USB booting :: USBHDD Install loses data



Hey all,

I just stumbled across this site a few days ago and decided to install this awesome distro on a 256mb HP pendrive I had laying about.

The problem I'm having is, when I boot off USB into DSL and start to do anything.. for example I setup my mail accounts, change X's resolution, make a text document and save it in my homedir. Once I have done this I shutdown/reboot and next time I boot up the pendrive everything is lost, its all back to defaults, all my mail accounts/created files are gone.

I have tried the usb boot/embedded combo ( http://damnsmalllinux.org/cgi-bin....t=12762 ) and when I run DSL through qemu everything works fine, I can put it in another machine and all my changes are still there if I run it through qemu, but using the same stick if I boot via USB its all back to defaults. Reboot to Windows and launch qemu and everything is back how I left it??

I hope this makes sense, I cant quite work out how to abbreviate the problem.. ;)

I have tried 2.3 and 2.4RC1 USBHDD only and also usbhdd+embed.

embed qemu works flawlessly and stores data as it should
usb boot works flawlessly but forgets everything I do and loses any changes/files i make.


Thanks in advance,
-Andrew
dsl-embedded has a premade 60MB virtural hard drive.
An initial backup is already on this virtual drive.
That is why your settings are saved between reboots.

The USBHDD install of DSL is native. If you use the install script provided within DSL, then a backup device of sda1 should  already be setup and upon proper shutdown settiings will persist.

However these two systems do not share the same backup device.
If you search and or read the embedded section you will see how to share a common backup using various boot options.

At the same time, the Qemu project keeps advancing and now there may be other means to share a common backup. Some of the other forum members are more versed in advanced Qemu setups that I.

You can check that an automatic backup will occur by using the DSLpanel Backup/Restore and see that it is populated with sda1 or appropriate device name for your pendrive. You can click the backup button and then see that the backup is indeed there.

Hope this helps. Running DSL inside a virtual machine, on top of another OS can be a challenge.
Yeah, I had a play this morning (Was super tired last night) and have gotten it all working a little better now, though not sharing the same backup yet. Thats the next hurdle I guess ;)

Thanks for the info! :)

original here.