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some of the modules in my university require us to install Ubuntu and I was wondering if it'd be possible to install it's own SSD to move between my laptop, PC at home, and campus desktops as needed, instead of having to transfer around files whenever I need them.

Would this be viable/smart/have any issues? I'm fine with installing it as a dualboot onto my machines, but the versatility and ease-of-use of having it as a separate drive seemed interesting to me.

Shane Doherty
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  • Yes, it is possible and worthwhile :-) See for example this link and links from it. – sudodus Oct 02 '20 at 14:22
  • A drive is a drive. best to have an install that will boot in BIOS and in UEFI modes. https://askubuntu.com/questions/1217832/how-to-create-a-full-install-of-ubuntu-20-04-to-usb-device-step-by-step. – C.S.Cameron Oct 02 '20 at 14:46
  • What you're looking for is a "Live USB with persistent storage". – waltinator Oct 02 '20 at 15:39
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    A Full install has advantages over a Persistent install such as stability and upgradeability, and if made bootable both BIOS and UEFI, it can also be swapped between machines. see sudodus link above. – C.S.Cameron Oct 03 '20 at 05:15

2 Answers2

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Creating a Full install Ubuntu SSD from a Prebuilt Image File

(Password is "changeme", change it),

The SSD should boot on almost any modern X86 computer.

Thanks to sudodus for the image file.

In Windows it may be necessary to install 7Zip before proceeding. Rufus will use it when working with the .xz image: https://www.7-zip.org/a/7z1900-x64.exe

C.S.Cameron
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Yes, it is completely possible. Assuming that you have created a bootable USB, you will need a minimum 8GB+ drive, plug in the USB and boot your computer from the USB. Now you’re in the Ubuntu Live system, plug in the 8GB+ USB stick. Then launch Gparted from the Unity Dash.

In the top-right drop-down box select the USB drive (16GB in my case), and you should see something like below:select USB stick

I have two USB flash drives plugged in the computer, the Hard Disk is /dev/sda, 4GB Live USB is /dev/sdb, and the 16GB USB drive is /dev/sdc.

From the right-click context menu, un-mount partitions on the USB drive and then delete them. Click the green checkmark button to apply changes, finally, you have an unallocated flash drive, like: USB stick deleted clear green chechmark When done close Gparted partition manager.

Click the desktop shortcut “Install Ubuntu” to bring up the Ubuntu installation wizard.

Follow the wizard until it asks you to choose where to install Ubuntu. Select the last option “Something else” and click Continue to bring up partition table. something else

In the partition table, scroll down and highlight the “free space” under the USB drive (/dev/sdc in the case) and click the plus sign to create below partitions one by one:

A FAT32 (or fat16) partition (required)

  • must be /dev/sdc1 (or sdX1)

  • mount point /NAME_HERE (/UDISK in the case) set the memory size by yourself, it can be used for normal data storage. leave others default.

A EXT4 partition for Ubuntu (required)

  • mount point “/” (without quotes)

  • memory size 5G+

  • leave others default.

A swap partition (optional).

  • You can skip this if RAM is large enough and you don’t need hibernation feature. And very important is select install boot-loader to the USB flash drive (/dev/sdc in the case). partition table

When everything’s done, click Install Now and confirm to format the partitions (Pay attention on which partitions to be formatted).format partition

Click continue and finish the wizard. Once the installation complete, restart your computer and boot with the ‘Ubuntu To Go’ USB drive. Hope this works for you.

Jonathan Jobby
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