XP on USB drive?

[{CLR}geneSW]

I've got a 2gb thumb drive I can use, and would like to try to throw windows onto it, but I have no idea how. It's already formatted to the NTFS format, but other then that I have no idea. Heck, even windows 2k would work, but I need to trim them down, and still keep the GUI, antivirus, and a few other programs installed onto it.

[drunken_chef]

just google "xp thumb drive"

here is one of the hits I got at Tom's

http://www.tomshardware.com/2005/09/...n_your_pocket/

[CarbonFire]

just google "xp thumb drive"

here is one of the hits I got at Tom's

http://www.tomshardware.com/2005/09/...n_your_pocket/

That's pretty sexy

[-IRC-MIKE]

Another thing you will have to take into consideration is the fact that your PC's bios may not see an USB drive as a boot device. I've seen some that it is impossible to make it boot from a USB flash drive, and I have seen some that will. That is a great thing to have. I have done this with a usb connected laptop drive and had the main pc drive as extra storage.

[baller4life2468]

That picture of the flash drive is hot x]
Good luck though.

Baller

[th3st1ck]

XP won't run all that well off a thumb drive from experience. And NTFS isn't the best format for a USB thumb drive either.
IMO, I would put some variety of linux on it. It will run much smoother.

[{CLR}geneSW]

XP won't run all that well off a thumb drive from experience. And NTFS isn't the best format for a USB thumb drive either.
IMO, I would put some variety of linux on it. It will run much smoother.

I'd rather stay with windows, as I know that OS better overall and would be using this drive to work on computers with.

[drunken_chef]

it will work fine. PE builder is a god send.

[BenKenobi]

Is it possible to like install a game on a thumb drive? Would it run alright ?

[drunken_chef]

Is it possible to like install a game on a thumb drive? Would it run alright ?

that would depend on the game. solitair, yes. CoD, no.

[drunken_chef]

it will work fine. PE builder is a god send.

by fine, I mean it will be fine for the purpose that he wants it for. this isn't going to replace a regular hard drive any time soon.

[WalkinTarget]

The read/write throughput on a thumb drive is terrible erratic, so don't expect consistency at any point in the process.
As mentioned, there are some slim versions of Linux that are better suited for the task. You may not be comfortable, but learning begins by stepping outside of your comfortability realm and trying something different.
I'll recommend Linspire or Freespire for a beginner that is used to Windows. Both do a good job of emulating the Windows look and feel. Puppy Linux also specializes in small distros that run well from a thumb drive.

[{CLR}geneSW]

k, then I need to know if spybot, ad-aware and avg will run in any distro?

[mapes]

If you wann learn some linux look to the live cd versions of various distros like ubuntu

[WalkinTarget]

Ultimate Boot CD contains all of those programs, and literally dozens more. They are ALREADY built into the Live CD, so it is my #1 tool when cleaning off a heavily infected home PC.

http://www.ultimatebootcd.com/