sutireme
You can use the current Startup Disk Creator for its main purpose, to create a USB boot drive, that lets you 'Try Ubuntu' and/or 'Install Ubuntu'. It clones the content of the iso file to a partition with the read-only iso9660 file system. The old version of Startup Disk Creator (from Ubuntu 14.04.x and older) extracts the content of the iso file into a partition with the FAT32 file system. And that is what is wanted for what you intend to do.
5 Cups of Ubuntu
so do i need to find the old version or should i use a different method?
sutireme
You find the old version Ubuntu 14.04.1 LTS via this link,
http://old-releases.ubuntu.com/releases/
But I think it will be easier if you select the other method described in this thread, the grub-n-iso method. See Posts #6, 7, 8, 10, 11, 48, 49. There are direct links from the first post (the opening post of this thread) to these posts.
sutireme
Make persistent live drives with casper-rw and home-rw partitions
The background and starting point to this method and tool are described with many details in the following link (in this same thread),
Post #8. Build your own single boot or multiboot pendrive for all PC (Intel/AMD) computers
The shellscript mk-grub-n-iso multiboot was forked into a new shellscipt (still in a crude state, but it can do two importnat tasks automatically.
The new shellscript has a long descriptive name, mk-persistent-live_with_home-rw. I know that it is too long, but I have not found any good short name yet, maybe mkusb-cup (Create Update Persistent live [USB] drives).
The purpose of this tool is to make it easy to keep the persistent live drive up to date. Usually it does not work to simply replace the iso file (or cloned or extracted) because the previous overlay of the system flles do not match. But it is usually possible to keep the home directory including personal files and the settings (usually in hidden configuration files in the user's home directory).mk-persistent-live_with_home-rw is a text mode shellscript, that builds
a persistent boot drive with a 'casper-rw' partition for system persistence
and a 'home-rw' partition for home persistence. There are two modes, to
- create a persistent live system
- upgrade a persistent live system,
. replace the iso file
. wipe: create new file system in the 'casper-rw' partition
. preserve: keep the content in the 'home-rw' partition.
This is possible to do manually, but it is somewhat tricky and making this task automatic makes it both easier and safer.
Use mk-persistent-live_with_home-rw
- with USB drives and memory cards with 8 GB memory size or more. Splitting the available memory in two partitions is a bad idea in small drives,
- if you intend to use the persistent live system for a longer time,
- if you need to upgrade the system for other reasons, for example to get security upgrades or have software that need upgrades of the operating system.
Testing
I have tested standard Ubuntu, Lubuntu, Xubuntu and Ubuntu Studio. All these work, when upgraded within the same version (I tested all of them in 18.04 LTS).
I tested also upgrading standard Ubuntu, Lubuntu, Xubuntu from 16.04.1 LTS to 18.04 LTS, and it works (the content of the home partition is still compatible).
Finally I tested from Lubuntu 18.04 LTS to Xubuntu-Core 18.04 LTS, and it worked too (but not in the other direction). We should not expect it to work, if the desktop environments have incompatible configuration files.
Demo example
I installed Ubuntu 18.04 LTS in a 60 GB SSD and used that system to check that mk-persistent-live_with_home-rw works not only in my 'production system', Xubuntu + Lubuntu 16.04.1 LTS still keeping the xenial kernel series. The I created a persistent live USB 3 pendrive with 16 GB. The attached screenshots and the 'console dialogue' illustrates what it looks like and how it works.
mk-persistent-live_with_home-rw is bundled with grub-n-iso_multiboot and you can get it by downloading a tarball and check its md5sum, that you find at
phillw.net/isos/linux-tools/uefi-n-bios
- grub-n-iso_multiboot.tar.gz
- grub-n-iso_tarfile.txt
- grub-n-iso.md5.asc
Feedback is welcome. Please test it and tell me what works, and what needs improvement.
