Talk:Live USB

BIOS

Some computers, particularly older ones, may not have a BIOS that supports USB booting. In this case a computer can often be "redirected" to boot from a USB device through use of a bootable CD or floppy disk.

Does anyone have a working example of this? I have heard of this before but have never seen any specific examples. It would be great if someone could add a link to some software that does this, because at the moment it seems a little unverifiable without any specific examples. - Aug Leopold 01:57, 9 May 2007 (UTC)

Uh Plop Boot Manager? It allows you to boot usb when you boot plop, ie "redirected". — Preceding unsigned comment added by Latios (talk • contribs) 08:34, 24 July 2012 (UTC)

Pre-installed Linux

I've just removed the "Pre-installed Linux" section - ISTM that this is nothing more than a section for commercial ads?! If anyone can find a real reason for its inclusion, please feel free to add back in - though it would make sense to explain it here! Nuwewsco 21:35, 28 October 2007 (UTC)

Blatant spam. I wouldn't lose any sleep over it. Chris Cunningham 11:58, 30 October 2007 (UTC)

Table

I suggest create a table with some data: based on rpm/deb , user interface (Xfce, JWM, Fluxbox...), size, installable (or non-installable) onto harddisk and so on. --Mac (talk) 10:19, 4 March 2008 (UTC)

Ubuntu

As the subject of linux distribution superiority is very prone to emotion, I have taken the liberty of removing edits such as "Only easy to install if the OS is Ubuntu" - which ironically was referenced to a tutorial on how to get around the fact Ubuntu offers no easy USB image. (Unlike other distributions intended for USB). I have also removed the reference for "live USBs can reduce USB life cycle" because it was cited to a Ubuntu tutorial which briefly mentions it. A more appropriate citation should be found. Further more for the purposes of neutrality instead of a screenshot of Ubuntu (which is intended for hard drives but *can* be installed on a USB) I favor replacing it with a distribution that is actually intended for a USB.

Ubuntu is cancer and it's spreading all across Wikipedia. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 86.128.42.150 (talk) 23:39, 23 December 2011 (UTC)

Erikina (talk) 03:30, 7 May 2008 (UTC)

External links

A lot of stuff here is sourced to unreliable or primary sources (and some of it just points to download links). I removed these, but it's been reverted as a "mass deletion" (sigh). Planning on re-doing this, because this article shouldn't just be a list of downloads. Step one is getting rid of "references" which are merely pointers to demonstrations, or to user-generated documentation. Chris Cunningham (not at work) - talk 10:32, 7 July 2008 (UTC)

yeah, I reverted it, what is the problem with download links? if you want to add good stuff, please do it, but just don't delete usefull info, besides, much of those references are the official how-tos, I think that is a reliable reference, and regarding "user-generated documentation", that is what wikipedia is, better to have some poorly writen tutorials than nothing at all, right? I really don't think links like this one https://launchpad.net/liveusb or this http://fedoraproject.org/wiki/FedoraLiveCD/USBHowTo should be removed, they provide and example of a way to do a Live USB and they are very appropriate. Consider adding reliable sources if you find them, (which is a very good thing) but please don't just delete good and usefull stuff... 87.196.199.145 (talk) 11:17, 7 July 2008 (UTC)

They aren't appropriate at all. This isn't supposed to be a guide to using computers, it's supposed to be a descriptive resource which presents encyclopedic facts. And no, it's better to have no "poorly writen tutorials", because poorly written tutorials don't provide any benefit to the article. Please read WP:EL. I'll take care of this again on my next pass. Chris Cunningham (not at work) - talk 11:55, 7 July 2008 (UTC)

The thing about tutorials was a bad example, nevermind, but if this is supposed to be a descriptive resource which presents encyclopedic facts, then it should include the links of offical tools that can create Live USBs... right? , What is the problem with the links? what is the obsession some people have with removing GOOD links from articles? besides, this links do not fit ANY non-inclusion criteria in Wikipedia:External_links#Links_normally_to_be_avoided, none at all.... Oh, why do I even care? go ahead, just delete useful and good info that is relevant to the article... this is why I don't like to contribute to wikipedia... anyone can just come and screw most of the articles, and some editors just follow the rules like mindless "bots", in some kind of vendetta for "encyclopedic content", not to mention the "free as in freedom blah blah" extremists...

