Install linux on a USB disk

From Linuxintro

Modern computers can boot from USB storage like disks and sticks. This article shows how to install Linux on a USB disk so that you can boot from it. It lists 3 approaches:

approach time to succeed remarks
Unetbootin ? works with all distributions supported by unetbootin
Knoppix 10 min only works with Knoppix
SUSE Studio 1 hour only works with SUSE distros
Cloning-approach 2 hours work with almost all distributions


the unetbootin approach

Download unetbootin from http://unetbootin.sourceforge.net. Start it and select which distribution you want to have installed on what disk.

the knoppix approach

Boot your system from knoppix, then open a console and enter 

flash-knoppix

Then select a harddisk or a USB Flash drive. This will be made boot Knoppix.

additional information

Make sure you have a graphical display. This installer will give a lot more messages than the text-based installer.

TroubleShooting

  • Your USB Flash drive must be vfat-formatted. Otherwise, flash-knoppix will not work.

the SUSE Studio approach

Go to www.susestudio.com. Choose your favorite SUSE, add packages as you like. Tell the web site to build a USB stick from it. Download the image and put it onto your USB stick.

For example, if your USB stick is /dev/sdh, use something like 

dd if=usbstick.i686-0.0.1.raw of=/dev/sdh

Hey, stuble must be your middle name. Great post!

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