I know, that this shellscript is not very user friendly, but it works, and in due time, I hope to add a better user interface.
Edit: new version (improved but still a testing version) uploaded 2018-05-04Code:ubuntu@ubuntu:~/Downloads/grub-n-iso_multiboot$ ./mk-persistent-live_with_home-rw Usage: sudo ./mk-persistent-live_with_home-rw <source.iso> <target device> Example: sudo ./mk-persistent-live_with_home-rw ubuntu.iso /dev/sdx This shellscript './mk-persistent-live_with_home-rw' can create and upgrade persistent live drives with two partitions for persistence, 'casper-rw' for system data and 'home-rw' for the home data. It works only with iso files of Ubuntu Desktop, Ubuntu community flavours, and maybe some linux distros and respins with the same boot structure. Try again with the correct target device according to the list below Press Enter to continue MODEL NAME FSTYPE LABEL MOUNTPOINT SIZE loop0 iso9660 Ubuntu 18.04 LTS amd64 /cdrom 1.8G loop1 squashfs /rofs 1.7G loop2 squashfs /snap/core/4486 86.6M loop3 squashfs /snap/gnome-3-26-1604/59 140M loop4 squashfs /snap/gnome-calculator/154 1.6M loop5 squashfs /snap/gnome-characters/69 12.2M loop6 squashfs /snap/gnome-logs/25 21M loop7 squashfs /snap/gnome-system-monitor/36 3.3M OCZ-AGILITY3 sda 55.9G |-sda1 vfat UBU1804-64 63M |-sda2 ext4 isodevice /isodevice 2.5G |-sda3 ext4 casper-rw 14.5G `-sda4 ext4 home-rw /home 38.9G Extreme sdb 14.6G `-sdb1 vfat MY_STORAGE 14.6G CDDVDW SN-208AB sr0 1024M ubuntu@ubuntu:~/Downloads/grub-n-iso_multiboot$ sudo ./mk-persistent-live_with_home-rw xubuntu-18.04-core-amd64.iso /dev/sdb 'xubuntu-18.04-core-amd64.iso' is identified as the source ISO file MODEL NAME FSTYPE LABEL MOUNTPOINT SIZE Extreme sdb 14.6G `-sdb1 vfat MY_STORAGE 14.6G Using 'grub.cfg' in the current directory Using 'usb-pack_efi' in the current directory ------------------------------------------------------------------------- Did you check and if necessary copy any valuable files from the device '/dev/sdb' before re-using it as a persistent live drive? Are ready to go ahead and overwrite '/dev/sdb'? ------------------------------------------------------------------------- Create new system or upgrade with new iso file or quit? (c/u/q)? c Final checkpoint Create '/dev/sdb' Are you sure? (y/n) y 512+0 records in 512+0 records out 2097152 bytes (2.1 MB, 2.0 MiB) copied, 0.236252 s, 8.9 MB/s mkfs.fat 4.1 (2017-01-24) /dev/sdb1 has 64 heads and 32 sectors per track, hidden sectors 0x0800; logical sector size is 512, using 0xf8 media descriptor, with 129024 sectors; drive number 0x80; filesystem has 2 32-bit FATs and 1 sector per cluster. FAT size is 993 sectors, and provides 127006 clusters. There are 32 reserved sectors. Volume ID is ce44440d, no volume label. Automatic or manual selection of partition sizes Do you want *automatic* partitioning? (y/n) y Warning: The resulting partition is not properly aligned for best performance. 256+0 records in 256+0 records out 1048576 bytes (1.0 MB, 1.0 MiB) copied, 0.0248828 s, 42.1 MB/s 256+0 records in 256+0 records out 1048576 bytes (1.0 MB, 1.0 MiB) copied, 0.0750604 s, 14.0 MB/s 256+0 records in 256+0 records out 1048576 bytes (1.0 MB, 1.0 MiB) copied, 0.21233 s, 4.9 MB/s mke2fs 1.44.1 (24-Mar-2018) Creating filesystem with 524288 4k blocks and 131072 inodes Filesystem UUID: fafb8bba-c1c9-4231-942f-2c8ee1365db0 Superblock backups stored on blocks: 32768, 98304, 163840, 229376, 294912 Allocating group tables: done Writing inode tables: done Creating journal (16384 blocks): done Writing superblocks and filesystem accounting information: done mke2fs 1.44.1 (24-Mar-2018) Creating filesystem with 1079933 4k blocks and 270336 inodes Filesystem UUID: 