Creating a Bootable USB Survival Stick

[hanzel]

I know very little about linux, but it's not a new idea for me.  But what's this "Puppy" you guys are talking about?  All I really want is to have a USB drive that I can put info on and encrypt it.  Should I start a new thread?
~CRCJ

http://distrowatch.com/table.php?distribution=puppy

Puppy Linux

[Docwatmo]

Any usb memory stick can store data and there are software packages that can encrypt it.  (some sticks come with encryption).

Puppy is just one version of linux that boots off of USB very well and runs fast off a stick.

[idelphic]

Puppy is nothing more then a flavor of linux.  It has been trimmed down and geared for portable use either on CD or on USB.  

ETA From www.Puppylinux.org:

Linux is a free operating system, and Puppy Linux is a special build of Linux meant to make computing easy and fast.

Puppy Linux enables you to save money while doing more work, even allowing you to do magic by recovering data from destroyed PCs or by removing malware from Windows.

[idelphic]

There does seem to be different releases of the Puppy Linux - Lucid and Wary.  Not sure what the 'real' difference is.

[hanzel]

There does seem to be different releases of the Puppy Linux - Lucid and Wary.  Not sure what the 'real' difference is.

I cant find lucid where are you seeing it at ? Wary is just the current version.

[Docwatmo]

Lucid is the entire 5.x series.  (both 5.1 and the current 5.2).   Wary is a bug/fix/update/overlay whatever you want to call it for older equipment.  Basically, if Lucid works (5.2 is the current) then use it, if it doesn't work on your hardware, then try the Wary distro.  


http://puppylinux.org/main/Download%20Latest%20Release.htm

Download the latest 5.2 Lucid from here and burn it to a CD and then boot from it.  Play around and if you like it, I'll repost the instructions for building a boot-able stick with it.  (You can also run entirely on the CD and still use a stick to save data but CD's are bigger and more prone to damage.

[CountryRootsCityJob]

Wow, between the all of you, things make a lot more sense now!  I'll see if I can't try that out... what's the chance I'll do irreparable damage to my computer (like changing something that will effect how windows runs) while I'm doing this?  My thought is none, but some assurance wouldn't hurt    I appreciate your patience and help.

~CRCJ

[Docwatmo]

When you boot from a CD or Stick to Puppy, It doesn't affect your local computer.  However it does mount the hard drives so you can read them.  They will show up at the bottom left of your desktop as SDA1 or SDA2 etc.  You can open these, copy the files, move files and pretty much do anything you could with any other operating system.  Just don't modify root, or windows system files and your fine.    I use puppy as a recovery OS.  I boot a machine that wont work to puppy, copy the files off onto an external Hard drive or stick, then I can do some repairs (Replace bad or corrupt windows files etc), and reboot the machine.  Worst comes to worst, I can format the OS and reinstall windows then copy their data back on.

Just don't run the "Partitioning" programs in the utility directory.  Everything else is sweet.

[CountryRootsCityJob]

SDA1 or SDA2 etc.  You can open these, copy the files, move files and pretty much do anything you could with any other operating system.  Just don't modify root, or windows system files and your fine...

Just don't run the "Partitioning" programs in the utility directory.  Everything else is sweet.

Haha, no problem... (I don't know how to do either of those) 
~CRCJ

[hanzel]

 
http://puppylinux.org/main/Download%20Latest%20Release.htm

And if I click on the release notes http://distro.ibiblio.org/pub/linux/distributions/puppylinux/puppy-5.2/release-Lucid-520.htm and break down and actually ..ohhh..read  but to quote a famous politician " I am payed to lead, not to read " 

[Ralph]

You may want to check out: 

https://tails.boum.org/install/

I have this installed on a 256GB usb stick with a 100GB encrypted partition I made with Truecrypt, and a third unencrypted partition of about 130GB for general use.  Tails is Linux based, bootable, has built in browsers, Libre office, and more. It can open a Truecrypt file or partition without Truecrypt (using the password of cause) or you can configure it to use it's own encrypted partition.

Tails will erase the usb stick on install so beware of anything already on it you want to keep.  If memory serves, I first installed Tails without the 'persistant' partition.  Then I used the built in disk utility to create the 100GB and 130GB partitions.  Once made I used Truecrypt to encrypt the 100GB partition.  If wanted you can even bypass Truecrypt and just use the built in persitant volume feature.  If you do plug this into a windows machine it will probably say you need to format the drive- don't do it or you will destroy your information- ignore and close the warning.  Every now and then I back up the entire stick, sector by sector including unused space with Acronis True Image just in case I loose the usb drive.

[Docwatmo]

Tails rocks.  This thread has been dormant for a while.  Since the last time I posted, I've upgraded my sticks to YUMI boot sticks.  I have 4 to 10 live versions of linux on each stick. (Ensures compatibility with a wider range of hardware).   I need to learn more about the encryption options.   Are you using USB 3.0 sticks yet?  I have found some issues with USB 3.0.  2.0 sticks work flawlessly.

