7 reasons you should have a bootable USB with multiple operating systems

If you’re a sysadmin, homelabber, or just a general tinkerer with all things computers, bootable USB sticks will be familiar to you. They’re used for everything from recovery CDs to installers and diagnostic tools, and have been a mainstay of how we get software initially loaded onto computers for years. But you might not know that you no longer need one USB stick per image, and it’s long been possible to setup a great, multi-ISO USB stick with plenty of your most used tools and images ready to go at a moments notice. We think its a great investment of time for anyone using these tools, with a relatively low upfront cost, and here (in no particular order) are our seven top reasons why.

7

It’s great in a crisis

Having a bootable USB on hand could save your data

One of the biggest reasons to have a bootable USB to hand with some essential tools on it is that it’s great in a crisis. Whether your NAS’ ZFS pool has crashed, your Windows install won’t boot or you’ve accidentally deleted some data on a hard drive, having these tools immediately available and on hand can save you both time, and the risk of potentially causing more damage while trying to burn a USB stick.

Having your first port of call for a crashed or broken install to be to safely boot an external drive is a massive advantage that reduces the risk of data corruption or overwriting. This can also be great for helping family members, if you’re regularly called around someone’s house to provide some tech support.

6

Consistency is key

Keeping the same versions of essential tools on hand keeps things simple

Following up on the last point, consistency is key. Having the tools you know available, and in static versions (so you’re both familiar with them, and not having to redownload new ones) can be a huge plus. Nothing is worse than trying to offer some tech support to a family member and having to spend 20 minutes explaining why you need to install a few tools, or overwrite their USB stick. Having a consistent, constantly available toolbox for everything is a huge advantage, and the last thing you want is for version changes or feature additions (or even, the addition of paywalls, etc) to get in the way in a vital moment.

If you’re a homelabber, this might also be more valuable than you think. If you’re using Proxmox or similar, you may be using Proxmox’s image store to upload and boot the same image of your OS. But if you’re using physical machines, its worth ensuring that you’re installing the same version of whatever OS you’re using in order to keep consistency across your homelab.

5

It’ll save you time

No more repeatedly downloading and installing a USB live CD

Another great reason to keep a USB on hand is that it’ll save you time, especially if you’ve got slow internet. Not having to repeatedly download and reinstall endless Linux ISOs, recovery tools, or custom images will save you a whole host of time in the long run, and as we’ve already mentioned, help ensure consistency.

This is especially important if you’re running machines or services you need for work, or other time-critical things. The last thing anyone wants is to be watching a download bar tick by after their PC has crashed, with an essential meeting or call coming up.

4

USB sticks are cheaper and larger than in the past

No need to worry about storage in 2024

Previously, installing multiple tools and images on a USB stick was a bit of an expensive endeavor. But USB sticks have been getting bigger and bigger over the last couple of years, and 128GB USB sticks are available for as low as $20. Now these won’t be the highest performance sticks on the market, but if you’re just booting some simple recovery tools or maybe an OS or two, that probably doesn’t matter. I wouldn’t necessarily recommend installing Windows on one (though you definitely could), but for a minimal upfront cost and time investment, especially with the ease of new bootloader tools for booting multiple ISOs easily, it seems a no-brainer to keep one on hand.

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3

Performance with USB3 is great

Run full operating systems with ease

Another big improvement since the days of USB sticks of old is the widespread adoption of USB3, and even USB-C and thunderbolt. Performance on old USB2 sticks was dire, and it used to take an age just to transfer an ISO across, let alone boot from it. Performance was often sluggish, especially on machines without a lot of memory, and it overall wasn’t a great experience. Now, transferring all your ISOs is quick and easy, and with the advent of Thunderbolt-compatible USB drives you can get SSD-like speeds over USB-C. You could run fairly heavy workloads, past just fixing issues with your OS, and not have issues with drive IOPS or read and write speeds.

It’s now easy to store multiple ISOs on your USB

One huge reason why it’s become so much easier to maintain a USB stick full of ISOs is the improvements in tooling. There have been a few great tools for this over the years, but our current favourite is Ventoy, which makes copying a whole host of ISOs, from Windows installers to Linux ISOs and recovery tools easy. Ventoy provides a bootloader, which allows you to boot any ISO from a simple, grub-esque menu.

Adding and removing ISOs is as simple as plugging the drive into a running computer and copying some new ISOs across. There’s no need for any kind of software to install new images, and remove or update old ones.

Related

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Just don’t do it!

1

It can improve your security

Boot into Tails safely from a PC or location you don’t trust, leaving no trace

Having specific ISOs on your USB stick can help improve your security, especially if you’re in a place you don’t trust. For example, having a Tails image on your USB stick can be great in a country or place where you don’t trust a computer. Tails is a bootable USB image that leaves no trace, and by default directs all your traffic down the TOR network, keeping your internet browsing as secure as possible at all times. Nothing is ever saved onto the host PC, and the Tails instance saves no logs or keeps nothing on disk, leaving no trace it was ever there once the USB is removed and computer powered down. This might seem extreme, but can be surprisingly handy, and a great way to protect yourself online.

A multi-ISO stick will change the game

A lot has changed over the last decade, and it’s easy to overlook USB sticks in favour of fancier Thunderbolt SSDs or network drives, both of which are increasingly accessible. But USB sticks have gotten cheaper, and the tooling for running a great multi-ISO setup has only become more powerful and widely available. We think a bootable USB is a great addition to any toolkit, and you never know, it might just save you some time, data or effort — especially in a pinch.