Cloned USB drive with Lubuntu Eoan and Focal can be made persistent live

[C.S.Cameron]

Post 2 above updated.

[sudodus]

This simple cloning method can be ported to Windows

Have a try with the simple way to make a persistent live drive in Windows according to the following links

Win32DiskImager/iso2usb/persistent

Win32DiskImager/iso2usb

Easier for Windows users to start using Ubuntu and the Ubuntu family flavours

It has already been easy to use some of the well-known tools, for example Rufus, to create USB boot drives that are live-only.

Now there is a simple method in Windows, that works with Ubuntu 19.10 and Focal Fossa iso files. It can create persistent live drives for people who do not want Ubuntu to touch the internal drive, but want installed programs and saved files to persist past shutdown and reboot.

1. Use HxD to edit the iso file with a binary editor replace two cosmetic boot options 'quiet splash' with 'persistent ' (replace 12 characters with 12 characters)

2. Use Win32 Disk Imager to clone the edited iso file

The first time the cloned drive is booted, the Ubuntu system will create a casper-rw partition with an ext4 file system automatically. Simple and robust!

See the attached screenshots. There are more detailed descriptions at the links in the beginning of this post.

[sudodus]

Just a reminder:

- Standard mkusb (mkusb-dus) is still working in and with all current versions of Ubuntu and Ubuntu family flavours including Focal Fossa. The current versions (2019-11-16) are 12.3.7 in the stable PPA and 12.3.8 in the unstable PPA.

- The new mkusb-minp uses the method described and discussed in this thread - with a safety belt. It works with the version 19.10 and Focal Fossa.

I am keeping an eye on Focal Fossa to make sure these tools continue to work at least as well as they are working now.

[sudodus]

The task can be simplified: You need not create a partittion 'behind' the cloned part of the target drive. It is enough the modify the iso file with sed and clone that modified iso file to the target drive. When you boot into it, the Ubuntu system will create the partition for persistence and its file system automatically and it will be a persistent live drive.

mkusb-minp described in earlier posts is forked to mkusb-sedd, and there is a graphical user interface, mkusb-plug, that takes advantage of this new feature of Ubuntu 19.10, 20.04 LTS and future versions of Ubuntu and the Ubuntu family flavours.

[sudodus]

Tweak for Pop!OS

The current version of Pop!OS is based on Ubuntu 20.04 LTS. mkusb can clone to make live (live-only) drives that boot both in UEFI and BIOS mode. But neither mkusb-dus nor mkusb-plug can create persistent live drives from this iso file. But it works after a minor tweak to modify the iso file.

sed 's/noprompt  ---/persistent --/' pop-os_20.04_amd64_intel_13.iso > persistent_pop-os_20.04_amd64_intel_13.iso

When mkusb-dus or mkusb-plug clones this modified file to a USB drive, a persistent live drive will be created.

Example with dus (select cloning)

dus persistent_pop-os_20.04_amd64_intel_13.iso