mylivecd: How would you use a remaster image larger than 4 GB ?

[AS]

Hi All,

looking around the forum at an apparently increased number of members that need to deal with large remaster, larger than 4 GB which is the current limit of our tools, I'm interested to know which devices/media would be mostly used.

My idea is that USB sticks are the most used devices, today and in the near future, however I could be wrong... so this is the reason of the poll.

To use a DVD-9 you need a double layer capable optical unit, and of course 9 GB DVD-R/RW media.

Although you are currently limited because of the 4 GB size limit, please answer as if this 4 GB limit would not exists.

The poll will be closed in 30 days. Thank you.  

AS

EDIT/ADDED:

Actually I see some interesting use for remasters larger than 4 GB:
Full Monty based installations ...
Full backup of relatively small installations including some user's data ...
VirtualBox guests to verify large remasters ...
Archives on DVD for long time storage when both user's data and related installed programs need to be in sync.

All things that while are still possible today, could be simplified by using larger remasters.

[pags]

Hmmm.  First vote for memory stick (8GB+)...

But really, any USB device (stick, HDD, card reader) would do.  Optical media seems kinda slow (I have no experience with Blu-Ray)

[Just18]

Hi AS,
              as you well know my main use would be with USB flash sticks.
But I would also use a large remaster on an internal HDD ....  as a liveHDD install.

I generally keep one small partition on my PC with a liveHDD install .....  in case of necessity.

In addition I have a couple of liveUSB installs on an External HDD.

 Yeah, I know ....  sad!

For me it would be a great advantage to be able to carry around my full install on a 16GB flash stick, and also to have it on liveHDD in case of emergency.

The present 4GB limitation does curtail what I can add to the live image.

regards.

[Old-Polack]

I voted for USB external HDD, but in fact my external HDD is connectable by either USB or e-SATA.

[wedgetail]

I voted for other, but probably could be in another category if drive is in a 'box' USB or e-Sata.

USB is probably the route as this is now wide spread.

When my local computer wizzard will allow me to obtain ssd drives I would like to get a 64GB and see how much faster re-start time can be improved.   

[Just18]

For the purpose of the poll I think it could be whittled down to two choices ........  optical media and the rest/other.

The rest could be any of USB flash, USB connected HDD, USB connected SSD, internal HDD, internal SSD, firewire connected ..... etc etc. They all boot in a similar manner.

A liveOS can be installed on any of them.

[AS]

For the purpose of the poll I think it could be whittled down to two choices ........  optical media and the rest/other.

... Hmmm ... actually I'm interested about both: media and connectivity .... I listed the most used and the others ...

We can still easily sum up the 2 optical media choice and separately sum up the others 

[Old-Polack]

Put another way, two broad device categories; those with defined size limitations, and those whose size is open ended.

[djohnston]

Voted USB external disk. Although I have a 16GB USB thumb drive, I think putting an image of up to 9GB on it wouldn't leave a lot of room for other things like data transfers and other isos.

[Archie]

Most of my remasters are currently under 4 GiB but I am not discounting the probability of larger remasters in the future. USB flash disk are most ideal for me to carry around on keychains. One thing I am interested in is the reformatting of  /dev/mmcblk0 to ext3 and the possibility of booting into a LiveSD.

[AS]

Most of my remasters are currently under 4 GiB but I am not discounting the probability of larger remasters in the future. USB flash disk are most ideal for me to carry around on keychains. One thing I am interested in is the reformatting of  /dev/mmcblk0 to ext3 and the possibility of booting into a LiveSD.

Provided that your BIOS support boot from SD cards, this is already available from current tools.

[Just18]

Unashamed plug :       For those interested in liveOS the new version of LiveUSB Creator is in the repo now.

BTW .....  in spite of its name, it is capable of putting a LiveOS on any removable media which has an ext partition, be that external HDD connected by USB or Firewire.

[Archie]

Unashamed plug :       For those interested in liveOS the new version of LiveUSB Creator is in the repo now.

BTW .....  in spite of its name, it is capable of putting a LiveOS on any removable media which has an ext partition, be that external HDD connected by USB or Firewire.

And thank you so much for such a useful piece of app. It's this little things that makes our distro more personal and ... better IMO.

[AndrzejL]

I would use dual layer dvd or a pendrive.

Is it possible to make remasters bigger then 4 gigs nowadays? I remember it was restricted to 4.3 and would love to see this change as my installation + files won't fit 4.3 gig anymore.

Regards.

Andy

[AS]

I would use dual layer dvd or a pendrive.

Is it possible to make remasters bigger then 4 gigs nowadays?

Actually it's possible using pendrives or any other ext2/3/4 formatted devices, you may need to use mylivecd --workdir (or --noclean) to not delete the "files" and to use PCLinuxOS-LiveUSB selecting "files/.sqfs file" instead of ISO image.