Puppy linux on a SDHC

[frosafelix]

Hello,

I'm in the following situation:
My laptop's HDD died, so I'm currently hard driveless. Since I don't want to invest more money on this laptop, because I have it for a few years now, and would like to keep the money to invest it in a better computer later, I'm using LiveCD alternatives. Booting Ubuntu from my pendrive is not revealing to be the best of experiences, it freezes a lot, so I was considering Puppy Linux, due to its ease of use and size. I was thinking about booting Linux from a SDHC, because it would be convenient, as it could just stay in the card reader as long as I please, while booting from a pendrive, I have to remove it frequently. So, my idea was install it in a SDHC class 4, and use a combination of DVD's, pendrives and cloud storage for managing my files. Do you think I'm aiming for a good solution? Give me some advice, please.

My laptop: Toshiba Satellite A200-1C3
2 Gb Ram DDR2 667
Dead hard drive
ATI Radeon HD2400
Intel Core Duo at 2.0 Ghz

I want to use it solely for word processing, e-mail, internet for most needs (music, videos, games), and running TES V Skyrim at full settings. Just kidding

[rokytnji]

So, my idea was install it in a SDHC class 4,

How many gigs? If big enough. My save file fit's ok on a 4gig Kingston usb that runs Macpup 528 on Different computers.

cloud storage for managing my files. Do you think I'm aiming for a good solution?

Should be OK for Media files like movies and music. If worried about keeping them on the sdhc card. Or. Keep music and movies on another pendrive if not having access to internet when playing movies.

Save files on shutdown can be saved to external USB drive or cd or dvd also. They will be required to be inserted during Puppy bootup off of sdhc install so Puppy can find the save files on cd or usb though. I KNOW Flash (a mod here) is a big believer in just running Puppy of a DVD disk and keeping save files on his DVD disk. No sdhc or pendrive required for his way of running Puppy off of DVD disk.

Lot's of ways to do what you wish to do.

[frosafelix]

I was thinking about 4 Gb, exactly. My fear was that since the read/write is slower than on pendrives, I would have problems. Anyway, I have to make sure that it works, since I tried putting a blank SD on my card reader, and it wasn't on the BIOS bootup selection.

I'm gonna install it in a 1 Gb SD I have sitting around, just to experiment.

Aren't DVD-RW's kind of slow to boot an OS?

[rjbrewer]

I was thinking about 4 Gb, exactly. My fear was that since the read/write is slower than on pendrives, I would have problems. Anyway, I have to make sure that it works, since I tried putting a blank SD on my card reader, and it wasn't on the BIOS bootup selection.

I'm gonna install it in a 1 Gb SD I have sitting around, just to experiment.

Aren't DVD-RW's kind of slow to boot an OS?

Unless the machine sees the sd card as a bootable device,
it will be necessary to use an external usb card reader.

[frosafelix]

That makes sense, but then, I won't be fulfilling what I intend by installing it in a SD, which is have free USB slots, and the convenience of not having to take out the bootable pen each time I'm taking my laptop somewhere. It just feels more practical to me, because I might as well just use a pendrive, and have the same results.

[PaulBx1]

while booting from a pendrive, I have to remove it frequently.

Why? Because it sticks out, and you haul your laptop around a lot, and you don't want it to break off?

You may be able to find very small and short pendrives that you can leave in without risk. Here's one:

http://www.amazon.com/Lexar-Echo-backup ... 521&sr=1-2

Here's an interesting one with a mini sd card in it:

http://www.amazon.com/ELAGO-Mobile-Read ... m_sbs_e_29

I too experimented with booting from sdhc. It turned out my netbook couldn't boot from sd cards, so I boot from USB flash drives now. I also noticed the performance of the sd card, compared to the flash drive (both chosen for maximum possible speed) was significantly slower. So I gave up on sd cards other than for ordinary extra storage.

[frosafelix]

Thanks for the tip, those are really cool products. Yeah, basically, it's just because I set the BIOS to boot from USB, and if I start the laptop without the pendrive on, I have to set the boot priority again next time I boot, because it's gonna boot CD (since there's no HDD). It's not that it takes that long, but it just doesn't feel very practical. I'll try to find something with a more appropriate size like what you showed me.