Just picked up a 128GB USB A/C stick that can go on my keyring. What are some things I should put on it to have access to at all times?

I already have self hosted services accessible over my VPN, so this would be for when I can’t access that.

I’m thinking at least Ventoy and some common ISOs, then I’m not sure what else.

  • Rogue@feddit.uk
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    3 months ago

    The reason you’re struggling to think of anything to put on it is because you don’t need to be carrying a USB drive.

    No aircraft cabin crew have ever put out a call asking if there are any Linux sysadmin onboard with a copy of GParted Live v1.5.0 for 32bit ARM devices .

    • cygnus@lemmy.ca
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      No aircraft cabin crew have ever put out a call asking if there are any Linux sysadmin onboard with a copy of GParted Live v1.5.0 for 32bit ARM devices .

      The grizzled greybeard spoke up, brandishing his weathered USB drive above his head like a sword. “I can do it. I’m a sysadmin.”

      “Oh, thank God!” the flight attendant sighed. “It says something about booting, I’m not sure. Nobody here knows Linux.”

      The greaybeard squeezed himself out of his seat and stood in the aisle. “I’d just like to interject for a moment.” he interrupted with a raised finger and a self-satisfied expression. “What you’re referring to as Linux, is in fact, GNU/LInux, or as I’ve recently taken to calling it, GNU plus Linux. Linux is not an operating system unto itself, but rather another free component of a fully functioning GNU system made useful by the GNU corelibs, shell utilities and vital system components comprising a full OS as defined by POSIX.”

      He shifted his bulk to block one of the other passengers, who was screaming behind him that nobody cares. The pilot was now standing behind the flight attendant, begging the sysadmin to come up to the cockpit, but the greybeard was undeterred. “Many computer users run a modified version of the GNU system every day, without realizing it. Through a peculiar turn of events, the version of GNU which is widely used today is often called “Linux”, and many of its users are not aware that it is basically the GNU system, developed by the GNU Project. There really is a Linux, and these people are using it, but it is just a part of the system they use. Linux is the kernel: the program in the system that allocates t—”

      The sysadmin never finished his sentence; the airplane smashed into the ground and all aboard were killed instantly. The impact somehow caused the GNU/Linux device to reboot correctly before it too was smashed to pieces a fraction of a second later.

    • smeeps@lemmy.mtate.me.ukOP
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      3 months ago

      Well I carry it anyway for impromptu file transfers. I’ve just added 1gig of survival PDFs. Probably never need them but who knows

      • wewbull@feddit.uk
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        3 months ago

        You’ll carry it until the plastic cracks and it falls off your keyring.

        So don’t put anything too private on there.

        • smeeps@lemmy.mtate.me.ukOP
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          3 months ago

          I’ll encrypt anything vaguely private. Honestly its a useful way of me not losing it around the house too, I must have 3 or 4 USB sticks in the house but when I need to install an ISO I can never find any

          • gravitas_deficiency@sh.itjust.works
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            3 months ago

            Oh, then stick ventoy on it, and just shrink the partition and give yourself some permanent storage space too. Alternatively, just do the same for a live Linux iso of your choice.

      • Otter@lemmy.ca
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        3 months ago

        Do you have a link to the survival PDFs? I’m curious

        I have a few apps like that installed, such as first aid for example. Might as well get some useful guides on my USB in case my phone is dead.

        Also my recommendation

        • portable programs. Pick some that might be useful and add those. I have never had to use one, but I keep them anyways

        • Some media to pass the time. This has come in handy once or twice

        • extra space for large file transfers

      • mesamune@lemmy.world
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        3 months ago

        You could get a very very old ebook reader from a yard sale. You get something functional and a lot of them act like a USB drive.

        Plus a very small solar panel can charge it.

      • Baggins@piefed.social
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        3 months ago

        With no phone/tablet/laptop how are you going to look at them?
        Print them out and/or memorise (as much as you can) them.