PS: While poorly writen tutorials might not benefit the article and should be replaced by better ones, links to tutorials would sure benefit the people... just think about what really matters... and please don't take offense... just think about it 87.196.212.101 (talk) 15:19, 8 July 2008 (UTC)

Poorly written instruction manuals at least establish that this is the term that's most frequently used by people in the field to describe the "live USB" concept (something that's not completely obvious). And it establishes that the concept is somewhat widespread (something that's also not obvious, particularly if it comes up for AfD). Instruction manuals may not be very reliable sources because they're not independent, but until we can find more reliable replacements, I don't think they should be removed. --Underpants (talk) 20:24, 23 July 2008 (UTC)

ULUMFW

I finally found a windows program to create Ubuntu Live USBs with persistence, ULUMFW, I thought it might be of interest to this article. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 85.241.112.158 (talk) 19:00, 15 November 2008 (UTC)

simple file manager from a usb - how ?

I found myself trying to run a simple file manager from a USB, after several linux distribution where unable to load properly on my system. I then found ultimatebootcd, which did the job, but wasn't talked about in this article (or in any other that I came a cross).

The best fit I could find for it is this article. Please advice and speak up if you have other ideas on where to talk about it. Talgalili (talk) 18:32, 7 October 2009 (UTC)

To me, it seems a good addition to this article. --SF007 (talk) 22:23, 7 October 2009 (UTC)

I don't know if I agree. The article's title is "Live USB", while "Ultimate Boot Disk" may be more appropriately placed in http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Boot_disk Submachine0 (talk) 01:42, 21 December 2009 (UTC)

Dyne:Bolic

Entry is wrong, does not boot from USB only boots from CD, they have misunderstood the docking feature explained on pages: [1] —Preceding unsigned comment added by 136.148.234.21 (talk) 14:16, 18 October 2009 (UTC)

USB Formatting Requirement

Quote

The partition must be formatted (most often in FAT32 format, but other systems can be used too)

This isn't entirely correct. UNetbootin does not format the USB drive. May I suggest the wording be rephrased to "The partition *may need to* be formatted..."? —Preceding unsigned comment added by Submachine0 (talk • contribs) 01:36, 21 December 2009 (UTC)

Core Questions

This article is the best Information source i found until now in the big Trash-container. That means I found at least some very small hints about the big secret USB-booting from PCs.
The important Questions are:

• What Data structure is it to be bootable by the Bios?:
• What kind of stages?
• What kind of File systems?

--Itu (talk) 16:09, 19 March 2010 (UTC)

Answers:

• Only the very simplest, like executing the content of a "boot sector", from a pre-defined device, like the primary device on ISA interface, or a device emulating an ISA device (like a SATA drive).
• Only the very first stage of the boot process, like reading the boot sector, and executing the code therein.
• At that time in the boot process its too early to talk about a "file system", that is also why the BIOS can boot any OS independent of its file system.

Mahjongg (talk) 00:06, 13 March 2011 (UTC)

Explanation of changes

I had not intended to remove the table that appeared at the beginning of the article. I edited content and realized on preview, there wasn't anything left on the right side. Lack of ability to write to a liveCD is not a disadvantage. On the contrary it is an advantage.

Since the USB protocol allows for multiple, stacked hubs, there will always be room to use one to write to, should a user wish to do so. For these two reasons, lack or ability to write, does not exist as a result of the medium the system is run from.

