Installing Ubuntu onto USB pen drive

[Paul M]

Tom Harling wrote:
> I have a 32gb USB pen drive ( 
> http://scan.co.uk/Product.aspx?WebProductId=514882 but 32gb). If I want 
> to install Ubuntu Linux 8 onto it, can I simply connect the drive to my 
> computer, put in a Ubuntu live CD and press install? I guess that since 
> it is 32gb and not something small like 2gb I can just install it as if 
> it were a normal HDD?

mostly, yes. however, various suggestions I have come across are

* use ext2 not ext3, the latter will wear the drive out faster

* instead of installing directly to the drive, do it with a loopback 
mount of a temporary file of the right size first.


I'd also suggest leaving some FAT32 space on the drive to make it useful 
for transferring files to non linux machines.

more info here:
http://www.pendrivelinux.com/