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I would like to not only install an Ubuntu edition from a USB, but keep the OS on the USB drive all the time. The idea is to have my private OS on my work laptop. This OS will be run only on this very laptop, so hardware won't change. I'll use Office apps (probably Libre), FreeCad, Subversion and some software development IDEs. The corresponding data will be saved on the USB drive as well. I would like to know if anyone has experience with that kind of OS storage, and if there is a recognizable lack of performance or stability.

karel
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krouch
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  • You also have to enable usb persistance. See https://wiki.ubuntu.com/LiveUsbPendrivePersistent – Ron Aug 27 '15 at 07:03
  • I've tried installing Ubuntu on USB and it would hang from time to time. USB speed is slow. If you intend on using portable medium , just use external hdd – Sergiy Kolodyazhnyy Aug 27 '15 at 07:11

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I did this recently with a SSD in a USB 3.0 housing and it worked very well on a USB 3.0 port of a Lenovo S1 Yoga. I tested it with a USB 3.0 64GB key and it was not that smooth. Running it from USB 2.0 is too slow to work with. I also tested it with Win 8.1 and Office - no problem like an internal HDD.

One thing: I could not install an anti virus scanner on win using the SSD in the case, with the USB Key it was not an issue. Error was; Need to be installed on a HDD. Probably that would not occur under Linux, just FYI.

ulros
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  • May I ask, what kind of programs u were using? – krouch Aug 27 '15 at 07:03
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    For the Linux it was a live version and to install win I used WINTOUSB. – ulros Aug 27 '15 at 07:05
  • You can use UNetbootin, it allows you to create bootable Live USB drives for Ubuntu and other Linux distributions without burning a CD. – ulros Aug 27 '15 at 07:18
  • This is not what I meant. I mean what kind of programs have you worked with, like LibreOffice, Cad-tools or any kind of software development ide? – krouch Aug 27 '15 at 07:21
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    Oh sorry, I used Libre Office and browsers. On Win I used Office. In fact I installed Ubuntu 14.04 LTS and unfortunately I need Win 8.1 plus MS Office at work. So I have more experience in booting and working with the latter. Performance on an external SSD is really good. Hope it helps. – ulros Aug 27 '15 at 07:28
  • I utmost definitely won't use an external SSD, mainly because of spacial reasons, instead I plan to use a Scandisk slim fit stick. Reading speed is set at 130MBps, I am not aware of external SSD that outperform this significantly.(maybe Samsung, but they are not on the table for me) – krouch Aug 27 '15 at 11:15