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#1 2013-04-19 05:50:24

acgtyrant
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From: Hangzhou, China
Registered: 2013-04-09
Posts: 62
Website

Is it suitable install Arch Linux on a USB key?

I want to install Arch Linux on a USB  key following the wiki https://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/In … _a_USB_key

But I now heard that Arch Linux will be very very slow than LiveUSB because of USB's bad I/O speed. Is it real?

Forgive my poor English, thank you!


I use Arch Linux.

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#2 2013-04-19 06:08:17

jacobopantoja
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From: Madrid
Registered: 2011-03-16
Posts: 44

Re: Is it suitable install Arch Linux on a USB key?

Probably it depends on the USB key used. I've one Arch installation in an USB and it is sometimes slow, but I have enabled the "complete" journal feature to the EXT4 filesystem, and I have it encrypted, so probably this slowness could be mitigated without the journal and without encryption (i.e. the default options).

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#3 2013-04-19 07:53:30

Mr Green
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From: U.K.
Registered: 2003-12-21
Posts: 5,893
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Re: Is it suitable install Arch Linux on a USB key?

Generally usb install is going to be slower than a real hard drive. That said if you go for small applications and lighter window manager you can get a reasonable system running. Working on a usb installer at the moment, check my blog for more details.

Last edited by Mr Green (2013-04-19 07:54:12)


Mr Green

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#4 2013-04-19 09:10:40

McDoenerKing
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From: Germany
Registered: 2010-06-21
Posts: 59

Re: Is it suitable install Arch Linux on a USB key?

Use a sdhc class ten card if applicable :-)

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#5 2013-04-19 09:48:22

chord
Member
Registered: 2012-11-07
Posts: 121

Re: Is it suitable install Arch Linux on a USB key?

I had a Debian on the usb stick (was made with remastersys). The main feature - squashfs. Worked faster than harddrive installation, because all the system booted into RAM. But I'm not sure in possibility to use squashfs with Arch.

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#6 2013-04-19 11:12:48

Mr Green
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From: U.K.
Registered: 2003-12-21
Posts: 5,893
Website

Re: Is it suitable install Arch Linux on a USB key?

Archiso is based on squashfs, and of course it has the option to run from ram


Mr Green

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#7 2013-04-19 13:59:36

swanson
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From: Sweden
Registered: 2011-02-05
Posts: 759

Re: Is it suitable install Arch Linux on a USB key?

Boot is slower. Browsers can be accelerated with their cache in ram. So go for it!

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#8 2013-04-19 14:18:35

acgtyrant
Member
From: Hangzhou, China
Registered: 2013-04-09
Posts: 62
Website

Re: Is it suitable install Arch Linux on a USB key?

Actually I spent some times to study USB, and I concluded out that it is relate with USB's performance, as example, USB 3.0 is better than USB 2.0, SLC is better than MLC.

So the better performance of USB the more suitable to install Arch Linux. However, it will costs me much money to buy expensive USB:)

@Mr Green What's your blog? Is this http://archbang.org/?


I use Arch Linux.

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#9 2013-04-19 14:24:13

Mr Green
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From: U.K.
Registered: 2003-12-21
Posts: 5,893
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Re: Is it suitable install Arch Linux on a USB key?


Mr Green

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#10 2013-04-19 14:40:51

teateawhy
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From: GER
Registered: 2012-03-05
Posts: 1,138
Website

Re: Is it suitable install Arch Linux on a USB key?

I think it is not worth buying a more expensive USB stick for this purpose, unless you use the USB installation every day. I have a rather cheap USB stick, and the boot time is acceptable, a bit better than from a harddrive.
A negative aspect is the time it takes to upgrade your system with pacman, because write speeds are very slow.

Last edited by teateawhy (2013-04-19 14:42:32)

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#11 2013-04-19 14:51:17

acgtyrant
Member
From: Hangzhou, China
Registered: 2013-04-09
Posts: 62
Website

Re: Is it suitable install Arch Linux on a USB key?

@teateawhy I will use it in computer lab and others everyday:)


I use Arch Linux.

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#12 2013-04-19 15:20:57

chord
Member
Registered: 2012-11-07
Posts: 121

Re: Is it suitable install Arch Linux on a USB key?

acgtyrant wrote:

I will use it in computer lab and others everyday:)

If you planning to use it everyday, especially in read-write mode, it will kills your stick quickly, no matter what a stick/vendor you will choose.

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#13 2013-04-19 15:55:42

Mr Green
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From: U.K.
Registered: 2003-12-21
Posts: 5,893
Website

Re: Is it suitable install Arch Linux on a USB key?


Mr Green

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#14 2013-04-19 22:33:28

DSpider
Member
From: Romania
Registered: 2009-08-23
Posts: 2,273

Re: Is it suitable install Arch Linux on a USB key?

You should probably look into Btrfs compression (less data written on a slow drive -> faster performance; at least in theory).

Don't save a swapfile on it. Basically, a lot of the tips from this article apply.


"How to Succeed with Linux"

I have made a personal commitment not to reply in topics that start with a lowercase letter. Proper grammar and punctuation is a sign of respect, and if you do not show any, you will NOT receive any help (at least not from me).

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#15 2013-04-20 12:24:04

Mr Green
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From: U.K.
Registered: 2003-12-21
Posts: 5,893
Website

Re: Is it suitable install Arch Linux on a USB key?

My usb drive was set up using genfstab

UUID=d483c674-bc35-4dfe-aac2-19d39d8cf48f	/         	ext4      	rw,relatime,data=ordered	0 1

Mr Green

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