Is it possible to run a laptop permanently off the live CD and never replace a damaged hard drive? if you never run any applications larger than the RAM can accommodate, and place the machine into the sleep mode after every logout so you don't have to boot up the live CD every morning. Plus religiously back things of any importance up to a humongous flash drive before the battery ever runs out. I would almost expect an improvement in performance because, isn't RAM faster than a hard drive? I'm wondering, before I spend anything on a hard drive, if I can just continue to run the live disc like a virtual volume in 4 gigs of RAM or are there risks I don't know about. I'm not cheap, just frugal.
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1yes, it's possible. It would be much better to run a live USB instead of a CD though. https://askubuntu.com/questions/397481/how-to-make-a-persistent-live-ubuntu-usb-with-more-than-4gb – Katu Mar 06 '18 at 16:33
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I think its difficult to "never run any applications larger than the RAM can accommodate". I mean, applications may be small themselves, but you will find its almost impossible to predict how much RAM they will consume along the way. Hence the recommendation to use a swap space on disk if your system has a small amount of RAM, like 1 or 2 GB. If your laptop has >=8 GB of RAM, then your intent is more feasible. I think a damaged hard drive in the laptop could cause unpredictable problems. I still would recommend buying a (second hand) drive. – Mar 06 '18 at 17:28
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1I would rather do a full install on a USB stick. You could have updates, save documents and turn off the computer without loosing anything. – Jean-Marie Mar 06 '18 at 18:08
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Thanks for quick responses; I was premature in posting that question; I have had all kinds of problems installing software to run on the live CD "could not open repository," could not open archive, etc. Plus, accidentally ejecting the CD when moving the laptop and having to boot it up again, losing bookmarks, etc... – Daniel McKenna Mar 08 '18 at 17:28