| Did you know that you could get an entire operating | | | | Live USBs can also provide extra privacy, since the |
| system on a flash USB drive? Most firmware in | | | | USB device is carried by the user and storage in a |
| modern PCs allows booting from these drives. That | | | | safe location is easy. However, the small size of these |
| means that a bootable flash drive could allow you to | | | | devices also means that they are easily lost and |
| launch an operating system, this is commonly called | | | | stolen; making backups and encryption more important |
| Live USB and applies mostly to Linux operating | | | | for USB flash drive operating systems than normal |
| systems. However, there is a MS Windows version | | | | desktop operating systems. |
| available and some versions of BSD are also available | | | | Since USB drives have no moving parts, they are able |
| on flash USBs. | | | | to have a faster seek time than optical media and |
| Live USBs are good special purpose or brief tasks like | | | | hard drives, this means small programs start faster |
| doing an operating system install or disk cloning | | | | from USB flash drives than from a live CD or hard |
| operation across a network, loading a minimal kernel | | | | disk. However, the low data transfer speeds of some |
| for embedded operations and maintenance tasks. | | | | USB devices can make booting from them very slow. |
| A properly configured Windows USB flash drive will | | | | In addition, older computers may not have a BIOS that |
| allow you to install a version of Windows XP on a | | | | supports booting from USB devices. Booting an |
| drive, with extra software if there's space. To do this, | | | | operating system from a USB drive may slightly |
| a special utility is required, as well as a fairly large drive. | | | | reduce the life of the flash drive. |
| You will end up with a portable, compact emergency | | | | Carrying your own personal operating system in your |
| version of your operating system. | | | | pocket can be extremely useful for travellers or |
| Live USBs are more commonly used by Linux | | | | people using shared computers. Some sites offer |
| operating systems, and are closely related to the | | | | tutorials on simplified flash drive installation for many |
| now-common live CDs. Like CDs, USBs can be used | | | | different distributions of Linux (which is the most |
| to help test a distribution, recover data and many other | | | | popular OS for this purpose). These tutorials mean it is |
| tasks. Live USBs have many of the same limitations | | | | much easier to install, boot and run your preferred |
| and benefits of a live CD. It is, however, easier for a | | | | distribution, with all your settings and files, from a very |
| live USB's data to be changed, since CDs are usually | | | | small drive. Just be sure you have a large enough |
| permanently written. That makes it easier to use a live | | | | drive and that you are using it in a computer capable |
| USB as personal storage, allowing a user to carry their | | | | of booting from the USB port. |
| preferred applications, operating system and | | | | Note: USB 2.0 capability greatly speeds things up, as |
| configuration. Sharing a single system between multiple | | | | well. |
| users is much easier in this case. | | | | |