Arch Linux

lardon

Member

Registered: 2008-05-31

Posts: 247

Website

Home directory on USB key?

Hi all,

A friend suggested this idea and it seems like a good idea, I was wondering if something similar already exists or what your opinion of it would be.

The idea is as follows: suppose you could have your home directory on a USB key. To log in on a computer, you'd just have to plug it in, and ta-da! you would be working on your own desktop, with your own files and configuration.
Now I know distros-on-a-stick exist, but the idea would be to only have your home directory on your key, not the full OS. That way you wouldn't have to reboot, and you'd be pretty much architecture-agnostic, and mostly distro-independent.

So is this somehow already possible? The problems I see is the dynamic user account creation - you'd have to create a temporary user each time a person logs in with his key. Also, of course, there would be the problem of user applications, since not all user applications would probably be installed on the computer.

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heleos

Member

From: Maine, USA

Registered: 2007-04-24

Posts: 678

Re: Home directory on USB key?

Not sure if it's possible, but that sounds like a really cool idea. An easy way to carry program specific settings to different PC's

rson451

Member

From: Annapolis, MD USA

Registered: 2007-04-15

Posts: 1,233

Website

Re: Home directory on USB key?

The problem with carrying config files across distros is that distro-specific versions of applications do exist and may handle your config file in a way that you aren't expecting.

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Lord Illidan

Member

From: Malta

Registered: 2007-10-25

Posts: 248

Re: Home directory on USB key?

Can't really see the use for this, I'm afraid. I'd rather have an OS on a stick, than a /home on a stick. And you don't have to reboot, you could use virtualisation, right? Like qemu is used for DSL.

The fact that not all applications you need might be installed, applications might be of different versions, config files might get screwed up in the process, and that you need a linux computer in the first place are all negatives.

thisllub

Member

From: Northern NSW Australia

Registered: 2007-12-28

Posts: 225

Re: Home directory on USB key?

I use a laptop when I am not at this computer.
They are great for portable computing.

.:B:.

Forum Fellow

Registered: 2006-11-26

Posts: 5,818

Re: Home directory on USB key?

You'd have to sync group and user IDs on all systems you'd use (or do a happy chown everytime you get somewhere else). I don't think it's recommended, just get your data portable, not your preferences and stuff.

Flash storage is not suitable for heavy I/O unless you use special file systems that can handle wear leveling, or with special hardware controllers (like the better SSDs on the market).

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