2fc49f5f-13a4-4519-a744-951b9b140277 Superblock backups stored on blocks: 32768, 98304, 163840, 229376, 294912, 819200, 884736 Allocating group tables: done Writing inode tables: done Creating journal (16384 blocks): done Writing superblocks and filesystem accounting information: done mke2fs 1.44.1 (24-Mar-2018) Creating filesystem with 2210855 4k blocks and 553792 inodes Filesystem UUID: a42d5db1-872a-4e88-be68-710fc4c91238 Superblock backups stored on blocks: 32768, 98304, 163840, 229376, 294912, 819200, 884736, 1605632 Allocating group tables: done Writing inode tables: done Creating journal (16384 blocks): done Writing superblocks and filesystem accounting information: done --------------------------------------------------------------------------- Use gparted to check (and maybe change) the partitions --------------------------------------------------------------------------- ====================== libparted : 3.2 ====================== Information: You may need to update /etc/fstab. tune2fs 1.44.1 (24-Mar-2018) tune2fs 1.44.1 (24-Mar-2018) tune2fs 1.44.1 (24-Mar-2018) tune2fs 1.44.1 (24-Mar-2018) tune2fs 1.44.1 (24-Mar-2018) --------------------------------------------------------------------------- source=xubuntu-18.04-core-amd64.iso --------------------------------------------------------------------------- UEFI Bootloader: Installing for i386-pc platform. Installation finished. No error reported. BIOS Bootloader: Installing for i386-pc platform. Installation finished. No error reported. Copying files ... Archive: usb-pack_efi.zip creating: usb-pack_efi/ creating: usb-pack_efi/EFI/ creating: usb-pack_efi/EFI/BOOT/ inflating: usb-pack_efi/EFI/BOOT/bootia32.efi inflating: usb-pack_efi/EFI/BOOT/bootx64.efi creating: usb-pack_efi/boot/ creating: usb-pack_efi/boot/grub/ inflating: usb-pack_efi/boot/grub/grub.cfg inflating: usb-pack_efi/boot/grub/menu.lst creating: usb-pack_efi/boot/grub4dos/ inflating: usb-pack_efi/boot/grub4dos/g2ldr inflating: usb-pack_efi/boot/grub4dos/grub.exe creating: usb-pack_efi/boot/memtest/ inflating: usb-pack_efi/boot/memtest/memtest.bin inflating: usb-pack_efi/boot/memtest/memtest86+-5.01.bin creating: usb-pack_efi/iso/ sending incremental file list ./ EFI/ EFI/BOOT/ EFI/BOOT/bootia32.efi EFI/BOOT/bootx64.efi boot/ boot/grub/ boot/grub/menu.lst boot/grub4dos/ boot/grub4dos/g2ldr boot/grub4dos/grub.exe boot/memtest/ boot/memtest/memtest.bin boot/memtest/memtest86+-5.01.bin sent 2,311,429 bytes received 188 bytes 4,623,234.00 bytes/sec total size is 2,310,239 speedup is 1.00 mount: /tmp/looper: WARNING: device write-protected, mounted read-only. rm: cannot remove '/tmp/isotrg/*.iso': No such file or directory < xubuntu-18.04-core-amd64.iso pv > /tmp/isotrg/xubuntu-18.04-core-amd64.iso 663MiB 0:00:01 [ 350MiB/s] [=============================================================================>] 100% Syncing the target device ... MODEL NAME FSTYPE LABEL MOUNTPOINT SIZE Extreme sdb 14.6G |-sdb1 vfat XUB1804CORE 63M |-sdb2 ext4 isodevice 2G |-sdb3 ext4 casper-rw 4.1G `-sdb4 ext4 home-rw 8.4G The target device is ready to use. 'xubuntu-18.04-core-amd64.iso' was installed ubuntu@ubuntu:~/Downloads/grub-n-iso_multiboot$
Last edited by sudodus; May 5th, 2018 at 08:26 PM. Reason: new version uploaded; fixed typo
sutireme
Make persistent live drives with casper-rw and home-rw partitions - more testing
I tested upgrading directly
- from Ubuntu 12.04.1 LTS to Ubuntu 18.04 LTS works
- from Ubuntu 14.04.1 LTS to Ubuntu 18.04 LTS works
- (from Ubuntu 16.04.1 LTS to Ubuntu 18.04 LTS was tested already and works)
Upgrading works from these old versions. The home directory survives, and it is compatible (at least the things that I have tested).
