I've been using Linux for a few years now and I'm using Zorin linux as my default OS. I have a partition available for trying out new distros. I recently started using a thumb drive instead of burning the distro to a CD or DVD. I'm using a 16 GB sandisk 'blade' I'm using Unetbootin software to install the live CD to the thumb drive.

I then installed Mint13 'Cinnamon' on the spare partition. The install went smoothly and it booted just fine and the update also went well.
The problems began as I started to customizing my desktop and installing my favorite apps. I experienced crashes using Thunderbird and then my DVD drive disappeared from my system. My desktop icons also disappeared.

My question is... could these problems be caused by installing Mint from a thumb drive or perhaps the updates? The reason I ask is because this was the first time I used a USB drive for installing linux. I replaced Mint Cinnamon with Mint13 'Mate' and it also started to become unstable. Could it be that Cinnamon and Mate are not ready for prime Time?

Thanks in Advance
Wdhpr

I don't believe that is the problem. I have been using the same flash drive to install various Linux distros on my ASUS netbook. I have never had the problem that you describe. Of course my netbook does not have any optical drive.

Any data problem can be the cause. There are some usb drives that had been installed as a native install that seem to have issues. A pendrive install or live install to a usb shouldn't cause it.

I'd look at /var logs for starts. Run memtest. Check the checksum or shal of the download or verify the data. Run hard drive diags maybe too.

May have to set bios settings or look for other issues. Not all computers will run linux or windows.