Ask HN: Is Pen Drive a reliable/safe option for Boot?

2 points by manikandaraj 4y ago ↗ HN

I have couple of Laptops which came with Windows 10 pre-installed. I want to run Linux(Centos before, now Rocky Linux) in those Laptops. I don't want to install them directly in the Hard Drive with Dual Boot. So I installed the Rocky Linux onto a Pen Drive and whenever I want to boot RockyLinux, I simply plug in my Pen Drive and hit the boot options and choose.

This is working Great so far, despite little sluggishness due to the Pen Drive Speed(I'm looking for a faster one).

Is anyone using the same option and is Pen Drive a Safe boot option, will it get corrupt ?

1 comment

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simonblack 4y ago ↗

Pen drives can be just as good as a normal hard drive. A bit slower, that's all. Note that there are faster pendrives out there. I use a SanDisk Extreme Pro 256 GB and that's quite usable. It's what I call a 'Lifeboat OS' in case the main machines 'sink'.

I probably went the other way to you. I did a complete Windows 7 reinstallation on one of my SSD laptops, and that one is now the only one with Windows, and it's dedicated to just Windows.

I then wiped Windows completely from my desktop and other laptops, in favour of Linux Mint MATE.