Linux USB / External Drive Booting

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dhamiltongrey

dhamiltongrey

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Oct 2, 2014
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Good morning,

I was wondering if its possible to boot linux from a USB drive/External Drive- i dont want to do a dual boot, ive had nothing but problems doing dual boots in the past so would prefer to have it on a large usb drive or an external drive instead.. so i can select it from F11 at startup.. my desktop is full of harddrives that i cant do without so its no an option to use another harddrive..

Kind Regards
Dave
 
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skittle


Yes, the Linux kernel has drivers for almost any hardware you can imagine. You can move the USB drive to pretty much any PC without...
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TheDualshock

TheDualshock

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Jan 24, 2014
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Yes you can boot from a USB drive/CD or external drive. You need to have the USB formatted as NFTS then transfer a Linux ISO onto it. Then when you turn your computer, go into Boot Menu and select the USB drive. Most Linuxes distributions don't need to be installed and can be used as LiveCDs.
 
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dhamiltongrey

dhamiltongrey

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Oct 2, 2014
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Thank you.. ive recently bought a 32gig flash drive, im assuming that will be more than sufficient for a linux installation.. another question, if i stick the usb into my laptop which is a totally different cpu/gpu configuration will i still be able to run the linux on the flashdrive or will it not recognise the different configurations.. be great to be able to take my os wherever i go and run it on any pc..
 
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dhamiltongrey

dhamiltongrey

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Oct 2, 2014
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Thank you.. will get cracking with this on monday evening.. been using windows for far too long.. want to start using linux again
 
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O

oo7vin

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Oct 21, 2013
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There are two ways of doing a dual boot. One is to install linux side by side with windows and choose what os you want from the linux grub.
2 is install linux with windows hhd unplugged. Then when you boot (turn it on) press F8 or F12 or what ever your system says to go to
the boot loader and choose which one you want to boot to.
 
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skittle

skittle

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Dec 27, 2006
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Yes, the Linux kernel has drivers for almost any hardware you can imagine. You can move the USB drive to pretty much any PC without issue.
However recommend distrobution that is designed for this use like the mentioned ones above. They are designed to run from RAM and reduce wear on your flash drive. I use AlphaOS.
Porteus is probably the easiest to get up and running.
 
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