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Alan McKinnon wrote: |
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> On Friday 11 January 2008, Anthony E. Caudel wrote: |
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> |
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>> 2nd question: I must be dense on this one so someone help me out. |
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>> Since a USB stick is seen as a hard drive, why can't I do a standard |
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>> install to it? Is it because until lately they haven't been large |
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>> enough? I'm thinking of using an 8GB one. |
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>> |
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> |
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> There's a few reasons: |
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> |
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> 1. The memory used on those devices has a limited life - about 100,000 |
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> writes for the good ones and maybe 10,000 for the bad ones. With a |
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> standard install, frequent writes are the norm (think cache and other |
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> similar things). This usually ends up at the same spot on the disk, |
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> meaning your new install will last about a month if you are lucky. |
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> There are ways around this, for instance how a LiveCD does things. |
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> |
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> 2. Booting off it is a pain. You need drivers for the entire USB stack |
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> at boot time, which usually means a ginormous initrd. |
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> |
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> 3. Size, which you mentioned |
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> |
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> |
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OK. Then maybe a better solution for a compact portable system would be |
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an external HD. In the laptop size (2.5") the enclosure can just about |
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fit in a shirt pocket. And some of them run off the USB interface. Not |
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as small as a thumbdrive but close. |
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|
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Tony |
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|
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-- |
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Those who would give up essential Liberty, to purchase a little temporary Safety, deserve neither Liberty nor Safety. |
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-- Benjamin Franklin |
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|
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-- |
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