i'm looking to set an 8 GB usb stick that is both usable for file sharing with windows machines, but also for booting debian (live) and installing it, hopefully on most of those same machines
.Booting live is important because i can showcase debian this way.
The trouble here is that windows can't read beyond the first partition of a usb stick, so the fat partition has to be the first.
I'm not an system administrator, just an enthusiast, so my knowledge and computer skills are somewhat limited. So far i've found two distinct solutions.
The first one here is about actually installing debian on the stick, using the installer partitioner to leave a fat partition first and putting grub on the stick's mbr.
I think this has the advantage of being an customizable and upgradeable system But, although i don't really know the difference between this and a live image, i think the later will perform better given the variety of machines it has to boot and also in terms of speed.
The second method is found here. Consists in dd'ing a debian-live iso to the stick normally. Then, changin the partition table to call the first physical partition (the one with debian in it) partition two, or /dev/sdb2. And the second physical partition, the one with fat fs, partition one.
Of course there is a third solution implied, that is, to just buy another stick and get on with it. But as i said, i'm an enthusiast, and that would spoil all the fun, wouldn't it?
I would appreciate any feedback on this two methods, if they work. And also if there is any other solution you know.
Thank you very much in advance, for taking your time reading til here.
