Why Does My Persistent Linux USB Stop Booting After a Few Uses?
Asked by
TechieTraveler42
I've installed a persistent Linux Mint system on a USB stick, doing a full install directly from a live USB. At first, it boots up fine a few times, but then it suddenly fails and shows just a black GRUB screen. This has happened across different USB sticks after a few days. I thought about using Ventoy, but I'm concerned about some recent backdoor issues. I want to stick with my setup but I need help figuring out why it stops working. Should I manually install the GRUB bootloader on the USB? Are there any reliable alternatives to Ventoy for Linux that are easy to set up?
Answers
So you did a complete install onto a second USB drive? It might just be an issue with that specific stick. I've seen similar cases where installation went fine, but later on, it refused to boot. It could just be the hardware failing.
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USB sticks typically have limited write endurance, which might be why your system fails after a short period. Instead of focusing too much on the xz-utils backdoor, keep in mind that just because the developers are from the same place, it doesn't mean they are all suspect. Using a small external hard drive might alleviate the problem since they usually offer better durability than most USB sticks.
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It sounds like you might need to invest in higher-quality USB sticks. Also, there are some tweaks you can do to minimize wear:
- Stick with ext4 as your filesystem, which is good for performance.
- Adjust your swap settings to 1 to avoid unnecessary writes.
- Disable disk caching in Firefox and use the settings to manage memory caching instead.
- Consider adding 'noatime' to your fstab settings to reduce filesystem writes.
These measures can help prolong the life of your USB.
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