Full install vs live?

[enzaaibueno]

Is there a big difference between using a live USB key with persistence and fully installing a distro on the USB key?

[Sauron]

If I recall correctly, persistent mode is just live mode but when you shut it down it saves what you changed on the pendrive - the work is still done entirely on a ramdisk.

[RageTester]

You can have multiple live installations at the same time... Full installed version might boot faster, but will be more limited in functionality and you can probably only run it on that 1 computer you made the installation with...

[Kilrah]

USB keys with persistence that work are a major pain to make nowadays.

[lal12]

Yeah it is a big difference. I won't go into technical specifics here, but in the end it is much worse: worse speed and much worse reliability.

[Kilrah]

I have an ubuntu install on a fast U3 microSD card that I can throw into the internal reader of my PC, put in a dual usb card reader to connect to various computers, and also boot as virtual machine as necessary. Works great.

[lal12]

2 hours ago, Kilrah said:

I have an ubuntu install on a fast U3 microSD card that I can throw into the internal reader of my PC, put in a dual usb card reader to connect to various computers, and also boot as virtual machine as necessary. Works great.

An Install on a USB stick is different than a live USB stick.

[Kilrah]

I know, never said the opposite, just what was working for me and I can recommend, unlike a persistent live USB as mentioned in my previous post.

[lal12]

6 hours ago, Kilrah said:

I know, never said the opposite, just what was working for me and I can recommend, unlike a persistent live USB as mentioned in my previous post.

No offense/critic intended, was just to clarify it for the questioner

[LauRoman]

I like full install, on an older ssd i have, that is preloaded with a lot of the stuff i need to recover a machine. I use the usb as a backup if i can't or am not allowed to open the case.