OT:burn - not install to usb

[JD]

On 06/19/2010 08:06 PM, Mick M. was caught red-handed while writing::
> Hi;
>    I found a couple of 16MB usb sticks in a drawer.
> I have the latest systemrescuecd and want to "burn" it to the USB stick.
> An install needs>  512MB, this is only 16M.
>
> I tried using dd but it would not boot.
>
> To be clear I want the USB stick to act like a blank cd.
> Is this possible?
>
> thanks
>   Mick M.
>
>
> Standard guarantee applies - 30 feet or 30 seconds, whichever comes first.
>
> #  find / -name "*your base*" -exec chown us:us {} \;
>    

You already state that the install needs 512MB of space, and
your usb stick is only a 16MB.
You cannot squeez 512MB into 16MB unless you have an ingenious
lossless compression scheme.

Now, if you mean to say you have 16GB usb sticks, then you are in luck.
There is a piece of software called liveusb-creator which can install
a live linux cdrom to a usb stick. See
https://fedorahosted.org/liveusb-creator/

Warning: I have used a usb stick, and it is even rated (by manufacturer)
to sustain 30MB/s read/write. Well, that turned out to be an exaggeration
to say the least.
Really, it is just not "use-able". Way too slow. You age 10 years til
you finish writing a medium size file.
On the other hand, if you can arrange for /tmp a and /var/tmp to be
ram-based pseudo disks, then you will get some usefulness out of it,
like browsing and web based email.
Any apps that need to store data to the flash will be slower than a slug,
and I do not mean to slight slugs :) They are good to my garden's soil,
but not to my plants.

Also, remember that flash drives have a limited number of times that
you write into any given location. Once exceeded, then you get very
likely data loss.