Re: How to install ubuntu on USB drive and carry entire computing system in pocket?
but what exactly qualifies as a high quality super fast flash drive?
I don't know, but it does seem to me as if there does could be a difference in quality between flash memory sticks, but maybe it's only my imagination, I haven't done any controlled tests on that subject yet. Others seem to be of the same opinion though.
EDITED ON 6th Jan 2010: I have since been doing some testing and a lot of reading and some flash memory and Solid State Drive manufacturers spend a lot of money having scientists and engineers researching ways to make flash memory faster, longer lasting and more reliable as well as affordable to the consumer. Flash memory is not all created equal, and prices are no indication of quality either, you need to be prepared to do your own up to date research if you want to be a smart flash memory shopper.
And would 8GB be necessary or would 4GB be fine? I thought the reqs. for Ubuntu are 4GB minimum.
I always thought that Ubuntu takes up a minimum of about 1..8 GB of hard disk space, but we should allow an extra 25% on top of that for the file system to have a little 'breathing space'. Linux file systems never need defragmenting, but they do perform best with a little extra unused space in the partition.
Right now I have Hardy installed in a Toshiba flash memory stick and a Kingstom Data Traveller, both are 4.0 GB in size, 0r 3.84 GiB according to Gnome Partition Editor.
In both of mine I have an extra Desktop installed, I did that because I didn't know how to get Gnome working at the time I first installed these two sticks. One has the Ubuntu (Gnome) Desktop plus XFCE (Xubuntu), and the other one has Ubuntu (Gnome) Desktop plus IceWM. I believe that adding an extra desktop takes up quite a bit of disk space.
I will need to uninstall the extra desktops or install again fresh to see how big Hardy Heron is as a default install, but I can tell you that at the moment both of my USB installs have about 2.38 GiB used and 1.24 GiB unused out of a 3.62 GiB / (root) partition. There's a swap area of 219.61 MiB after that.
I would recommend people use a 4.0 GB stick or larger if a larger one is available. In my town 4.0 GB is the largest they stock in the local electrical store, or I would have a bigger one too.
UPDATE: The bare-bones Ubuntu Hardy Heron install occupies 1.98 GiB of space in the flash memory stick. You will need more space for adding software and some files, depending on what you're planning on using the stick for.
Last edited by Herman; January 5th, 2010 at 09:53 PM.
Ubuntu user since 2004 (Warty Warthog)
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