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Installing Debian perminantly on a USB drive

I have a computer that doesn't have a HDD, but i want to get it up and running. Can I install Debian directly to a USB stick as if it were a spinning disk? If so, how?

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It is possible, however the speed will be rather limited and is quite slow (I tried it once on my laptop with USB 3.0 stick). You would need two USB drives to install it. Plus USB sticks use flash memory, which is not meant for such usage and they wear quickly.

 

On a more realistlic note - why not just buy an HDD (or even better, SSD) for the computer? Much easier and less issues.

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Just now, jj9987 said:

It is possible, however the speed will be rather limited and is quite slow (I tried it once on my laptop with USB 3.0 stick). You would need two USB drives to install it. Plus USB sticks use flash memory, which is not meant for such usage and they wear quickly.

 

On a more realistlic note - why not just buy an HDD (or even better, SSD) for the computer? Much easier and less issues.

with what money?

 

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1 minute ago, whiteGloveReview said:

I know these exist but I need to run Debian.

ok in that case install debian and change the file system to read only to lengthen USB flash lifespan.

change /tmp to mount in ram.

turn off all logging or write log files to ram.

Cant think of anything else atm. theres more detailed in the archwiki, the commands might not be identical but the intentions and concept will be applicable 

https://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/Installing_Arch_Linux_on_a_USB_key

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On 23/03/2017 at 8:42 PM, whiteGloveReview said:

I have a computer that doesn't have a HDD, but i want to get it up and running. Can I install Debian directly to a USB stick as if it were a spinning disk? If so, how?

Debian dont work for me with full install in a USB 3.0 (it crashes) but Ubuntu-like works (I recommend Ubuntu Mate) and Ubuntu is debian based.

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