- The command line history in ~/.bash_history survives (of course).
- Other files survive too (in this example an old screenshot).
- The setting of my keyboard (Swedish) survives and is selected directly after booting the upgraded pendrive.
See the attached screenshots.
Ubuntu addict and loving it
I was doing good until it gave me a warning about using drives less than 8GB, then it shut down.
There could possibly be a good reason to have one on a 4GB drive, I'm just not sure what it could be.
All my drives 8GB and over are in use.
I really like the idea.
sutireme
@C.S.Cameron,
- Do you want a special edition, that works with a 4 GB pendrive, just for testing?
- Or do you want the standard version to work also with a 4 GB pendrive? It means smaller margins for upgrading to new versions with bigger iso files, but I hope it should be OK for using daily iso files within the same (LTS) version.
Edit: Anyway, when you use 'mk-persistent-live_with_home-rw' on a 4 GB pendrive, you had better stay with small iso files, I suggest Lubuntu. Otherwise there may not be enough space for it to work.
The problem is that the iso files are growing for each new version, and I designed a method to give the partitioning a margin for some future growth.
The current Ubuntu iso file size is 1.8 GiB (1921843200 bytes), so there will be very limited space left for persistence in a 4 GB pendrive.
The easy alternative (for me) would be that you buy a brand new and fast USB 3 pendrive but it costs moneyCode:695M ubuntu-12.04.1-desktop-amd64.iso 981M ubuntu-14.04.1-desktop-amd64.iso 1,5G ubuntu-16.04.1-desktop-amd64.iso 1,8G ubuntu-18.04-desktop-amd64.iso 1,1G lubuntu-18.04-desktop-amd64.iso
Last edited by sudodus; May 3rd, 2018 at 10:16 AM. Reason: modifed the questions
sutireme
A new version of mk-persistent-live_with_home-rw (improved but still a testing version) was uploaded 2018-05-04.
There are several improvements:
- Main improvement: The previous version created good boot drives, when the shellscript, mk-persistent-live_with_home-rw, was run in 16.04 LTS, but not in 18.04 LTS because of some problems with the bootloader (grub). This version does not install the bootloaders (for UEFI and BIOS) but instead clones from a compressed image file to the head end of the drive including the first partition.
This means that it is possible to install from UEFI mode to BIOS mode (which can be very tricky). The systems created work in UEFI mode and BIOS mode, but not with secure boot. See this link about mkusb, if you want a persistent live drive that works with secure boot (in UEFI mode).
- Improved user interface: still text only, but better logical order of the questions.
- Improved management, unmounting, if/when the operating system mounts the partitions automatically, while the shellscript is doing its job.
sutireme
Backup and restore the /home directory in casper-rw partitions of mkusb persistent drives
This is an alternative to mk-persistent-live_with_home-rw which was created some weeks ago.
