Persistence on usb

Forum: USB booting
Topic: Persistence on usb
started by: kemalcakmak

Posted by kemalcakmak on Feb. 05 2007,00:21

Hi,

i have successfully installed a dsl on an usb pen (Two partitions FAT 800 MB and EXT2 1200MB).

My second step is to install jre 1.5 and on every boot (without entering dsl home=sdb2) load the paths and launch my java app automatically.

My problem is, I try to install jre as a mydsl extension on the second partition (sda2) everything went ok. But even if i follow the steps described at the < persistence wiki-chapter > nothing is restored on the next boot! When I select on booting 'F2, then dsl home=/dev/sda2' the XServer doesnt starts!

Could someone describe the necessary steps for a beginner?

After a long time struggle with this Im really distressed.

Thanks, kemal

Posted by ^thehatsrule^ on Feb. 05 2007,02:00

try home=sda2 (follow by example)

Posted by kemalcakmak on Feb. 05 2007,08:14

tried also, doesnt help. Is it reliable that I could use an usb partition? what can ensure the name sda2 ? Must I every time enter the home=sdxxx ?

Posted by ^thehatsrule^ on Feb. 05 2007,14:29

If you use a whole partition, make sure it is formatted (ext2) and empty. Yes, you can enter it every time you want to use it like that.

Posted by kemalcakmak on Feb. 05 2007,15:35

Its already formated (ext2) and empty. Even the created folders disappear after reboot. May I made something essential wrong as a newbie.

Posted by ^thehatsrule^ on Feb. 05 2007,19:56

Also make sure you aren't trying to use that partition for something else (other than home= )

Posted by kemalcakmak on Feb. 06 2007,10:33

may its impressive that the dsl developpers accomplished a small footprint and so on...

But really annoying that there is no reasonably description how to create a persistent second drive to even doing essential file saving etc!!

No, i leave this vain effort. Wish you luck in your community and damned operating system.

Posted by roberts on Feb. 06 2007,13:31

Persistence on flash devices is an oxymoron as doing so would surely hasten it end of life. Not that is not possible, but I would not even attempt such an endeavor without changing to a flash friendly filesystem.

Not every conceivable boot option is compatible with each other - some thinking is required. Usually your solution is to reduce complexity.

Posted by eydaimon on Feb. 06 2007,20:55

Quote (roberts @ Feb. 06 2007,08:31)

By that same argument, noone should actually use their flash drives, because it will contribute to it's end of life, as you say. What kindof lifespan are we talking about here? is it really so bad?

Posted by roberts on Feb. 06 2007,23:35

Using as a super floppy, i.e., tar backup/restore is by far easier on flash then any part of a live filesystem.

There are many articles about NAND and NOR style flash memory devices and how inefficent they are for general filesystem usage. That is why special filesystems, JFFS and JFFS2 are made to spread of the wites and therefore the life of a flash device.

Still my experiences with these are they are very slow.

When using flash with traditional filesytem, I have heard of one user who's flash died after one month of usage

Don't take my word for it. Do your homework and draw your own conclusions.

Since DSL is a general use distro and not a specialized flash distro, I will continue to recommend flash only as a super floppy/tape drive storage media and or a random access read-only device. Perfect for DSL frugal type installations.

I don't like to see posts that DSL killed by pendrive, because they decided to use flash for a traditional or frugal hybrid, (persistence) installation. For it is this, that prompts to me, to respond to these posts.