How To Make A Bootable Flash Drive

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cmbs
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How To Make A Bootable Flash Drive

#1 Post by cmbs »

100% portable OS with saved sessions and disk space for saving files.

This will give you a flash drive with two partitions: one bootable with Puppy Linux on it; and the other empty storage space on a FAT32 file system, which means both Linux and Windows can read and save to the partition. It will allow you to save your session files on the storage partition and have them with you anywhere you take the flash drive, along with the space to save any other files you may want to access later with either/both operating systems. Also works with an SD card and card reader.


How I Made A Bootable Thumb Drive With Storage Accessible To Both Puppy Linux And Windows.


1. Boot up Puppy Linux.
2. Insert blank usb flash drive.
3. Open menu -> setup -> installing utilities -> Bootflash install Puppy to usb.
4. Choose ComboFormat and follow instructions to format drive.
5. You will get an option to install puppy, if you have an iso file then go ahead and do it. If not, then use the universal installer after closing this app.
6. When finished, open menu -> system -> system memory -> GParted partition manager.
7. Select the usb drive you are formatting and press ok. A new window will open.
8. You should see two partitions on your flash drive: one about 130mb FAT16 with Puppy installed and one with the remaining storage on your disk called puppysave.
9. Don't mess with the partition with Puppy Linux on it!!
10. Right click and delete the puppysave partition, the one that does not have Puppy Linux saved on it - your storage drive. At the bottom of the window, right click and apply all operations.
11. Right click the unallocated space and create a new primary drive FAT32 file system. At the bottom of the window, apply all operations. I don't know why you have to delete and create a new partition, but it doesn't work if you don't.


You should now be able to boot up Puppy Linux with this flash drive, read and save files to it from within Linux, and also read and save files to it from within Windows. In Windows Computer Manager it will show the Puppy Linux drive, but won't allow you access. You can access the second drive though, the storage drive.

You might have to right click and give the second drive a drive letter before Windows will access it.

If you get a disk error when trying to boot from the flash drive, remove any other usb flash drives from your computer and try again.

edit:
I'm using Windows XP and Puppy Linux Lucid Quickset 5.1.1.

pouncer
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Joined: Fri 05 Aug 2011, 22:06

Best way for sneaker net?

#2 Post by pouncer »

Is this -- partitioning the USB/SD -- the best or only way? Or one of several such ways?

I'm used to Windows. I've just started with XO-Pup on an OLPC-XO vintage 1. The XO boots from a 4 Gbyte SD memory card. The Puppy Linux XO-PUP files with personal save files use about 512 MB of the SD. The Puppy OS works great, and much more familar than the OLPC XO "Sugar" system. I will even so be leaving Sugar on the XO itself and using Puppy only as an alternate OS booting only from and within the SD memory.

I'd like, however, to load up the SD card (or USB stick) with "media" from various Windows machines. Media will include MP3 Music files, EPUB e-book files, and z5 interactive fiction game files. The apps in Puppy then should allow the XO to act as the "player" . Using default puppy media player, the FBReader app for books, and Gargoyle for interactive fiction.

Can I "mount" a folder from the SD card that holds the media? Or is the 3.5 Gb not used by Puppy better partitioned off to a separate drive? Or would you advise a noob just to use the SD as a boot source and a separate USB device in one of the XO's other USB ports? If that last, point please to the forum page on mounting other drives for XO-PUP.

Thanks

cmbs
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#3 Post by cmbs »

Hi.

I don't know a lot about this stuff, but I think the answer to your question is yes, you can mount the folders on the other partition of the usb drive.

I am able to open files, while logged on to puppy linux, that are on the other partition, and I think that's what you're asking.

Then I can also access the same files, on the non-puppy partition, from Windows. That's the beauty.

I did not try with an SD card so I don't know if it will work. I suggest you backup your linux and whatever you want to keep and just try it. You can always reformat the disk and do something else with it. Be sure to follow my instructions, I tried a lot of things before finding what worked.

pouncer
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Joined: Fri 05 Aug 2011, 22:06

Partitioned Bootable flash

#4 Post by pouncer »

Thanks. I'll give it a try.

disciple
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#5 Post by disciple »

I don't really see what the advantage would be for most people if they installed Puppy in his own partition. What's wrong with a frugal install in the FAT32 partition?
Do you know a good gtkdialog program? Please post a link here

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Eireen
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Joined: Mon 05 Sep 2011, 04:44

#6 Post by Eireen »

What flash drive better use for this matter? I mean, what configuration and how much memory will be enough?
Last edited by Eireen on Sun 25 Sep 2011, 00:35, edited 2 times in total.
[url=http://www.intellectsoft.net/ipad_applications_development.html]ipad developer[/url]

nooby
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#7 Post by nooby »

disciple wrote:I don't really see what the advantage would be for most people if they installed Puppy in his own partition. What's wrong with a frugal install in the FAT32 partition?
I support what disciple say there. And that would answer Eireen too?
Eireen if one do like disciple say then one have the whole USB flash as a shared area for both linux and windows.

disciple what is the easiest way to get a puppy frugally installed on the usb flash then?
I use Google Search on Puppy Forum
not an ideal solution though

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technosaurus
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#8 Post by technosaurus »

i think shinobar made a tool for easy/quick frugal installs (though I haven't used it)

I normally just mount the iso (by clicking on it) then copy the files to a folder and modify an old grub entry (menu.lst) with a new psubdir="that_folder"

here is mine for a wary frugal install on sda5

Code: Select all

title wary frugal
rootnoverify (hd0,4)
kernel /wary/vmlinuz pmedia=atahd psubdir=wary
initrd /wary/initrd.gz

since wary 5.? the init script also allows full paths to the sfs files
Check out my [url=https://github.com/technosaurus]github repositories[/url]. I may eventually get around to updating my [url=http://bashismal.blogspot.com]blogspot[/url].

monte
Posts: 1
Joined: Thu 08 Sep 2011, 13:15

bootable flash

#9 Post by monte »

to cmbs

I used a 2g usb flash.

I followed the steps, but comboformat only returned a single fat16 partition and trying to install with already download iso returned a screen saying that fail to mount usb, but the copying of iso screen is also displayed.

using the cd iso would returned that the usb was not bootable and had to flag it manually. After flagging it to be bootable, puppy could be installed, but after the 1st boot and working with firebox, the 2nd boot declared kernal panic and hanged.

can you please advise?

monte

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