Kernel.package (talk) 00:59, 22 June 2010 (UTC)

Opportunities missed

Other storage devices Apart from the new development of USB 3.0 which should be (almost) as fast as common internal drives, I completely miss the opportunity of booting a modern PC from other storage devices like Smart Cards, Micro Drive, Smart Media Disc (other external bootable hard disk drives), or whatever they may be called. Can anyone update this and also point out the benefits (in short) in comparison to Virtual Machines (like disk speed), and the portability and enhanced privacy. Once updated, you may delete my request. Thanks. --00:11, 12 March 2011 (UTC)178.2.23.217 (talk)

To be able to boot from a USB device (whether it be a memory stick, or an external drive) even the BIOS (instead of only the OS) should support a complete USB stack!. or at least the USB mass-storage device class. That is normally beyond the capabilities of a (relatively tiny) BIOS. On most (all current) systems USB capabilities are only added after a complete OS has booted. This has nothing to do with the capabilities of USB-3, just with at which time a (any) USB stack is supported. This is impossible for the BIOS to support, as a USB stack is a very extensive piece of software, and because (even) the BIOS doesn't know which of the many possible hardware implementations is used on the system the BIOS is running on. Specifically, its impossible for the BIOS to have drivers for all possible hardware implementations of USB interfaces, especially if they were designed after the BIOS was written. Then there is the question (after the OS is booted), who should manage USB, the BIOS or the OS? Especially problematic as the BIOS almost certainly would only support the USB mass-storage device class. All these problems make booting USB devices impractical, this versus booting hard-disks or CDs, which is a very straight forward, simple, and unchanging process. Booting from a (directly internally hardware interfaced) media card (secure-digital card) might be possible, (as its a well defined interface) but it would be a relatively slow process, also there isn't a standard interface for such devices, so only devices integrated onto the mother board (systems the BIOS is aware of) can be supported by the BIOS . Mahjongg (talk) 23:52, 12 March 2011 (UTC)

Distros

• The Amnesic Incognito Live System: Tails is a live CD or live USB that aims at preserving your privacy and anonymity. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 98.164.119.210 (talk) 22:03, 11 July 2011 (UTC)
• BackTrack: Forensics and Penetration testing.
• Slitaz: Super lightweight linux distro.

Is this an encyclopedia or the yellow pages?

It's about an OS on a USB drive. What has this to do with the Sony advertisment? At least you should have the decency to picture the drive on the unmarked side. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 90.10.17.71 (talk) 14:24, 9 October 2011 (UTC)

live usb live cd

I'm thinking live drives of all types should share a page. I'm not sure what the best overarching title would be for that page,but I think live cd would fit really well as a section of a page. What do you think? — Preceding Aelius Maximus comment added by 205.200.202.105 (talk) 05:58, 16 January 2012 (UTC) --Aelius_Maxiums (talk) 06:05, 16 January 2012 (UTC)

List of Live Distros? List of Linux distributions that run from RAM? Category:Operating system distributions bootable from external media?

Expansion to History request

History section tells only about since when Macs have been bootable from USB, it says nothing about non-Macs. Besides, I was in impression that Macs (especially pre-intel) cannot boot from USB, but I'm not too certain whether it was just the inability to INSTALL Mac OS on USB drive. F-3000 (talk) 13:49, 29 June 2012 (UTC)

USB hard drive and USB flash drive confusion

Please clarify the installation principles between USB hard drives and USB flash drives.

Some distributions will not instal to an USB hard drive, but will install to an USB flash drive.  For example, “JonDo Live”.

“Live installers” also have similar issues.  For example “UNetbootin” for Windows and Linux doesn’t recognise a mounted USB hard drive. Neither does “LinuxLive USB Creator”.

However, “Universal USB Installer” for Windows does have a check box that shows all drives from which I can target my USB hard drive.

So, this article needs to be less vague and draw a clear distinction between the effectiveness of USB hard drives and USB flash drives for live–distributions. — Preceding unsigned comment added by BorisEnt (talk • contribs) 23:19, 22 December 2012 (UTC)

Indeed. This whole page seems to be very confused as to what USB is. It talks about installing an OS to "a USB". The Universal Serial Bus is the Bus itself into which devices can be attached, such as Mass Storage Devices. You can't install an OS onto the USB in exactly the same way that you cannot install an OS onto the PCI bus. The bus only conveys data back and forth - it has no storage capacity.

