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Forgive the rookie question but still fairly new to Linux land. I'm trying to create a "self contained" Ubuntu 20.04 installation on a 64GB USB Stick. Summary Below:

  • All of the bare metal that I will be using has capacity 16gig RAM, My understanding is I don't need the Swap partition?
  • FAT32 Partition? (What size to allocate & why)
  • EXT4 Partition? (What size to allocate & why)
  • I've been trying to install the full Ubuntu 20.04 on the same USB as I'm running Ubuntu Live (demo) without success. I presume this can't be done as it is mounted at the time? i.e you need 2 USB sticks, one with live running (to access G-Parted) the other the target (new full install)?
  • I don't want to see any of the storage media on the host machine when booting from USB (20.04) i.e. OS and storage all contained on the USB. A fully isolated system.

Thanks in advance

Cheers NewB

Nu2buntu
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    I typically use 100MB for ESP - efi system partition as FAT32. I sometimes just use rest as / (root) and sometimes allocate 20 to 25GB as / and rest as a data partition. It may depend on how many applications or how much data you want to install.Posted work around to manually unmount & mount correct ESP during install #23 & #26 https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/ubiquity/+bug/1396379 Similar: https://askubuntu.com/questions/1296065/dual-booting-w10-ubuntu-with-2-separate-ssds-in-uefi-mode/1296153#1296153 – oldfred Mar 09 '21 at 22:47

1 Answers1

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Partition sizing - Ubuntu 20.04 USB Full Install

Charles Green's recommendation, Easy Full Install USB that Boots both BIOS and UEFI, is a good starting point. It is quick, easy and easily modified.

After flashing the USB you can use GParted from a Live Ubuntu USB to stretch the root partition to about 40GB and fill the remaining space with NTFS or FAT32 data partition. A swapfile is built in.

In answer to your question about installing to the installer Live USB see: Can Ubuntu be installed to the pendrive it was booted from? . The same principle using toram can be used to create the above USB.

If you prefer creating your full install USB from scratch see: How to Create a Full Install of Ubuntu 20.04 to USB Device Step by Step

C.S.Cameron
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  • Cheers much appreciated – Nu2buntu Mar 10 '21 at 04:17
  • @Nu2buntu: If this works for you please click the check in the upper left corner of that answer to accept. This will let others with the same question know it works. – C.S.Cameron Mar 10 '21 at 04:33
  • Ok after a week of going round in circles I'm more confused than ever. I updated my main pc to Ubuntu 20.04, then created a live Ubuntu USB, booted that then created a full ubuntu boot usb from the live usb using the Install Ubuntu button. Now neither USB will boot (live or full version) and I've stuffed the bootloader on the PC. BIOS F2 only shows Ubuntu on SATA drive as the boot option. The same thing happen on the laptop (Win 10 OS) and was easily fixed by changing boot priority in BIOS. – Nu2buntu Mar 14 '21 at 02:57
  • @Nu2buntu: Quite often the problem is the bootloader being installed in the wrong place. Did you use the Something else install option so you would not overwrite your HDD? I would recommend the first link I show above: https://askubuntu.com/questions/1300454/easy-full-install-usb-that-boots-both-bios-and-uefi as it creates a clone of a working, tested, Full install USB. You might also try your USB on a different computer. – C.S.Cameron Mar 14 '21 at 03:54
  • Yes I made sure I used something else and didn't overwrite the HDD. I managed to fix the problem on the PC (always been an Ubuntu machine) by downloading & running Boot Repair tool. Correction to my earlier post, the full usb version was able to boot but very slowly and that's how I was able to boot to sda HDD and the "normal" image. Thanks for all you help, Still not sure why the bootloader ends up in the wrong place though? – Nu2buntu Mar 14 '21 at 04:48
  • So now is the main problem that the sda HDD is not able to boot without the USB? – C.S.Cameron Mar 14 '21 at 04:55