Switch from casper-rw file to casper-rw partition

Question

I am running Ubuntu 16.04 in 16 GB USB drive. I am a newbie in the ubuntu world. I am trying to create a USB disk with 12 GB persistence storage. So that I can use it for the development purposes.

I have created this USB drive using unetbootin. I have selected 100 MB persistence while creating the disk, because I wanted to switch to casper-rw ext2 partition which I created and having 12 GB space. But, even after restarting and booting to windows and live-ubuntu more than 20 times with different settings and juggling between different tools, still unable to get that partition working.

I have tried rufus, unetbootin, and linuxpendrive tools for making persistent file storage system. But to enable partition, I have failed all the time. If I change the txt.cfg file from my windows, it ends up in Busybox dead screen without any error.

First, I partitioned my usb storage to 2 drives from windows 10 using EaseUS Partition Manager. 1 fat32 of 2 GB and 1 ext2 with casper-rw label. Then Installed ubuntu using unetbootin with persistance settings to 100 MB. It works but doesn't use partition for persistence. When I check from the command: df . -h , it says I have /cow with 100 MB space. I tried to delete the file casper-rw from USB drive from fat32 partition from Windows and again booted from USB. But, it fails to boot and stuck to BusyBox Screen.

One article I followed: https://askubuntu.com/a/438734/588390

I tried:

• As rufus doesn't provide direct option to enable persistence, I tried enabling it with linuxpendrive's Casper-RW creator tool (http://www.pendrivelinux.com/casper-rw-creator-make-a-persistent-file-from-windows/). Then deleted and/or renamed casper-rw file in the root usb. But didn't worked.

• Tried editing txt.cfg file and it ended up in dead Busybox screen with all the 3 tools.

• I also tried editing one cfg file inside boot/grub but also ended up in the Black Busybox dead screen.

What's going wrong?

Thanks.

Solution

You can use mkusb to create persistent live drive. It creates a partition for persistence by default and automatically. The picture shows the steps in the wizard interface to create a persistent live system with mkusb version 12 alias dus.

See the following links for more details,

How do I make a persistent live USB of Ubuntu 16.04?

help.ubuntu.com/community/mkusb

help.ubuntu.com/community/mkusb/persistent

mkUSB-quick-start-manual.pdf

Comments

[Anwar]

You said " I have selected 100 MB persistence while creating the disk, because I wanted to switch to casper-rw ext2 partition which I created and having 12 GB space. " What is the difference between this 100 MB persistence and your 12GB casper-rw file?

[kirtan403]

Because, It was mentioned in many articles that first create with casper-rw file and then delete that file so it will use the casper-rw partition

[JamesBB]

You need to repoint your boot-loader menu (grub) to the new partition. (this is the advice that is generally not pointed out on casper-partition answers!) I managed to get this working recently with a Lubuntu 14.04 custom iso as described here (http://askubuntu.com/a/878009/544376). that's my answer to someone else's question where he was having a similar issue. My answer used other answers on that 'thread', so be sure to read the entire thread before you try again. Good luck!