Portable Windows/Linux/OS - idea

[Jonny Two Shoes]

Just a thought...

I have seen Linux Distro's that allow you to save the current state to an external HDD or flash disk and make it bootable (although I haven't played with this feature and not sure how well it works). Almost like a bootable live environment image.

I wondered how useful this feature could be in the business environment. Where someone could literally carry their entire load of work including OS and settings with them on one bootable HDD and start it up on any PC they like.

Would it be worth the time looking into this idea? What are the advantages (e.g mobile security and failure/restore) and downfalls other than of course Hardware compatibility on different PC's?

 

[SuperAntMD]

Ive always thought this was the way of the future, with everyone just booting from a flash drive using public hardware.

In my opinion its a winner, but it might be a while before computers with no software start showing up in places like airports etc...

The problem as I see it, from a business perspective or other, is that if you happen to be in a place without the necessary hardware, you can do nothing at all

 

[Conradl]

Every piece of technology required to do this is already available and in mainstream commercial use; the problem, like most technology, is the time it takes for the average user to adopt the new technology....

Hardware compatibility is also no longer a problem with modern Hypervisors that can easily abstract the software from the hardware layer. The Xen Hypervisor for example is less than 20Mb an can easily fit on a ROM chip. This can then be used to boot from, as another boot option i.e. HDD, Floppy, PXE, XEN.

 

[Telkomisaloser]

http://www.virtualbox.org/ but you going to need a 16 gig flashdisk and the software installed on the PC

 

[10i]

The biggest risk for business is if you forget your flash in your jeans or loose it and with it 16 GB of top secret files.

Try puppy linux, it is small and installs to a flash drive very easily.

I downloaded puppt over the weekend and am very pleased so far - even runs on a pc with no hdd.

 

[DJNgoma]

Grub, Windows, Linux and a portable hdd, thought it was quite easy lol.

 

[kronoSX]

the wonders of bartpe/winbuilder and a bootable flash drive...dont forget all that yummy plugins for all i have mentioned.It just take a bit of ini file tweaking for that business feel.