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I can't really find any information about how the computers specs affect the speed of a persistent usb system.

My plan: Run ubuntu 20.04 from persistent usb, because it sounds fun, but install windows 10 on the computer. I also want to add 8gb of ram to the existing 4gb. Is there any point to do so with me mainly using the persistent usb ubuntu?

General problem: I've been using ubuntu 18.04 installed, but I miss win10 for some university stuff. I hope finally giving some more ram will help with windows running on a useable level, but also help the persistent usb ubuntu run faster. I have no idea about the connection between the persistent usb and the computers ram. I've tried dual boot and ubuntu as a virtual machine before, but it didn't really work for me so I simply switched to ubuntu.

Thank you!

DIVBETO
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  • The speed of the USB interface is the #1 consideration when launching a LiveUSB; If your PC has a USB 3.1 port, and that port does not require a special driver, use that port with a USB 3.1 flash memory drive. A USB 3.0 port with a USB 3.0 flash memory drive is preferred to a USB 2.0 port with a USB 2.0 flash memory drive, which is preferred over a USB 1.0 port. The amount of RAM in the PC is the #1 consideration for using the Ubuntu on the LiveUSB. – K7AAY May 27 '20 at 16:02

2 Answers2

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Yes, more RAM will make a persistent live drive more responsive when running, particularly if you run it with the boot option `toram', and have the whole compressed file system in RAM.

But it may still be slow when booting. The bottleneck might be the speed of the USB drive. If you get a fast USB 3 drive (best with an SSD, but there are also some fast USB pendrives), it will be more responsive.

It is also possible with an installed system in the USB drive (installed like into an internal drive).

Links:

Installation FromUSBStick: Prerequisites

Step-wise instructions for installed system in a USB drive

help.ubuntu.com/community/mkusb

sudodus
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Ubuntu will run mostly in RAM, given enough RAM. Running in RAM is faster than running from SSD. The first time you open a program takes a few seconds the next time is almost instantaneous. Opening, (read), and saving data, (write), of course takes longer than with a fast SSD.

8GB is okay if your program data is not large and you don't open a lot of things at once. I am pretty satisfied with 24GB.

Bench marking using Unix Bench, I did not find much difference between persistent, persistent toram, Full install USB and installed to HDD systems.

Unixbench runs for Ubuntu USB2, Persistent, Persistent toram, USB3 Full Install and Installed to HDD

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C.S.Cameron
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