--- title: My new favorite way to run Linux has nothing to do... description: Running Linux from an external USB drive is presented as a compelling alternative to virtual machines and dual-booting. The approach keeps the Linux... canonical: https://daily.dev/posts/my-new-favorite-way-to-run-linux-has-nothing-to-do-virtualization-ne187jkqr twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:site: @dailydotdev og:type: website og:site_name: daily.dev og:title: My new favorite way to run Linux has nothing to do virtualization | daily.dev og:description: Running Linux from an external USB drive is presented as a compelling alternative to virtual machines and dual-booting. The approach keeps the Linux... og:url: https://daily.dev/posts/my-new-favorite-way-to-run-linux-has-nothing-to-do-virtualization-ne187jkqr og:image: https://api.daily.dev/og/posts/Ne187jKqR.png og:image:alt: My new favorite way to run Linux has nothing to do virtualization og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 630 og:locale: en --- > ## Documentation Index > Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://daily.dev/llms.txt > Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further. # My new favorite way to run Linux has nothing to do virtualization **[XDA Developers](https://daily.dev/sources/xda-developers)** · 3 min read · 2 upvotes · 0 comments ## Summary Running Linux from an external USB drive is presented as a compelling alternative to virtual machines and dual-booting. The approach keeps the Linux environment self-contained, saves host machine storage, and offers portability — plug the drive into any computer and boot your full desktop. Downsides include the upfront cost of a fast USB drive (read speeds matter, e.g., 400 MB/s) and the need to configure BIOS boot order. The author uses Arch Linux on a Samsung Fit Plus drive and finds this method superior for their workflow. ## Full article daily.dev links to this article rather than hosting it. Read it at the original source: ## Questions this post answers ### What read and write speeds should an external USB drive have for running a portable Linux install? Fast read and write speeds are recommended for smooth performance when booting Linux from an external drive, since slow storage bottlenecks the whole system. A Samsung Fit Plus drive with read speeds up to 400 MB/s and write speeds up to 110 MB/s works well for this purpose, keeping the OS responsive without needing internal storage. _daily.dev surfaces practical setup tips like drive speed choices for developers running portable Linux environments._ ### Why would someone run Linux off an external USB drive instead of using a virtual machine? Running Linux from an external drive avoids allocating a computer's own storage and memory to a virtual machine, keeping the environment fully self-contained and portable between devices. It also removes the time-consuming step of transferring a VM setup when needing to use Linux on another machine. The tradeoff is the upfront cost of a fast external drive and imaging software. _Developers weighing VMs against portable installs can compare tradeoffs like these on daily.dev._ ## Similar posts on daily.dev - [Your old external SSD is the safest way to try Linux without breaking Windows](https://daily.dev/posts/your-old-external-ssd-is-the-safest-way-to-try-linux-without-breaking-windows-uv9vj70lw) · XDA Developers · 0 upvotes · 0 comments - [I put Linux and my Steam library on the same USB stick, and now any PC is my gaming PC](https://daily.dev/posts/i-put-linux-and-my-steam-library-on-the-same-usb-stick-and-now-any-pc-is-my-gaming-pc-bq7erxcbv) · XDA Developers · 8 upvotes · 3 comments - [Getting started with GNOME Boxes: Run Linux VMs without the hassle](https://daily.dev/posts/getting-started-with-gnome-boxes-run-linux-vms-without-the-hassle-ouydse355) · All Things Open · 0 upvotes · 0 comments --- Tags: [#linux](https://daily.dev/tags/linux), [#infrastructure](https://daily.dev/tags/infrastructure) [View this post on daily.dev](https://daily.dev/posts/my-new-favorite-way-to-run-linux-has-nothing-to-do-virtualization-ne187jkqr) ```json {"@context":"https://schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Organization","@id":"https://daily.dev/#organization","name":"daily.dev","url":"https://daily.dev","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://daily.dev/apple-touch-icon.png","width":180,"height":180},"sameAs":["https://twitter.com/dailydotdev","https://github.com/dailydotdev","https://www.linkedin.com/company/daily-dev-ltd"]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https://daily.dev/#website","url":"https://daily.dev","name":"daily.dev","publisher":{"@id":"https://daily.dev/#organization"},"potentialAction":{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https://daily.dev/search?q={search_term_string}"},"query-input":"required name=search_term_string"}}]} {"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"TechArticle","headline":"My new favorite way to run Linux has nothing to do virtualization","url":"https://daily.dev/posts/my-new-favorite-way-to-run-linux-has-nothing-to-do-virtualization-ne187jkqr","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://daily.dev/posts/my-new-favorite-way-to-run-linux-has-nothing-to-do-virtualization-ne187jkqr"},"datePublished":"2026-08-03T16:31:32.659Z","dateModified":"2026-09-13T18:53:55.704Z","description":"Running Linux from an external USB drive is presented as a compelling alternative to virtual machines and dual-booting. 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