Cable Forum - How to create a bootable USB Ubuntu drive

Okay i found a guide over at PenDriveLinux.com that allows you to install Ubuntu on a USB drive, only it doesn't work and you will end up with a USB drive that corrupts after the first boot or doesn't work at all and will not save any data for your next reload. Therefore i have modified it to something that DOES work based on my experiences over the last couple of days. Therefore what follows is a similar, but tweaked guide which should allow you to install Ubuntu 7.10 on a USB drive to boot from any computer that will support booting from USB.

USB Ubuntu 7.10 Gutsy Gibbon install (Currently in BETA)

USB Ubuntu 7.10 install from Linux: This tutorial enables you to install, boot and run Ubuntu 7.10 (Gutsy Gibbon) from USB. In addition to installing Ubuntu to a USB device and then booting Ubuntu from USB, this tutorial will enable you to automatically save your changes and settings back to the stick and further restore them on each boot using a second "casper-rw" persistent partition. The tutorial was written for those already familiar with working from Ubuntu or another Linux desktop environment. If you do not have access to or prefer not to use a Windows computer, this Ubuntu Linux on a stick tutorial is for you.

Ubuntu 7.10 takes slightly longer to boot than previous releases. However, once it's up and running, it performs so much better than running from the Live CD!

USB Ubuntu 7.10 Essentials:

* Ubuntu7.10 ISO
* CD Burner
* 1GB USB flash drive (2GB+ recommended)
* Persist710.tar

Ubuntu 7.10 USB installation tutorial:

Hint: You can drastically speed up the install by Copying (Ctrl+c) and Pasting (Ctrl+v) commands into the terminal instead of manually typing them out.

1. Grab the Ubuntu 7.10 ISO and burn it to a CD
2. Insert the CD and your USB flash drive
3. Reboot your computer into Ubuntu from the Live CD
4. Open a terminal window and type sudo su
5. Type fdisk -l to list available drives/partitions. Note which device is your flash drive (example: /dev/sda) Throughout this tutorial, replace x with your flash drive letter. For example, if your flash drive is sdb, replace x with b.
6. Type umount /dev/sdx1
7. Type fdisk /dev/sdx
* type p to show the existing partition and d to delete it
* type p again to show any remaining partitions (if partitions exist, repeat the previous step)
* type n to make a new partition
* type p for primary partition
* type 1 to make this the first partition
* hit enter to use the default 1st cylinder
* type +800M to set the partition size
* type a to make this partition active
* type 1 to select partition 1
* type t to change the partition filesystem
* type 6 to select the fat16 file system
* type n to make another new partition
* type p for primary partition
* type 2 to make this the second partition
* hit enter to use the default cylinder
* hit enter again to use the default last cylinder
* type w to write the new partition table
8. Type umount /dev/sdx1 to ensure the 1st partition is unmounted
9. Type mkfs.vfat -F 16 -n ubuntu710 /dev/sdx1 to format the first partition
10. Type umount /dev/sdx2 just to ensure the 2nd partition is unmounted
11. Type mkfs.ext3 -L casper-rw /dev/sdx2 to format the second partition
12. Remove and Re-insert your flash drive
13. Back at the termina, type apt-get update
14. Type apt-get install syslinux mtools
15. Type syslinux -sf /dev/sdx1
16. Type cd /cdrom
17. Type cp -rf casper disctree dists install pics pool preseed .disk isolinux/* md5sum.txt README.diskdefines ubuntu.ico casper/vmlinuz /media/ubuntu710/
18. Download Persist710.tar file using the archive manager, extract the files within to your "ubuntu710" stick
19. Restart your computer, then set your BIOS boot priority to boot from the USB device and reboot again.

Congratulations, you should now have a USB Ubuntu 7.10 Gutsy Gibbon flash drive that should automatically save your changes, restoring them on boot.

Note: If your having trouble getting Ubuntu to boot, your memory stick may have a corrupted MBR. To repair the MBR of your USB device, at the terminal type sudo apt-get install lilo then type lilo -M /dev/sdx (replacing x with the letter of your flash device)

Good Luck!