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Booting Linux from USB thumbdrive - Linux Explorer

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dcwul62:
Waow!
That worked fine, really fine. I truly appreciate your advice, really super!!
BTW... if you read the FAQ of Linux File System for Windows...

Paragon Linuxfs-windows-FAQ

specifically the questions:
I have Paragon ExtFS for Windows. Will it be updated?
and
I already have Paragon ExtFS for Windows. Can I get Linux File Systems for Windows by Paragon Software for free?

it appears that Linux File Systems for Windows is the successor of ExtFS.

A product like this deserves more attention I believe.

Again, many many thanks!!

 :Thmbsup:

dcwul62:

Just a few screenshots.

Booting Linux from USB thumbdrive - Linux Explorer

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Booting Linux from USB thumbdrive - Linux Explorer

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Booting Linux from USB thumbdrive - Linux Explorer

Ath:
Did you read the 'crippleware' notice after 10 day of use for the free version? It'll significantly slowdown in transferspeed. But I guess it'll still be usable for your occasional use, or you could buy a license. It is quit generous that the free version keeps working, albeit a tad slower.

Shades:
In case you want speed and not pay for a license after the trial of Paragon software, there are several ways that do not have to cost you anything, except for time and some storage space.

1. You could run an instance of Oracle's VirtualBox, and use the iso(s) you download to create a basic Linux VM. The size of the VM is usually set automatically by VirtualBox to 8GByte, but if you keep the installation very basic (all the default options from the Ubuntu installer) you should barely use more than 4GByte. Anyway, if you run the Linux VM setup, you can connect your Linux formatted drive to Windows and "attach" it to the VM instance using the menu option in VirtualBox. Windows will not "see" the drive anymore, but you can access the drive just fine in VirtualBox...at full speed.

VirtualBox comes with this functionality (I use it myself) and you do not need to purchase a license for VirtualBox or its extension pack. VMWare has also a free to use version of their virtualization software, called: VMWare Player. While I don't think "attaching" a Linux formatted drive to its VM instance is a problem, I am not sure. There was a period where VMWare Player was getting less functionality with each new version that came out. Which was why I jumped to VirtualBox at the time and I haven't got any reason to look back since.

2. Use a version of Linux that others already have prepared to boot from a pen drive or CD. Porteus looks like a safe bet, you can download it from here and instructions on how to make it work are simple, according to their instructions page. At about 25% to 30% of this page you will find the instructions for creating a bootable pendrive, using only windows, without even having to burn a CD/DVD from the iso.

3. You could take a look at coLinux. Probably abandoned by now, because it only came in 32-bit flavor. However, it was and still is available in the PortableUbuntu project...which is more than likely also abandoned by now. That project you can run directly in your 32-bit Windows installation of XP/Vista/7 and you can erase your drive with the file manager that comes with Linux easily and at full speed.

Originally it uses Ubuntu 8, but you could upgrade it to the last 32-bit version of Ubuntu, which is 16.04 if you are up for that. Not that such a thing is absolutely necessary, Ubuntu 8 already supports EXT3. And if you run it once or twice a year for only a brief period, you would hardly have any reason to upgrade.

It does look a bit weird to run both Windows and Linux at the same time, you'll get an extra menu bar with Ubuntu colors in your Windows screen and you simply run the Linux file manager by activating the option from that Ubuntu menu. There is really nothing more to it, other than to connect your Linux formatted drive, of course.


All of the above is not as easy as the solution provided by Ath, but won't be crippled after the trial period expires.

Edvard:
A few questions: If you do not use and have no use for Linux, why do you have a USB device that must be formatted for a Linux file system?  Does it plug into another device that does run Linux?  Can that device not delete files?  If the drive doesn't need to be formatted with a Linux file system (most Linux installations I know of can read and write many Windows file systems, including NTFS), then why not simply re-format it to a more convenient file system?  Just asking...

Also, there should be a way in your USB-installed Linux (Mint? Ubuntu?) to do tasks as root.  Open a terminal and either 'su root', then password,  then the name of the default file manager, or 'sudo [file manager program]' and give it the root password. That should allow access to any plugged-in drive.  If a root password has not been set up because it's a live system, then it shouldn't ask for a password.

Speaking of USB live Linux systems, try some more obscure, but no less useful distributions:
http://puppylinux.org/
https://www.slax.org/
http://damnsmalllinux.org/ (hmmm... appears to be down at the moment)
(FYI: I have used all three of these for various purposes with good success)

Lastly, there is at least one open-source ExtFS driver for windows, though it hasn't been updated since 2016, so cave usor:
http://www.ext2fsd.com/
https://sourceforge.net/projects/ext2fsd/
Read the warnings at the home page, and use the version most appropriate for what you need; see: https://sourceforge.net/p/ext2fsd/bugs/

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