It may be that the author(s) of the title of this article decided to refer to the bus technology rather than the storage in use to appear as ignorant and oblivious as certain users who might make that assumption or advertisers who promote and expound such confusion. But that isn't the role of an encyclopaedia. If we can get it right, we should get it right.

Since we can have flash-based memory on the USBus, the SATA bus as SSDs, on the PCI Express bus using SATA Express and M.2, and combinations such as a SSD connected to a SATA-USB-bridge attached via USB to the computer, it's very important this article refers clearly to flash memory technology when it means that, and doesn't add to the confusion.

This article needs to be cleaned up to remove unnecessary references to the wrong concept using the wrong word. 121.217.41.59 (talk) 01:28, 6 February 2015 (UTC)

Can Mac G4s boot from USB ?

I question that Mac G4s are able to boot from USB (history section) .... I have a - very late - G4 (MDD 1.25ghz dual Processor circa 2004 and with AGP graphics) and it certainly WON'T boot from USB, it does boot from firewire . I also have a Macbook Pro (2008) which DOES boot from either USB or FW. I'm not sure when the change occurred, but am fairly certain that most (if not all) G4s will NOT boot from USB.

I've just rechecked both the (Apple) source at the bottom of the article (which makes the same claim but doesn't specify which models) and also my own users manual (which makes it clear that only firewire startup is possible). So whose right I wonder.Pincrete (talk) 14:25, 13 April 2014 (UTC)

Reverting Abhishek Tiwari's Windows script back in because it is a succinct stub of a very useful concept

Hi, I am about to revert Bonadea's cut of the Script by Abhishek Tiwari. This is because it is merely a more primitive version of the steps above it that are prefixed with:

To set up a live USB system for commodity PC hardware, the following steps need to be done

I appreciate that Bonadea is completely within her rights to cut the script, and if she wants to, on the same grounds she could cut out the steps and much of the article. However, I would ask her not to, because in this case, it is impractical to even begin to clearly communicate the nature of the beast without giving explicit examples, and I say that as someone who has taught IT to adults and school students for years (and who has previously had years of IT admin experience). If you are to strictly apply wp:notguide then the article would become as useful as the vague sort of bumf that marketing depts write. So I will revert her cut, and then try to wrap it in language that turns it into an acceptable stub / example. This includes removing Abhishek Tiwari's name, because it sounds like self-promotion and is so obviously pov that any non-IT editor would cut it. I would encourage him or her to put this info were wp can link to it.

imho, the wp guidelines are best used when there is controversy. imo there is no controversy that Abhishek Tiwari's script was very useful, and succinctly conveyed useful concepts that I was not aware of. I reject the notion that it is too detailed, because if you are reading this page, then most readers would want that level of detail. It certainly has relevance, because this sort of technology is very useful for those seeking unfettered communications, and it is difficult to find authoritative expertise on such topics given that so many sites are awash with advertising and dubious advice. If you don't like how I wrap it, then please polish rather than delete. I won't bother with an edit war (this Talk has already taken too much time), but unconstructive nit-picking will take energy and me from wp.

Simiarly, I will remove the concern that the article sounds like an ad. Clearly the person who thought that has little idea of IT, because how can you have an ad for a generic conceptual tool? Someone who extols the virtues of e.g. hashing instead of a linear search is not advertising, they are just stating the advantages of a particular generic method.

BenevolentUncle (talk) 04:40, 12 October 2014 (UTC)

External links modified

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External links modified

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About "Do not add a distro here before discussing on the talk page!"

<!- Do not add a distro here before discussing on the talk page! -->

As someone commented in the past as above, I posted this comment here to add antiX and MX Linux.

I do not know the reason why, but it seems to me these two popular distros should be added in a proper manner. - User-green2 (talk) 03:20, 21 April 2020 (UTC)