iB::Topic::Installing to USB as HD ?

	Damn Small Linux :: Damn Small Linux Board The DSL Forums

» Welcome Guest
[ Log In :: Register ]

Damn Small Linux Board » Damn Small Linux » USB booting » Installing to USB as HD ?

		Mini-ITX Boards Sale, Fanless BareBones Mini-ITX, Bootable 1G DSL USBs, 533MHz Fanless PC <-- SALE $200 each!
		Get The Official Damn Small Linux Book. DSL Market , Great VPS hosting provided by Tektonic

[ Track this topic :: Email this topic :: Print this topic ]

Topic: Installing to USB as HD ?, Can I use the usb as a hd?

< Next Oldest | Next Newest >

vishnu

Group: Members
Posts: 3
Joined: Mar. 2006

Posted: Aug. 18 2006,09:16

Right now i am using dsl-n, but i guess its the same for dsl.

I have a 1gb usb stick i want to install dsl to, but im not sure how to set it up the way i want.

I want to boot from the usb, have the filesystem as a regular write-enabled system (do i need ramdisk?) so that if i install a package, it's not reset when i reboot.

I'm going to use it on different computers, so i still want "livecd" features like scanning for hardware etc.

now, to my question, do i "install to usb stick" or "install to hd" ?

(or something in between?)

mikshaw

Group: Members
Posts: 4856
Joined: July 2004

Posted: Aug. 18 2006,12:30

I suppose you could "install to hd", but I don't recommend it at all. You will kill your stick very quickly using it this way. A harddrive installed linux is constantly writing to its filesystem, and the stick is not made to accomodate that.

--------------
http://www.tldp.org/LDP/intro-linux/html/index.html

xkill

Group: Members
Posts: 4
Joined: Aug. 2006

Posted: Aug. 20 2006,08:59

I've had the same thoughts too. How can I manage then to have a write-enabled filesystem on an usb-stick without reset at reboot?

humpty

Group: Members
Posts: 655
Joined: Sep. 2005

Posted: Aug. 23 2006,23:16

vishnu, xkill,
I'm told that boot code 'frugal' makes the partition write-enabled for user dsl (although I don't have this problem as I seperate the knoppix partition).

True, a usb-stick (frugal) install will reload/remount all your dsl apps at every boot. Some parts of the O.S are also
reloaded to ram and other parts can be overwritten by ram substitute. Files that you need to save will be automatically backed up to backup.tar.gz, again reloaded at every boot. The rest of system is a fresh copy at every boot. To some of us, this is a dream come true, the OS never gets corrupted with traditional installs or general use.

So I ask you, Is there a good reason why you need to save everything permanently on hard disk? I've seen some pretty good reasons on this forum in the past, but I've a feeling your's is not one of them.

3 replies since Aug. 18 2006,09:16

< Next Oldest | Next Newest >

[ Track this topic :: Email this topic :: Print this topic ]

Damn Small Linux Board » Damn Small Linux » USB booting » Installing to USB as HD ?