Do I need to install ubuntu on my hard drive?

Question

I would like to just run it off of a USB, but after restarting my computer, it has reset ubuntu on the USB.

Answer 1

The installer .iso is read-only. When you create a LiveUSB, the "Try Ubuntu" environment exists only in RAM - the USB portion you need at rebooting is read-only. So all your changes are lost at reboot.

• The purpose of the "Try Ubuntu" environment is to test Ubuntu's compatibility with your hardware and to see if you like the Desktop Environment before committing to an install.

You can re-make your LiveUSB with persistence. Then a limited number of changes will be kept. Many folks find this a convenient option.

Alternately, you can do a full install of Ubuntu to a USB stick. A USB 3.0 stick and 3.0 USB ports are recommended - USB 1.1 and 2.0 hardware is slower and may cause annoying lag.

Answer 2

If you do not need this USB to install Ubuntu...

Consider doing a Full install to USB, It does not suffer from the irritating 20.04 disk check problem when booting.

A Full install USB and a Persistent install USB both save data and installed programs after reboot.

Comparison between Persistent and Full install USB

Advantages of a persistent install:

1) You can use the persistent pendrive to install Ubuntu to another computer.

2) A persistent install takes up less space on the pendrive.

3) You can reset the pendrive by overwriting the old casper-rw file with a new one.

4) The install to pendrive takes less time.

Advantages of a Full install:

1) You can update and upgrade.

2) If you have problems or wish to modify, the solution is the same as with an internal install, (You can ask for help in these forums).

3) No ugly startup / install screen.

4) Better security, you can use full encryption

5) You can use proprietary drivers.

6) Hibernation is possible.

7) A persistent install is limited to a 4GB casper-rw and a 4GB home-rw persistence file, to get more persistence requires persistence partitions. Once casper-rw is full, the drive will not boot.

8) More efficient usage of disk space. Does not require reserved space for persistence.

9) Faster boot, no automatic disk checking or Try Ubuntu/Install Ubuntu screen.

10) You can run VBox and use virtual machines.

Note that once booted, both methods run at about the same speed.

Full Install Method

One method for creating a Full install USB: How to Create a Full Install of Ubuntu 20.04 to USB Device Step by Step