Hi,

I have a MacBook Pro 5,1 as a work machine. I've started using ubuntu on an old P4 laptop I have at home and love it, but want to experiment with it a bit more on a more powerful machine.

Unfortunately I can't really install a new or additional OS on the machine at the moment, but was wondering if it was possible to create an install of Ubuntu 9.04 to run direct from a USB key?

Rather than running in 'Live mode', is it possible to have it working so applications can be installed, graphic drivers set, documents created and edited - basically so the usb key is the harddrive? If it is possible, would the Ubuntu installation be able to read and write data on the internal harddrive? Ideally be able to use this, then reboot into OS X afterwards.

Very new to Linux so I apologise if I've just asked a question that has an obvious answer or has been answered a load of times in the forum.

I intend to backup and re-partition my computer at a later date to have a 'proper' installation of ubuntu on the machine, but now is not the best time to do so as I'm using my work machine flat out at the moment and haven't the time to do it.

Any advice would be gratefully received.

S.