Live USB (reads like live USB [1] ) - a USB -connected storage medium containing an operating system with the ability to boot. Usually flash drives are used as Live USB due to the greatest compactness, but other media can be used.
It is mainly used for:
- Evaluation of new versions of operating systems by a user without installing them on a computer’s hard drive;
- data recovery and / or operability of the computer operating system;
- installing the operating system on the hard drive;
- resetting the administrator password and other actions.
Content
Comparison with Live CD
At its core, Live USB is close to a Live CD , it often differs from it only in storage media (USB drive instead of CD ). In this case, the inherited feature of Live USB is the use of special versions of operating systems that are usually designed to run on the widest possible range of compatible computers. In these versions, the ability to install software , configure and save system parameters is often absent or significantly limited. However, the OS features that are blocked on a Live CD are often available when used in the Live USB option. In addition, the loading speed of the system and applications from any modern ( 2008 ) USB flash drive is higher than with a Live CD, and the media can be used to quickly record data created during operation without connecting an additional drive. Therefore, Live USB in some cases is preferable to Live CD.
Installing a full OS
A full-fledged operating system can also be installed on a USB stick. This option is almost identical to installing on a stationary hard drive , which leads to a deterioration in portability between computers, but removes all the restrictions typical for a Live CD. With this installation method, it is necessary to take into account that the average read / write speed and the volume of flash drives are usually lower than the similar characteristics of stationary hard drives, although higher than for optical drives. However, much depends on the type of media here: in many cases, to install a full-fledged OS, they do not use a flash drive, but a USB hard drive, which practically eliminates the problem of lack of disk space.
With Live USB, you can also install the operating system on your computer’s hard drive, using it instead of a CD / DVD, if your computer does not have a disk drive.
Some operating system distributions (for example, Ubuntu or Windows) allow you to use your distributions as troubleshooting tools and install themselves on the computer at the same time. By downloading such a distribution, you can select the desired action from the menu - troubleshooting or a clean installation of the operating system.
Problems
Installation difficulty
As a rule, installing many operating system distributions on Live USB requires a number of operations, mainly related to installing the bootloader. In this regard, preparing a Live USB for work is more difficult than burning a Live CD.
There are applications that allow you to record previously created images (* .iso, * .img) of operating systems or their PE versions (PE - Preinstall Environment, a working environment without installing an OS) onto USB-flash drives. The UltraISO and Daemon Tools programs are the easiest to use and at the same time powerful tools for working with a wide range of tasks related to disk operations.
Saving changes to USB-flash
The file system during installation is often marked as read only, unless you specifically take care of being able to write.
Live session users
The presence of LSU does not allow you to block the login screen at boot, and automatically loads the default profile.
BIOS Support
Some motherboards or BIOS versions do not support booting from USB - primarily for older models. In this case, it is usually possible to bootstrap the boot diskette or boot disk and redirect it to boot the system from Live USB without the need for BIOS support for this feature. Basically, the function of loading from a USB port is supported by motherboards released after 2006, [2] however, there are also boards from earlier years of release with such a function.
Speed and Download
The read and write speeds of USB flash drives are usually low for budget models, which creates difficulties when working with the operating system and applications installed on the drive, due to the significant time spent on loading the OS, launching applications and saving data to the media.
Partition Limits
In Microsoft operating systems, USB drives are considered removable media, and there are serious restrictions on them - only one partition for the file system can be created on the media.
List of Popular Live USBs
- Slax - Live CD based on Slackware , starting with version 6.0.0, received a distribution version for creating Live USB along with the traditional Live CD.
- MiniOS - Live USB based on Mandriva (latest update 2012.05).
See also
- Live cd
Links
- Installing Linux on USB Flash Drive (Russian) - ( Syslinux is required for installation)
- Creating a DOS bootable USB drive (Eng.) ( HP Drive Key Boot Utility )
Notes
- ↑ There is an incorrect pronunciation of live u-ss-bi
- ↑ Use a Floppy to Boot USB Pendrive Linux | USB Pen Drive Linux (link not available) . Date of treatment October 7, 2008. Archived December 22, 2008.