootin, etc? Why worry about things like persistent storage creation? In the past I've installed Fedora 9 with LVM/full drive encryption on a USB drive just using the regular install as I would do for an internal drive. That OS since has been upgraded to Fedora 10 and then 11 and it works fine. I did the same with Ubuntu 8.04, except that I encrypted the /home partition manually after the install. That worked fine too and I've since upgraded it to 8.10 and then to 9.04. Finally, just recently I installed LVM+encryption Ubuntu on a 16 Gb stick, again just as I would install it to an internal drive. The only USB (or rather flash) specific thing I did is to put tmp and logs into a ram drive, to minimize writes (wearing out of the flash), and added some flags to boot options that are recommended for flash installs. Am I missing something?

[pankajp]

I think most people don't want to change their usb drives from fat filesystem, just to be able to use is at other places in other os. Last time i checked, linux didn't installed into fat filesystems. So that may be one reason, just guessing.

[DZ*]

I think most people don't want to change their usb drives from fat filesystem, just to be able to use is at other places in other os.

That would have never occurred to me. Why not just rake through the pile of old shirts in the closet and look for an extra stick? :) Gparted can also be used to do a resize and then to add a fat partition after the install.

In an earlier thread I've read (regarding a Live USB install) that one should "Stop updating it, it will break. You can add packages but don't do a full update":

http://forums.fedoraforum.org/showpost.php?p=1218258&postcount=2.

True? Sounds like more trouble than it's worth. A regular install to a USB drive would not have any such issues.

[sideways]

A liveUSB install + 250mb persistent home/ fits on a 1gb usb stick, this is plenty if you just want desktop settings, network, firefox bookmarks etc to persist.

Its also a very quick install method for testing out a distro, and enables a full install to disk without need for a dvd.

A full install to usb is time-consuming, and a real pain if you lose the disk or it gets corrupted.

Having said that, I have done a full install to a 8gb sdhc card and booted an eeepc from it for over a year no problems (even with my 3 year bashing it around playing on the bbc cbeebies (http://www.bbc.co.uk/cbeebies/) site every other day)

[DZ*]

A liveUSB install + 250mb persistent home/ fits on a 1gb usb stick, this is plenty if you just want desktop settings, network, firefox bookmarks etc to persist.

Its also a very quick install method for testing out a distro, and enables a full install to disk without need for a dvd. A full install to usb is time-consuming, and a real pain if you lose the disk or it gets corrupted.

This makes sense. I suppose then that the most useful usages of Live USB are:

(1) a recyclable install media
(2) a quick way of trying out a distribution.

Having said that, I have done a full install to a 8gb sdhc card and booted an eeepc from it for over a year no problems (even with my 3 year bashing it around playing on the bbc cbeebies (http://www.bbc.co.uk/cbeebies/) site every other day)


Does SDHC installation work substantially faster than a USB installation?

[sideways]

Does SDHC installation work substantially faster than a USB installation?

You mean the actual installation, no it's just as painfully slow, even on class 6 sdhc.

Once installed, and with mount options like noatime enabled, it's fine for everyday applications.

[dixquatre]

I've just try a full install on a USB but I must be missing something because it hangs during boot just after detecting the USB Mass Storage it's install on.

Do I need to change come configuration for it to boot properly?

I'm using fedora 11 - 64
The usb is configure as 3 partitions

/boot (200mb ext2)
/ (about 6G ext2)
swap (256mb)
the rest will be fat or ntfs to share data

Thanks for you help!!!

Matt

[AntMan]

I've just try a full install on a USB but I must be missing something because it hangs during boot just after detecting the USB Mass Storage it's install on.

Do I need to change come configuration for it to boot properly?

I'm using fedora 11 - 64
The usb is configure as 3 partitions

/boot (200mb ext2)
/ (about 6G ext2)
swap (256mb)
the rest will be fat or ntfs to share data

Thanks for you help!!!

Matt

You may want to start a new thread with a summary of your problem in the subject line so your plea for assistance isn't missed by anyone that could help (it's kinda buried in this thread).

[apirdy]

This will probably not help, but I have heard that it is not advisable to put a swap partition on a flash drive, because it will a) be much slower, and b) wear out your drive quickly. Since it is on a separate partition I don't know that your drive will be able to spread the reads and writes evenly as well. Just a suggestion
-xander

[DZ*]

This will probably not help, but I have heard that it is not advisable to put a swap partition on a flash drive, because it will a) be much slower, and b) wear out your drive quickly. Since it is on a separate partition I don't know that your drive will be able to spread the reads and writes evenly as well. Just a suggestion
-xander

I don't think this is a concern. Wear leveling will switch blocks between partitions, consequently a partition with a heaviest write rate will age at the same rate as any other partition. I don't even bother disabling a journal. For the "inferior" MLC technology, "a 10,000 write cycle endurance would enable customers to completely write and erase the entire contents once per day for 27 years, well beyond the life of the hardware." (http://www.kingston.com/products/DMTechGuide.pdf). Even if this estimate is too optimistic, I'm not going to worry too much about a stick wear.