On 12/14/24 12:02, Hans wrote:
Hi folks,
I was unaware, that a native installed linux is capable from booting at the
USB-port!
I put a harddrive with linux with a native installed linux (native means, the
harddrive was built-in) in an usb-case and could boot from it. This was nice!
Thus some questions appeared:
1. Is this is normal standard behaviour and can this be confirmed?
2. Does such a booted linux behave as lin ux from built-in harddrive or is
there something I should watch?
I am asking, because I have several harddrives with "built-in"-installations
on it, but I have not enough computers. As I do not want to open my computers
and exchange the harddrive for an upgrade, the idea is, to put these
harddrives into an usb-case, boot these and upgrade it.
This would so much ease my work!
Question is, will this work or will the upgrade possibly destroy some
configurations, because it is now an USB-drive?
If all this is normal standard, what is the technical reason for this? Is this
because the kernel is using initramfs and when this is loaded, it is no
matter, from where it is started?
I would be happy, if you could enlighten me.
Best regards
Hans
Running Debian on a USB drive is a feature of several Linux and BSD
distributions.
Related -- AIUI you can run Debian on a SD card in supported computers;
notably single-board computers (Raspberry Pi, etc.).
While it is possible to run Debian on a USB flash drive, write
performance is lacking. Interactive use can be choppy. Write-intensive
workloads can overheat and/or destroy USB flash drives.
I have standardized on 2.5" SATA SSD's for my OS drives. I keep my OS
images small and put my data on a file server. I have a stack of 2.5"
SATA SSD's with various OS instances. I have laptops with externally
accessible 2.5" SATA drive bays. I install 2.5" SATA mobile racks in my
desktops, workstations, and servers [1, 2]. I can mix and match SSD's
and computers as desired.
I also have a USB-SATA adapter cable [3] that I can use to boot an SSD
in supported computers. This is very handy for maintenance and
trouble-shooting; especially for machines whose internal drives are not
readily accessible.
David
[1] https://www.startech.com/en-us/hdd/hsb220sat25b
[2] https://www.startech.com/en-us/hdd/s25slotr
[3] https://www.startech.com/en-us/hdd/usb3s2sat3cb
