My brother was really impressed with my new BodHi installs and wants to try it out, but he is reluctant to affect his windows installations.

I know BodHi can run in a LIVEusb... but that is not the same as a actual install is it (or is it)

Is it possible to install BodHi through the install icon from the live cd onto an actual USB stick and then boot a persistent install from that USB on that computer as if it is installed on the c:... leaving the actual windows dirve completely untouched?

To be honest I never tried this method but you can and tell us how it went:

https://www.tecmint.com/install-linux-os-on-usb-drive/

Stefan

cool.. thanks.

Trying it now.

One thing... why dose he make a 2 partition thing in this... is it so you can store data on the fat partition and acess them from a windows system? I tried to install as it said but BodHi said I needed at least 8 gigs.. so made a 10 ex4 / 6 fat32 instead of what they suggested... if the test works can I just not partition it at all and install using the entire disk?

The plan is to get a usb3 mini usb of 128gig and just have that in the usb... if he wants out he just pulls it out, if he ends up getting into it I'll do a proper hdrive install.

You don't have to use that web tutorial, it is one of many that can be used. Normally I just remove the internal hard drive power/data cable and then boot to a DVD then install to a usb just as you would a normal hard drive. You need not format and partition prior as the installer should do that for you based on how you read installer questions.

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i haven't read the linked article, but wanted to chime in that this part is important as there is a known bug in the ubiquity installer (which bodhi uses. i can source when i have a few more moments of free time if necessary) that will overwrite the bootloader on the internal boot device (the hard drive you use to run your computer) instead of writing it to the usb.

looks like the article does mention it:
this post gives an extensive explanation of the why behind that warning.

note: i haven't tried this with bodhi, but did so with mint before finding the post above and it did very much overwrite my internal drive's bootloader.

There are a few reasons I protect the internal drive. One is for loader, two is for naming and three is I sometimes don't read the questions well.

To make a usb for almost any machine is getting difficult. Uefi, secure boot, 32 bit systems may mean you have to either select a legacy 32 bit and make a modern 64 bit uefi and carry two. It is possible to make them on one but not easy as you'd think.

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Running a full install from a USB stick can be very, very slow.
Be sure to test it first, or that a USB3 plug is available on your brothers machine. Otherwise he might not be so impressed.

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If you're going to disconnect the internal hard drives anyway, can't you just install straight to a usb drive then, nothing special?

In most modern distro's and on most modern hardware the answer would be yes. For a long time Linux has used usb flash drives just like an internal hard drive.

I couldn't really get this to work.. I think it would work but unless you have a usb3 it is slow AF...

my trial with a full mint install on a usb3 was definitely less impressive than it is running it natively. a virtual machine might give your brother a better feel for how it looks specifically on his system.

Yes that is the problem when installing to a usb similar to installing to internal hard drive, so........s..l...o..w.
live usbs run faster as they are set up to run from ram.

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