We learned about LIVE CDs in our last post here on noob2geek. When you really think about it, very few people use CDs these days with the price of DVD media so low. To add to that, changes in LIVE CD are not persistent. That is, when you shut the system, all the changes you made are lost and you have to re-do them the next time you start the system. Then there’s the cost of the CDs and the time it takes to burn a CD. The easy way out? Use LIVE USB drives.
LIVE USB Drives are similar to LIVE CDs. You can boot a distribution from a LIVE USB and use it to your liking. Once your work is over, just switch it off and take the USB drive out. The added advantages here are the ability to save any changes you make to the system on the USB drive itself.
We will consider making an Ubuntu LIVE USB in this tutorial. All you will need is,
- A computer running windows.
- A pen-drive (USB drive) with ideally 2GB or more space.
- Ubuntu LIVE CD Image
- The LIVE USB Creator Tool for Ubuntu from Pendrive Linux.
There are a multitude of ways to achieve this, but we will go with the easiest way. Obtain Ubuntu image from the official website. If you are low on your bandwidth you can also order a free CD. If you download the image, download the LIVE image and not the alternate one.
Next, download the LIVE USB creator tool for windows from Pendrive Linux. Just run the script and follow the on-screen instructions. Once the script has finished executing, you will have your very own LIVE Ubuntu.
Now, restart your computer, make sure your first boot device is set to USB HDD or USB Drive (depending on your BIOS). Soon you will be greeted by Ubuntu splash screen. Any changes you make on this system will be saved on the drive. Changes like installation of new applications or just a new wallpaper. You will have your very own personalized portable operating system with you!
nice info. But is it possible to make two drives on the pen drive and use one of them for ubuntu live?
[...] expressed the need to boot multiple distributions from single USB drive upon reading the post about LIVE Ubuntu USB. To all of you, here is a way to boot into multiple ISO images from a single USB [...]
@aniket — yes it is possible — look for linux based instrcutions on pendrive linux … but I dont think from windows coz windows as a _feature_ detects only one partition on flash drives… this can be good though … keep ur data on partition 1 and live usb on parition 2 … will help you keep windows from tampering ur liveusb
@aniket:
The Ubuntu Live CD/USB also has the USB Creator Tool
1) Boot from a Live CD/USB (not the one you want to partition).
2) Next start gparted inside ubuntu and repartition the drive in to two partitions (this step is advanced and if you mess it, you could end up formatting your main harddisk)
3) After you have made created two partitions on the drive start the USB Creator Tool in ubuntu.
4) Select the second partition from the USB drive for installtion of ubutnu.