Will making a USB ubuntu boot disk wipe my USB stick?

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Solution 1

Well, I decided to chance it (I have no capacity to make backups, but needed the install disk).

Clicking "make startup disk" without erasing the disk produced the un-informative error "installation failed." I assume it might work if I erased the disk, but don't know for sure.

Anyhow, I can provide an answer to my own question---no, clicking on that button will not in itself format your disk. BUT you may need to format your disk to make any use of this program.

Solution 2

Creating an Ubuntu boot disk on your USB stick will wipe the contents of such USB stick, as far as I know. I'd recoomend to back up your data. But, why use a 30GB disk for that task? a 4GB USB stick will do the work and is quite inexpensive.

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Mittenchops
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Updated on September 18, 2022

Comments

  • Mittenchops
    Mittenchops over 1 year

    I'm following this: http://www.ubuntu.com/download/desktop/create-a-usb-stick-on-ubuntu

    and I know a lot of boot-disk creation stuff will wipe my USB---it's 30GB which is more than I can comfortably back up to my HD right now, but I would like to install ubuntu on a friend's machine.

    These instructions say: "If you’re not yet sure about installing Ubuntu, you can try it out without affecting your current system." So, that suggests there won't be any deleting, but I'm hesitant to push the "Make startup disk" button here:

    ]

    ...when there's a button so nearby called "Erase Disk" so close by---I would never want erasing my disk to be an option if it weren't necessary. Can someone confirm for me for sure whether this operation will delete my USB contents?

    • soulsource
      soulsource over 10 years
      If I remember correctly (this is why I'm writing a comment instead of an answer) creating a boot disk on it will format your USB drive, so, don't do it if you still need the data on the stick.
    • guntbert
      guntbert over 10 years
      About the wording: "your current system" in this case does not include the stick you use to try it.
    • Dan Dascalescu
      Dan Dascalescu over 5 years
      I don't see the "Erase disk" option in Ubuntu 16.04.
  • Mittenchops
    Mittenchops over 10 years
    I have only the tools at hand.
  • jobin
    jobin over 10 years
    Its not necessary at all. The reason the installation and the disk having data in it are not at all related. You can still make a bootable disk on a device having data on it.
  • Mittenchops
    Mittenchops over 10 years
    Do you know how to investigate what is the source of the error then? The img checksum looks good, so it's not that, and I know the disk accepts other input, so I don't think it's that either. "Installation failed" doesn't tell me much, so I was assuming the biggest source of error left is that there's pre-existing data on it. If you could help me debug other possibilities, I'd be happy to investigate that and post here.