Member Avatar for TheBeast32

Hi, I'm going to install CrunchBang Linux on my 2GB pen drive. I was just wondering about the way it saves stuff. Do you have to back up and restore your data and settings every time you shutdown and boot like when using Damn Small Linux for everything to be saved?

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Short answer: no — you do not have to back up and restore everything each time if you install CrunchBang to the stick in a way that preserves state. As said, it depends on how you set it up. Two practical choices are (A) a LiveUSB with persistence (keeps user files and some settings) or (B) a full install to the USB so the stick behaves like an external hard drive. (help.ubuntu.com)

If you want the easiest “keep my settings” route, make a persistent LiveUSB: write the ISO to the stick with a USB tool or dd, then create a partition or file labelled casper-rw (or use the USB creator’s persistence option). That lets the live system save packages, config and /home between reboots without a full install. Note: many guides recommend at least a 4GB stick for a usable persistent CrunchBang/BunsenLabs image — 2GB will be very tight for installed packages or a big persistence file. (help.ubuntu.com)

If you want a true portable installation, run the installer and target the USB as the install disk. Be careful at the bootloader step: explicitly install GRUB (or the installer’s bootloader) onto the USB device (not the internal hard drive), or chroot into the USB root and run grub-install afterward. Also plan partitions (separate /home helps), avoid enabling an on-stick swap partition (wear + slowness), and reduce writes with mount options like noatime or by using tmpfs for /tmp to extend flash life. These precautions improve reliability and portability across machines. (unix.stackexchange.com)

Quick tips: test on a spare stick first, label partitions by UUID (so fstab stays sane when you move between machines), prefer a quality USB 3.0 stick or external SSD for better speed, and keep a backup of important configs before you start. If the installer can’t see a CD (common with USB-created installs), try a different creation method (dd vs GUI tool) or use a bootable installer on another medium — many how‑tos cover those workarounds. (pendrivelinux.com)

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Member Avatar for John A

>Do you have to back up and restore your data and settings every time
>you shutdown
That would depend on how you install Crunchbang to your USB pendrive. As far as I know, Crunchbang wasn't ever designed to run on a flash drive, which means it's up to you how it's installed.

A ramdisk environment, which is what Damn Small Linux runs off of, works with a virtual Linux filesystem loaded from a file into memory. Any changes to the filesystem only change what's in the memory (i.e. it's volatile), so your changes aren't saved. Presumably Damn Small Linux is setup this way to reduce the number of reads to your USB drive, which means it'll run faster. If you want a ramdisk-based environment, you'll need to do something similar to .

If you install Crunchbang so it maintains your settings as a non-volatile device, you'll end up with an ext2/3 filesystem on your thumbdrive, complete with a full install of Crunchbang. Your pendrive is basically acting as an external hard drive. (Which also means it won't run as fast as DSL.) Installing will depend on how Crunchbang's installer is. If you're lucky, you might just be able to select the USB drive as your target drive and it'll install everything normally. If not, another method is to install it first on your hard drive, then copy the files over to your pendrive and then make it bootable.

Member Avatar for TheBeast32

Thanks, I'll see if I can do what you said. I just have to download the distro because it's like 700 mb.

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