Doc

[Ralph]

I created Tails on a Samsung stick.  I keep it on a keychain, and although there are smaller physical drives around I still like it.  I bought that one in a gray color to be able to quickly tell it from another one I have in silver which is used for a backup.  I use it primarily on an Asus laptop and at some point which I can't recall had to go to the Asus site to see how to make a change in the BIOS so I could boot from it again.  I rarely use Tails to do anything online aside from doing an occasional update- there's a recent update if you haven't checked for a while.  For some reason it still will not boot to Tails on occasion and I let windows come up and set it to advanced recovery and point it toward the Samsung- that works.

I've never heard of YUMI boot sticks.  From what I have read, some USB sticks do not like to be used as bootable although offhand I cannot remember the reason.  I am using the Samsung on Windows10 with the latest updates, and used it last night to update Tails.

I just checked the card it came on, it's a Samsung BAR Plus, USB3.1 drive, 256GB.  Of cause there are lower capacities for less money, but on one benchmark site it said the smaller capacities are slower- which may not be a problem.  With 3 partitions I went for the larger size.  They claims 300MB/s transfer, but like most specs it will probably not be that fast in real life.

[Docwatmo]

YUMI is a bootloader. Just search for it.  It runs from windows and formats a USB stick to bootable device.  Then you use YUMI to load Images onto the stick with.  I have had trouble booting on some USB 3.0 sticks.  But never had any issues with USB 2.0 Sticks.

Once YUMI is installed on your windows machine, there is a list of every ISO it's compatible with in the software, just click it and it will link you to the download.   Once you find a couple of distro's that do what you want, you can build one hell of a custom stick.  I have a 32 Gig Corsair survivor stick with abotu 12 Distros on it.  2 for offline antivirus scanning, 2 or 3 are windows recovery/forensic tools to recover data from crashed machines, and the rest are just various distros of linux to play with.    I don't use it much any more.  But really should get back into it.   

[Ralph]

That sounds like a souped up version of Universal USB installer, I'll have to check it out.  Nice that it links you to the download. With the Universal installer you have to have the ISO already and point it to that.  I have a couple sticks that are empty I can use to play around with.  Isn't your Corsair survivor the stick that has a screw on end cap, that sounds familiar.

[Docwatmo]

Yes, It's tough and waterproof/shockproof.  I've actually washed and dried it two or 3 times now.  It's getting ugly, but still works great.  Only problem is, on my Surface Book, and other ultra-thin laptops, you can't use it without risking damage to the port because the round head it too large.  I use a little 6 inch dongle now. 

[Ralph]

I though that was the one.  A while back I was looking for a USB drive to encrypt and I liked how that was constructed and protected, but opted for something more pocketable.  The size issue on small machines can be a problem, I have to jockey things between ports to get some things connected at the same time.  I just downloaded YUMI and have an empty USB stick plugged in.  Cutting this short for now, want to play with it!  Thanks for the info, I'll let you know how it works out.

[Ralph]

I downloaded YUMI from what looked like a legit site.  When installing it had very misleading questions while offering software to install.  I declined the installs and when I started YUMI my malware scanner gave a warning.  Long story short in case anyone else is following this or going to install it beware of where you get it.  Later my scanner found the infected installer in my trash bin and flagged it for malware.  Use link  https://www.pendrivelinux.com/yumi-multiboot-usb-creator/  for the real download.  To the real message:

The real download installer worked great.  I installed the Raspberry Pi OS to start playing.  It functioned exactly like a real Pi.  I even updated the packages over wifi and installed a gpiozero module.  My laptop's touch pad did not work which was expected since the Pi doesn't have that feature, and I am certain the gpio will not work since my laptop doesn't have that hardware.  Still, this is great, and although I didnt try it yet I am sure Python will work.  I deleted the dban image from the stick and added an old Tails ISO which I havent fired up yet.  I didn't try but I don't think the newer Tails IMG installers will work since YUMI supports ISO.

I installed everything onto a Sandisk Ultra usb3 64GB stick and it is working very well.  The real YUMI site mentioned the Universal USB installer which I have installed and they look so much alike because they came from the same author.  Thanks for making me aware of YUMI, I am sure I'll be playing around with it and adding more OS's. Now one USB stick can server many functions instead of having multiple single use sticks. 

[Docwatmo]

Yep, I fell in love with it.  It really is so flexible and easy.  I have a 10 gig secure partition on my 32 gig stick, and can access it from most any of the images I run.   I've repaired machines, and recovered data from dead machines using various ISO's on the same stick.  I even have a tiny little TAB stick (Same size as the logitech unified receivers) with 16 gigs and a half dozen iso's. 

Another item I keep on the same sticks is called "Portable Apps".  For when I plug the stick into Windows machines that are running, many of my favorite apps are available (Antivirus etc I can run from inside windows instead of booting off the yumi stick and running the av iso) Chrome,  about 400 different apps.  It's a great addition.   

[Ralph]

That sounds like something else I have to try.  I made a mistake on my last post, I installed YUMI on a Sandisk Extreme. 

Being able to use an encrypted file or partition on different platforms is really handy.  I still like and use Truecrypt.  I have it installed on Windows, Tails supports it, and Oracle Linux.  Tails is my first choice to run it on when needed.  I don't trust Windows, it keeps too many traces of what's going on.  Although I haven't really looked into it, eventually I will look into using a standalone Raspberry Pi for encryption.  It's nice that you can remove the micro SD card and everything goes with it.