Boot from DVD; save changes to USB

[xxbeanxx]

I am wondering if it is possible to boot from the DVD but make any changes persist on my USB thumbdrive. I have two reasons for this. 1) one of my laptops cannot boot USB; 2) I only have a small 2G thumbdrive.

I did the bootable usb thing and everything work fine, my changes survived reboots.. The problem with that is I only had a little over 300M for changes and it quickly filled up. I tried booting off the DVD and selecting the persistent mode but it didn't save my changes. I also tried adding the kernel parameter changes=/dev/sdb1 but that didn't work (although I did see the thumbdrive lighting up an aweful lot).

It seems like all of my googling only gets me hits for making a bootable usb device which is not what I need. Hope you can help, thanks.

[0m3gasw1tch]

I take it you've updated the BIOS on your laptop that won't boot via USB to the latest version? As you know, BIOS updates can provide both fixes to existing problems and new functionality (such as the ability to boot from USB). I had a non-USB-bootable laptop circa 1999 that had this very problem until I updated its firmware. Check the manufacturer's website for your system.

If the above doesn't help, and you're positive the BIOS doesn't contain any option to boot from USB, you're next best bet is to create either a bootable CD or floppy disk that contains the USB drivers for your system, which you can use in conjunction with your BT4 USB stick. Have a search around the net and you'll find the details on how to do this.

Regardless, investment in a larger USB disk is your best bet - they're getting quite cheap now (as low as $10 for an 8GB) and will negate the requirement for multiple media types.

[xX_Spiidey_Xx]

afaik, their bios isn't what the op should be looking at. they can boot just fine from usb. i think the underlying problem here is that your usb drive isn't mounted at boot time, so bt doesn't know where to put the changes.

Regardless, investment in a larger USB disk is your best bet - they're getting quite cheap now (as low as $10 for an 8GB) and will negate the requirement for multiple media types.

i am in total agreement with this statement. although many older computers' bioses do not support booting from usb, this route would be your best bet for doing what you want to do with regards to a persistent boot, and knowing that you can boot from usb on your computer is half the battle. now all you need to do is make the investment in the stick.

[0m3gasw1tch]

afaik, their bios isn't what the op should be looking at. they can boot just fine from usb.

I don't think so - xxbeanxx has indicated two problems:

1) one of my laptops cannot boot USB; 2) I only have a small 2G thumbdrive.

Like I said, try the BIOS update path first followed by a bootable CD/Floppy containing the relevant USB drivers to address the first problem, and buy a bigger USB stick to address the second problem.