The new shellscript has a descriptive name, mkusb-backup-n-restore-home. I know that it might be too long, but I have not found any good short name yet.
It is a bash shellscript with a zenity graphical user interface, that 'only' manipulates the /home directory in casper-rw partitions of mkusb persistent drives.
It is merged into mkusb version 12.3.2 and you can select it from the starter menu "Install / Backup / Restore / Wipe"
There are two modes, to
- backup the /home directory to a tarball
- restore the /home directory from a tarball
The purpose of this tool is to make it easy to keep the persistent live drive up to date. Usually it does not work to simply transfer the whole content of the 'casper-rw' partition because the previous overlay of the system files does not match. But it is usually possible to keep the home directory including personal files and the settings (usually in hidden configuration files in the user's home directory).
This is possible to do manually, but it is somewhat tricky and automation makes it both easier and safer.
Use mkusb-backup-n-restore-home
- with USB drives and memory cards, that are made persistent live with mkusb. The size limit depends on the iso file, but normally you would use a drive with 4 GB or more. In order to get a fast USB 3 drive, you need 16 GB,
- if you intend to use the persistent live system for a longer time,
- if you need to upgrade the system for other reasons, for example to get security upgrades or have software that need upgrades of the operating system.
Upgrade (or repair) a persistent live system like this
1. Backup the /home directory to a tarball using 'mkusb-backup-n-restore-home' or if you have mkusb 12.3.2 (or a newer version), select it from the starter menu "Install / Backup / Restore / Wipe"
2. Create a fresh persistent live system of standard Ubuntu or the same flavour (Kubuntu, Lubuntu ... Xubuntu) using mkusb. Use the daily iso files of the LTS versions to get a system that is up to date.
3. Restore the /home directory from the tarball to the fresh persistent live system.
Testing
I have tested standard Ubuntu, Lubuntu and Xubuntu. All these work, when upgraded within the same version (I tested all of them in 18.04 LTS).
I tested also upgrading Lubuntu from 16.04.1 LTS to 18.04 LTS, and it works (the content of the home partition is still compatible).
You need only one standalone shellscript file (and its corresponding md5sum file). Get it by downloading a tarball and check its md5sum, that you find at
phillw.net/isos/linux-tools/uefi-n-bios
- mkusb-backup-n-restore-home.tar.gz
- mkusb-backup-n-restore-home.tar.gz.md5
Version 0.0.4 dated 2018-05-26 has the following md5sums:Code:$ md5sum -c mkusb-backup-n-restore-home.tar.gz.md5 mkusb-backup-n-restore-home.tar.gz: OK
Feedback is welcome. Please test it and tell me what works, and what needs improvement.Code:$ md5sum mkusb-backup-n-restore-home* eb38def3b40455d27cc43d85546e07a4 mkusb-backup-n-restore-home.tar.gz 40812f817efa1ae3ca0e6a91c8fdec58 mkusb-backup-n-restore-home.tar.gz.md5
This shellscript is relatively user friendly with a text console and zenity dialogue windows as a GUI. It is made to work in Wayland without extra tweak (the tasks with elevated permissions are done in text mode).
