On Sat, Feb 27, 2021 at 03:22:08PM +0300, Semih Ozlem wrote: > One potential extra information that could be relevant is that I did use > the flash drives in a university network, and using shared wifi in a hostel > and before in a public library. >
That's probably irrelevant: flash drives can and do fail with the occasional missing write under heavy load. Are these USB3? Essentially, installing a Linux system to them is more intense than just copying files, even large files. There's an amount of indexing, finding files and so on that isn't there in copying say, a DVD sized image across. There's a subtle difference between a cheap 16G USB stick and one of the large high capacity USB sticks from a major manufacturer that might cost ten times as much. Also, USB connected devices are different: I'd feel happier, for example, installing Debian to an SSD in a good caddy connected via a short USB3 cable I trust :) > Semih Ozlem <semihozlemlinuxu...@gmail.com>, 27 Şub 2021 Cmt, 15:19 > tarihinde şunu yazdı: > > > Should I then be suspicious of a possible attack on the system in case the > > system fails, if both debian and ubuntu are fairly stable? The usb flash > > drives themselves are still functional in the sense that I can view the > > files in them after plugging them in. I backed up the data on them. But > > when I try to boot from 64 gb usb flash disks (one with ubuntu 18 04 the > > other debian 10 point something installed on them) the boot process does > > not complete and the login screen does not appear. The two recovery modes > > (I guess those are the snapshots no?) do not finish booting either. > > 18.04 is now old: try 20.04 :) Similarly, use the latest Debian image you can find on cdimage.debian.org or mirrors. The latest is 10.8 - 10.9 will be along eventually. > > Joe <j...@jretrading.com>, 27 Şub 2021 Cmt, 12:02 tarihinde şunu yazdı: > > > >> On Sat, 27 Feb 2021 11:30:08 +0300 > >> Semih Ozlem <semihozlemlinuxu...@gmail.com> wrote: > >> > >> > Sorry I can not read emails very often. No I am not new to linux I > >> > have been using it for the past 6 or 7 years starting mostly with > >> > ubuntu. I had CENTOS and Ubuntu and debian installed on some machines > >> > before. Most of them stopped functioning. Some of them in less than > >> > six months. > >> What are you _doing_ to them? That's unusual in any event. Are you in an area subject to power cuts? Were you using significantly old hardware / hardware built from discarded PCs? > >> OK, that simply should not happen. I don't know if either Centos or > >> Ubuntu can do in-place version upgrades, but if not, they should > >> certainly run from release to unsupported status. My current server > >> installation is a new one, but previously it ran through several > >> Debian stable version upgrades and many years, and a couple of changes > >> of hardware. There is such a thing as software rot, and it certainly > >> affects applications, but the OS of Debian stable should run pretty much > >> forever. > >> > > >> > I am new to the debian users group, because I found out that a user > >> > group existed much later. During this time I had a lot of issues with > >> > computers. The new computer that I got, originally the store claimed > >> > that the insurance on my machine would be invalidated if I installed > >> > another operation system on the machine. > >> > > >> > The reason for hesitating to install debian right now is simply that > >> > the machines may become unusable again, and the invested time and > >> > machinepower to installing a machine may end up being wasted. The > >> > other reason was the claim that insurance may become invalid which > >> > later turned out not to be so, but only after asking the company that > >> > sells the computer several times. > >> > >> No software carries any kind of warranty, not even the famous Windows, > >> but the warranty should certainly cover the hardware if it isn't > >> physically abused. Software warranty service is pretty much limited to > >> reinstalling Windows with loss of all data and applications, which any > >> user can do themselves. > >> In your position, if the machine does not carry all your vital data - I might consider making the machine dual boot Debian and Windows. Before I did that: I'd use Windows tools to list everything possible about the system and write it down on a piece of paper - including whether it's booting from UEFI, what the video information is, disk size and so on. I'd also boot the machine from a piece of Debian live media - check lsusb, lspci, any dmesg messages about missing firmware - again, write it down. Use the tools from Microsoft to get hold of a copy of the latest Windows install media and use those tools to write it to a USB stick. Keep that somewhere in case you _ever_ need to reinstall Windows :) Then check back into the list and I'll talk you through installation if you wish. One thing that is important: always resize disks first with Windows tools before installing any other OS. > >> > The third reason is I simply do not > >> > at the moment have the time to backup the existing hard drive before > >> > installing a new operating system on it, and also that should it > >> > become unusable or stop functioning (I had debian installed on a usb > >> > 64 gb of size that stopped booting).. > >> > >> Ah, USB sticks *do* stop working or lose bits without warning. Well, so > >> do spinning hard drives, but not usually in less than about five years, > >> often much longer. > >> > > >> > Yes I did figure out that it was lvm2 package that was needed, and > >> > lvs is actually one of the internal commands for lvm2 as well so it > >> > could be run from the console lvm2 prodives. I am looking into the > >> > option of using lvm. > >> > >> That's fairly painless to use, as Debian will set it up during the OS > >> installation. To be honest, I've had it installed for many years, and > >> only occasionally used it. Drives are now large enough that I don't > >> outgrow them in the lifetime of the hardware. In addition to adding > >> and removing drives, LVM does allow online backups, if you've left > >> enough unused space. Read about snapshots. > >> > >> -- > >> Joe > >> > >> Write yourself a list of things you want to do with the machine. Accept that it might be ten items long - then accept that it might take a while to do the first thing on the list which is to install Debian :) If you've installed Ubuntu a few times, the Debian install is not unfamiliar. If you've only ever used the graphical installer, I would suggest that you choose the expert option (under Advanced options) because this will ask _all_ the questions. If your Windows machine functionality is business critical/vital to your life, I'd suggest practising the install a couple of times on a spare machine if you can get one rather than destroying everything accidentally and blaming the list for telling you to do it :) All the very best, as ever, Andy C.
