Kubuntu installed size

[Pherule]

Can't find my last thread, since the forum just got borked.

Anyway, I'm trying to find out the size of Kubuntu when it is installed with all features enabled. Thinking of installing it on a flash drive, but unsure as to whether the flash drive is large enough (8GB).

 

[stillblue]

Can't find my last thread, since the forum just got borked.

Anyway, I'm trying to find out the size of Kubuntu when it is installed with all features enabled. Thinking of installing it on a flash drive, but unsure as to whether the flash drive is large enough (8GB).

More than enough, recommended minimum is 4GB. When installing be sure to add space for saving to disk(stored in extra space), it's an option during the install along with which USB and which ISO. This allows you to keep settings that you change or add programs.

 

[Pherule]

More than enough, recommended minimum is 4GB. When installing be sure to add space for saving to disk(stored in extra space), it's an option during the install along with which USB and which ISO. This allows you to keep settings that you change or add programs.

So should I allot the entire remainder of the drive the saving to disk? (Assuming I'm planning on keeping some of my own custom files on the disk too, such as LibreOffice saves, some music, and perhaps Wine with a game or two.)

 

[stillblue]

More than enough, recommended minimum is 4GB. When installing be sure to add space for saving to disk(stored in extra space), it's an option during the install along with which USB and which ISO. This allows you to keep settings that you change or add programs.

So should I allot the entire remainder of the drive the saving to disk? (Assuming I'm planning on keeping some of my own custom files on the disk too, such as LibreOffice saves, some music, and perhaps Wine with a game or two.)

You can if you want, I usually reserve just over a gig as I can't imagine putting that much more on the flash.

 

[Pherule]

Yes, but what is the gig of reserved space for? Isn't it the same thing? I'm having trouble understanding what the difference between reserved space and space allocated to be used by the system.

On a normal hard drive, the system can use the entire disk, even if it's a 1TB HDD, it's just that it doesn't, it only uses as much as it needs. Again, what is the difference between allocated space and reserved space?

 

[stillblue]

Yes, but what is the gig of reserved space for? Isn't it the same thing? I'm having trouble understanding what the difference between reserved space and space allocated to be used by the system.

On a normal hard drive, the system can use the entire disk, even if it's a 1TB HDD, it's just that it doesn't, it only uses as much as it needs. Again, what is the difference between allocated space and reserved space?

The space is used by your live copy and only your live copy. It is used for remembering settings, new software and any files you save to it. It can't be opened by other systems so if you save a file there to retrieve it you must start the live copy and then transfer it. So, if you intend to use the whole flash that's fine but you can't easily use it to transport other files. However, if you don't use the entire flash then you can use the unused part as a normal flash drive.

 

[Pherule]

I'm not planning on using a live copy. I'm planning on installing the OS onto the flash drive as if it were a hard drive.

 

[skittle]

I'm not planning on using a live copy. I'm planning on installing the OS onto the flash drive as if it were a hard drive.

Thats usually not a good idea unless you want to kill your flash drive. There is a very good reason that 'ufs/aufs' and 'casper-rw' filesystems exist.
Basically just boot using the kubuntu live image and write changes to the casper-rw file which can be stored in ram until it needs to be written to the disk.

 

[Pherule]

That will be great and all, until there is an unexpected power failure (quite common over here) and all data in memory is lost.

Anyway, turns out I went and downloaded OpenSUSE instead of Kubuntu. Will OpenSUSE work on the 8GB USB drive? Kubuntu image is 900MB. OpenSUSE image is over 4GB.

 

[skittle]

That will be great and all, until there is an unexpected power failure (quite common over here) and all data in memory is lost.

Anyway, turns out I went and downloaded OpenSUSE instead of Kubuntu. Will OpenSUSE work on the 8GB USB drive? Kubuntu image is 900MB. OpenSUSE image is over 4GB.

remember that the iso images are compressed quite heavily. Unlikely that you will have enough space for full openSUSE installation.
I still would recommend booting using a 'frugal' installation (look at puppy-linux or slax) or using casper type filesystem. If you are worried about data loss, simply periodically write changes to your disk.

That said, there is nothing really stopping you from installing kubuntu to a flash drive

 

[Pherule]

Well I do have a 32GB flash drive (USB 3 too) but I'm using it as a backup drive, so I'd have to buy another one. I assume OpenSUSE will work on 32GB.