What changes should I make to an Ubuntu that runs from a USB flash drive?

I'm considering running my laptop from a USB flash drive. The system would be one of the Ubuntu family.

What should I do to ensure that the USB flash drive lasts as long as possible?
What can I do to improve system performance?

Georg Schölly

Posted 2009-11-08T20:24:15.540

Reputation: 1 146

Answers

Don't put the swap partition on the Flash Drive. You'll wear it out in no time.
Try using Xubuntu. Xubuntu uses the Xfce window manager which is less resource intensive than GNOME or KDE.
Disable autosaving.
Disable creating backup copies of files.
This one is an unlikely option but: Get more RAM.

Everything you can do to reduce the amount of disk access will help if you are running from a flash drive (in both performance and flash drive life).

However, while you can run an OS from a flash drive, I would advise against it. They really aren't designed for this. You'll significantly impair both the life of your flash drive, and the performance of your PC.

Macha

Posted 2009-11-08T20:24:15.540

Reputation: 4 772

1Have you got any numbers regarding how fast swap will kill the flash drive? Apple, for example, even ships MacBooks with an SSD built-in. It seems like today it's possible to run a system of an SSD. – Georg Schölly – 2009-11-10T16:27:37.817

Easy Peasy is a customized Ubuntu for netbooks. You can basically turn your USB drive into a LiveCD.

I agree with Macha's suggestion not to put swap on the USB drive.

CarlF

Posted 2009-11-08T20:24:15.540

Reputation: 8 576