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JJrussel
Asked: 2020-11-18 15:10:08 +0800 CST

Would Xubuntu Live USB boot and work if I removed the main drive from the laptop?

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If I removed the SSD (or hard drive) from the laptop, and then plugged in the Xubuntu 20.04 LTS non-persistent Live USB and turned on the computer, would I be able to boot into it normally?

live-usb xubuntu

1 Answers

  1. Computer with Only a Live USB and No HDD

    Programs like Etcher, Win32DiskImager, dd, Gnome-Disks and Startup Disk Creator, create a USB with a ISO9660 read only operating system.

    However, since 19.10, these programs do produce a inactive persistent partition named writable.

    The drive will be persistent if while booting Shift is pressed, then Escape, F6 and Escape again, then a space is typed followed by persistent.

    The drive will be booted persistent every time this procedure is followed while booting and will see the data that was there the last persistent boot.

    The session will not be persistent if this procedure is not followed.

    A writable partition on a ISO9660 drive can be changed to a NTFS data partition by running sudo mkfs.ntfs -f -L data /dev/sdx3 from a second Live USB or while booted toram. x3 is the drive and writable partition of the ISO9660 drive.

    To answer the main question, an internal drive is not required when booting from a Live, (non-persistent) USB or from a persistent one.

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