Code:sudodus@m4800:~$ echo $XDG_SESSION_TYPE wayland sudodus@m4800:~/Hämtningar$ ./mkusb-backup-n-restore-home Usage: ./mkusb-backup-n-restore-home -b or -r Examples: ./mkusb-backup-n-restore-home -b # backup ./mkusb-backup-n-restore-home -r # restore backup-home # if in PATH, otherwise add directory path restore-home # - '' - sudodus@m4800:~/Hämtningar$ ./mkusb-backup-n-restore-home -b live system or temporary superuser permissions bupfile=/home/olle/mkusb-backup-home.tar-lubuntu.gz mpcrw=/tmp/tmp.CLx4roLVee --------------------------------------------------- Extreme sdb 14,9G sdb5 10,2G casper-rw Extreme sdc 29,8G sdc5 14G casper-rw --------------------------------------------------- srcdev=/dev/sdb5 Device: /dev/sdb OS: Lubuntu 18.04 LTS amd64 umount: /dev/sdb2: inte monterad. mount casper-rw partition Filsystem Storlek Använt Ledigt Anv% Monterat på /dev/sdb5 11G 41M 9,6G 1% /tmp/tmp.CLx4roLVee ----------------------------------------------------------------- Quit sudodus@m4800:~/Hämtningar$ ./mkusb-backup-n-restore-home -b live system or temporary superuser permissions bupfile=/home/olle/mkusb-backup-home.tar-lubuntu.gz mpcrw=/tmp/tmp.VcMklDP71A --------------------------------------------------- Extreme sdb 14,9G sdb5 10,2G casper-rw Extreme sdc 29,8G sdc5 14G casper-rw --------------------------------------------------- srcdev=/dev/sdb5 Device: /dev/sdb OS: Lubuntu 18.04 LTS amd64 umount: /dev/sdb1: inte monterad. umount: /dev/sdb2: inte monterad. umount: /dev/sdb3: inte monterad. umount: /dev/sdb4: inte monterad. umount: /dev/sdb5: inte monterad. mount casper-rw partition Filsystem Storlek Använt Ledigt Anv% Monterat på /dev/sdb5 11G 41M 9,6G 1% /tmp/tmp.VcMklDP71A ----------------------------------------------------------------- upper/home/ upper/home/lubuntu/ upper/home/lubuntu/.config/ upper/home/lubuntu/.config/ubuntu-system-settings/ ... upper/home/lubuntu/Templates/ upper/home/lubuntu/Music/ upper/home/lubuntu/.profile upper/home/lubuntu/.xsession-errors Done :-) '/home' from 'casper-rw' backed up to the file /home/olle/mkusb-backup-home.tar-lubuntu.gz sudodus@m4800:~/Hämtningar$ ./mkusb-backup-n-restore-home -r live system or temporary superuser permissions bupfile=/home/olle/mkusb-backup-home.tar-lubuntu.gz mpcrw=/tmp/tmp.wcMZQ67Ctv --------------------------------------------------- Extreme sdb 14,9G sdb5 10,2G casper-rw Extreme sdc 29,8G sdc5 14G casper-rw --------------------------------------------------- srcdev=/dev/sdb5 Device: /dev/sdb OS: Lubuntu 18.04 LTS amd64 umount: /dev/sdb1: inte monterad. umount: /dev/sdb2: inte monterad. umount: /dev/sdb3: inte monterad. umount: /dev/sdb4: inte monterad. umount: /dev/sdb5: inte monterad. mount casper-rw partition Filsystem Storlek Använt Ledigt Anv% Monterat på /dev/sdb5 11G 41M 9,6G 1% /tmp/tmp.wcMZQ67Ctv ----------------------------------------------------------------- upper/home/ upper/home/lubuntu/ upper/home/lubuntu/.config/ upper/home/lubuntu/.config/ubuntu-system-settings/ ... upper/home/lubuntu/Templates/ upper/home/lubuntu/Music/ upper/home/lubuntu/.profile upper/home/lubuntu/.xsession-errors Done :-) '/home' in 'casper-rw' restored from the file /home/olle/mkusb-backup-home.tar-lubuntu.gz sudodus@m4800:~/Hämtningar$
Last edited by sudodus; May 30th, 2018 at 03:20 PM. Reason: mkusb-backup-n-restore-home 0.0.4
Ubuntu addict and loving it
I like mBNR.
Everything works for me backing up and restoring the home directory embedded in casper-rw.
How do I use mBRN to backup the desktop's home directory and copy it to casper-rw on a USB?
And maybe vice-versa.
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