Years ago when I first started examining if you could in fact run an entire OS off a single USB stick (meaning not external hard drive), you could with “biz card” sized Linux distributions such as Damn Small Linux and Puppy Linux. These distros are still available today and still actively developed. The reason people chose these over full-sized distros is because USB stick were expensive back then.

Today however a 4GB still can be had for well under $20. In fact you can even pick them up in Wal-Mart for around $16. Times have changed for the better.

So now the question is, can you install run a full Linux distro off a USB stick?

Yes. There are a few drawbacks and I’ll address those later. First, the method.

Requirements:

1. One 4GB or greater USB stick. Using Ubuntu as an example, that distro requires just over 2GB for a standard install, so a 2GB stick is not enough. And if you try to install to a 2GB it won’t allow it. So you need a minimum of 4GB.
2. A PC or laptop that can boot from USB. More or less all PCs (even Dells) from 2005 to present can do this. You should be able to set your first boot device as USB in your BIOS.
3. A Linux distro on a bootable CD. You’ll need this to install the distro to the stick.

The way it’s done:

1. Go into the BIOS and set your first boot device as USB, then save.
2. Shut down the PC and unplug it.
3. Open the case.
4. Physically disconnect the hard drive from the motherboard. I do this on purpose so Linux absolutely will not “see” the drive. Even if you disable the drive in the BIOS, Linux will still “see” it on install, so unplug it. Better safe than sorry.
5. Plug in the USB stick to the PC.
6. Boot the computer from the Linux CD.
7. Install Linux. The installer program will see the USB stick as the only “drive” in the system. You can go ahead and have it partition the whole thing since you unplugged your other hard drive.
8. Once finished, reboot. You should have your full distro of Linux complete on the USB stick.
9. Shut down the PC and reconnect the hard drive then close up the case. When you want to boot back into another OS such as Windows, shut down, unplug the USB stick and boot normally.

And that’s basically it.

Pros

You essentially have a dual-boot system without the need for any primary hard drive partitioning whatsoever since Linux is completely on the stick.

If your primary hard drive fails, you have a full OS at the ready on the stick that can be booted to at any time.

Cons

The Linux you installed on the stick is specifically for the computer you installed it on. It’s not “portable” like the biz card distros are.

USB 2.0 is obviously slower than a hard drive. While it’s true Linux is speedy, you are choking it by using a significantly slower file transfer method for OS functions.

USB sticks do not have a life span as long as hard drives do. If one were to use this method for daily use, it’s a good bet you’ll only get 3 years out of it. And yes this is a guess. Maybe it will last longer. Maybe not.

Quick questions and answers

What happens if I plug in the USB stick while Windows is running?

Nothing really. You’ll get a window that pops up showing the boot files or a message stating Windows can’t read the stick because it’s in a format (e.g. ext3) Windows doesn’t understand.

Will the Linux I run off the stick truly act as if it were run from a hard drive?

Yes.

Is Linux more prone to crashing by being installed on a USB stick?

Possibly. It depends how many apps and processes you have running while the OS is in use. All you have to remember is not to run too many apps at once and you should be fine.

Will Linux run very slow off USB?

Only on initial launch of an app. For example, when you launch the Firefox browser, Linux off a USB stick will “think” about it for a few moments, then run. But once running you’d be hard pressed to tell the difference between it running off USB versus a traditional hard drive.

Is there anything I should watch out for when running Linux this way?

The only thing you have to watch for is running out of space. It’s very easy to get app-happy in Linux and install a bunch of stuff without thinking about it. Keep an eye on the space you have left and you won’t have a problem. Or better yet, try to use internet-based apps only like Google Docs, Gmail, Hotmail and so on.

Can I transfer stuff I download to the hard drive while in Linux on USB?

Yes. You can mount the hard drive while in the OS and push all your downloaded files to it if you wish. Just bear in mind this is one-way style of transfer. You can push from Linux to Windows, but not from Windows to Linux. It’s basically the same as if you were running a dual-boot with Windows on NTFS and Linux on ext3. And you should use the ext3 journalized file system for Linux which is the default choice on install.

So now you have another way of using Linux on the cheap. Just grab a 4GB stick and give it a go.

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