Install fedora 16 to 8 gb flash drive (from windows 7).
 

Have an 8 gb flash drive (sandisk cruzer) and would like to install fedora 16 live onto it, so that I can run it and keep it update.

This is what I tried. booted into windows 7 inserted live cd and flash drive. Rebooted into live cd, and redirected install to sandisk cruzer, when I clicked on next got a not enough memory messages (flash drive was reformatted fat 32).

Any other way to do this?

Henry

Don't like your chances. My fairly minimal install occupies 5 Gig plus swap and /home.
Anaconda (the installer) tends to have non-negotiable sizes built into it. And they tend to be on the larger end of the scale.

The release notes state all up may be over 9 Gig - depending on package selection - plus space required during the install itself. So even if you finish up being able to fit, Anaconda can't know that in advance.

Guess I need a bigger boat (flash drive).

Henry

I am of the opinion that you should look for a Fedora Respin. These are special versions of Fedora. One of them may be a USB installable version. For a 16gig flash drive, using Linux, I was able to partition the flash drive into two partitions. One was set to ext3, the other to fat32. I did not try booting from the flash drive. It should however be possible, as may Linux versions offer the ability to boot from an 800meg (cd image) of Linux.

Fedora will not install to a fat32 filesystem (Windows). You must use a Linux filesystem (I recommend ext4).

If space is at a premium you can use a "lighter" spin (such as LXDE) or a "lightweight" distro like SliTaz or Puppy.

Alternately you can create a "persistent Live USB" rather than a full "install." Many users feel this is the optimum solution for USB thumb drives. :)

Ok I see I will need larger flash drive and format to ext4, wiil check into repsins.

Henry

No, you don't flat out need a bigger drive. You need to be careful on this install.

To be safe, I suggest that you install a virtual machine that has usb support to the windows 7. VMplayer or Virtualbox maybe.

Create a live cd or a fedora machine in the VM. Just a normal install would create a drive but you may have to boot to the live cd then turn off and remove the VM's virtual disk. Then boot again and attach the usb to the booted live fedora iso. Then you just install to the usb.

You can't boot to a vm with a usb so you will have to reboot to your host system. Then you will be able to update. I have used older Fedora like 14 but I use OpenSuse now on a 8g flash with room to spare but not a lot of room.

You can also do this from the host if you remove power to your hard drives.

If you want you could get a larger drive if you want to install a lot of apps. The base install could have some stuff removed. I doubt you would install everything. The everything install has stuff like development and stuff not normally required for a portable install.

When I tried to install fedora 17 alpha live cd to 8gb flash drive (ext4 format) it say / 4096 not enough memory for either home or swap? can't remember which.

Henry