      • Rogue@feddit.uk
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        3 months ago

        Isn’t it just far easier to transfer documents using one of the thousands of cloud apps though? Since Dropbox and such became a thing I’ve not had a use for USBs. If it’s privacy that concerns you then you already mentioned self hosted services and I’m sure there’s a few Dropbox clones among them.

        There’s not much point in survival PDFs unless you’re also carrying a laptop to view them on.

        If you really do want to go full apocalypse prepper then track down an archive of Wikipedia and various how-to websites.

        • Jumuta@sh.itjust.works
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          3 months ago

          i honestly prefer using usbs over cloud stuff because of the speed and it being less hassle, unless it’s a situation where I can just just syncthing or kde connect

        • smeeps@lemmy.mtate.me.ukOP
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          3 months ago

          Sure, for devices that already are logged in then yes. But to log into my Proton Drive I have to enter my password and authenticate with my Yubikey and it might not be a trusted computer, or the internet connection might be slow. And my self hosted services including my Seafile are behind a VPN so I’d have to log into my VPN on that PC to access them. I definitely transfer files by USB on occasion.

          I guess I can put a VPN config file on my USB in the encrypted folder so I can connect to it from any trusted PC

          • Otter@lemmy.ca
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            3 months ago

            Another common use case is for when I need to give someone else a file when we’re in the same room. It’s not worth the hassle of trying to transfer it over a network or wirelessly, especially if they are large files or we are on a different OS/ecosystem.

            The USB stick just works.

    • sunzu@kbin.run
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      3 months ago

      No aircraft cabin crew have ever put out a call asking if there are any Linux sysadmin

      Does not mean it will never happen!!!

      sysadmins save lives!

  • Rossphorus@lemm.ee
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    3 months ago

    I have three partitions: First one is Ventoy with a couple of distros per architecture. Partition two is a standard exfat partition for files. Partition three is a small fat16 partition, since there’s always that one device someone has (oscilloscope, 3D printer, UEFI/BIOS, etc.) that only supports very simple file systems. I’ve had to use the fat16 partition more than a couple of times and I don’t even work with legacy hardware.

    • null@slrpnk.net
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      3 months ago

      How have I never thought of partitioning one large USB drive for multiple purposes…

  • JackbyDev@programming.dev
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    3 months ago

    I’ve got a USB stick on my keys but I don’t remember what’s on it because I’ve never used it lmao.

    • rudyharrelson@lemmy.radio
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      3 months ago

      lol, I feel you there. I got a ruggedized, waterproof USB stick about 6 years ago to keep on my keychain and I’ve used it maybe three times ever. Though I’ve also been working from home for the last 4+ years so, y’know, less opportunities to use it in general.

      Better to have it and not need it than need it and not have it, though.

    • Grimpen@lemmy.ca
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      3 months ago

      I’ve got a 15 year old SD/USB combo card on my keychain. I plugged it into a TV around 6-7 years ago because there were a couple of kids movies on there.

      I also know I have some Portable apps on there, but probably a little out of date

  • jet@hackertalks.com
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    3 months ago

    Just sticking a USB stick into a bunch of different ports, is going to get you an STI eventually.

    How do you make the stick read only? To prevent picking up malware along your journey?

  • slazer2au@lemmy.world
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    3 months ago

    Do you want to spread malware? Because that is how you infect an Iranian nuclear project.

  • monovergent 🏁@lemmy.ml
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    3 months ago

    A metal 128 GB USB on my keychain next to the U2F key

    16 GB Ventoy partition with:

    • Clonezilla (‘deploying’ my system image and backups)
    • Mint Debian Edition (everything needed to test and recover my Debian systems)
    • Debian netinstall
    • Various manuals and reference documents
    • Portable CrystalDiskInfo and VeraCrypt for Windows
    • Dumping grounds for files that I intended to transfer between machines, particularly the XP retro gaming rig
    • An optimistic IF-FOUND.TXT
    • KeePass
    • Previously Windows, until once upon a time, I booted into WinRE via Ventoy, got confused between X:, C:, and whatever else, and proceeded to nuke my USB instead of another disk. The Windows installer lived on its own USB happily ever after.

    And a LUKS encrypted partition in the remaining space with more documents and a backup of almost all of my photos.

