Booting Linux from a USB Memory Stick

Linux on a Stick

Article from Issue 51/2005
Author(s):

Everyone knows you can boot Linux from a live CD,but have you thought about putting Linux on a compact and highly portable USB memory stick?

Abootable “live” CD like Knoppix [1] or Kanotix [2] gives the user a fully portable operating environment. You can carry your system with you and boot it from anywhere. Your tools, your files, and your workspace will follow you wherever you go – even to another PC with a different operating system. Live CDs are also used by system administrators for troubleshooting computers that won’t boot normally. What could be more portable than a live Linux CD? What about a live Linux USB memory stick? A tiny USB memory stick is even more portable, and often more durable, than a CD, and writing to USB memory is typically smoother and faster than the business of “burning” data to a CD.

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