  • EccTM@lemmy.ml
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    3 months ago

    When I last had an everyday carry USB stick (5+ years ago) I found I never actually used it for anything.

    I had Ventoy and some practical ISOs, and PortableApps with a bunch of useful software (firefox, foobar2000, GIMP, notepad++…) for when I was using someone else’s Windows PC.

    …think I stored like two word documents on it, ever.

  • fitjazz@lemmyf.uk
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    3 months ago

    Mine is mostly lighting console show files of various concerts/comedians/dance performances I have been the lighting designer for. I know my use case is different than most people’s, but hey, you asked.

    • WbrJr@lemmy.ml
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      3 months ago

      Thats dope. I suppose grandma? Do you keep them around to copy stuff over to your current project?

      • fitjazz@lemmyf.uk
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        3 months ago

        Mostly Avolites and ETC. Mostly just always save to a couple of USB sticks as backup, one of which lives on my keys and the other in my computer bag. It is nice to have quick access to my user profile and some pre-built stuff though. Some of them I keep around because I do those shows every year but mostly it’s just not worth the effort of deleting them because the files are so small. They are also all backed up to my home server.

  • linearchaos@lemmy.world
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    3 months ago

    512GB Ventoy, every version windows that can boot from ISO. Gandalf’s win 10 PE, gandalf’s 111 PE, Debian live ISO, max versions of Debian and NixOS, silver blue and fedora. Ubuntu along with LTS. I could have put my crypto partition on it, but I actually like keeping that as a separate key.

    • czardestructo@lemmy.world
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      3 months ago

      I had to google ventoy and now I feel like a cave man because I have a dish with 6 flash drives that all have different ISOs

      • BigPotato@lemmy.world
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        3 months ago

        My dish still has a flash drive marked “Win 8” which I’ve since overwritten with… Some flavor of Linux. Mint maybe.

  • jol@discuss.tchncs.de
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    3 months ago

    I haven’t carried a USB stick in years, so not sure what I would do. Maybe a copy of my recipe book if I ever digitize it?

    • pezmaker @sh.itjust.works
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      3 months ago

      If you ever do digitize it, or even going forward for other recipes you use, I recommend checking out the recipe app Paprika 3. I’ve been using it for years now and love it. It even bypasses pay walls on recipe sites like NYT cooking when downloading. Enter the url in the browser section, and hit download regardless of the paywalls I’ve encountered so far. I put cocktail recipes in there too.

  • Ooops@feddit.org
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    3 months ago

    Ventoy and…

    Clonezilla, (custom) ArchISO, Tails

    the stuff you might need to safe other people’s PCs sigh

    HBCD_PE, Windows 11

    If I hadn’t included those in my ArchISO already I would probably add…

    one of the usual Rescue ISOs, GParted Live.

    Bonus points for Ventoy’s ISO partiiton doubling as simple storage.

    PS: Thanks for the reminder to update some of them again.

  • CO5MO ✨@midwest.social
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    3 months ago

    Kingston DataTraveler Micro 3.1 128GB USB 3.0. I leave it on my keyring to trade movies/tv shows/music w friends 🏴‍☠️

  • CapillaryUpgrade@lemmy.sdf.org
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    3 months ago

    Lots of people have already mentioned Ventoy.

    MediCat is Ventoy with a ton of images and a config file. It seems great, although I chose to roll my own as MediCat had a lot of Windows-centric images i have no need for.

  • ExtremeDullard@lemmy.sdf.org
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    3 months ago

    My “everyday carry” isn’t a USB stick, but it can act as one - and much much more: I always have my trusty Flipper Zero with me, and the image I carry in the mass storage emulator is the Linux Mint installer, with extra space in the image to store small files.

    To be honest, the Flipper Zero’s mass storage emulator turns it into the slowest USB stick you never saw. But in a pinch, it’s there and it’s usable. I use my Flipper for a variety of other things all the time - including, with my laptop, as a presentation remote and secondary mouse - and I almost never need a USB flash drive. So slow though it is, it’s enough for when I do need one.