install ubuntu on a sd card using a USB drive or external storage device
install ubuntu on a sd card using a USB drive or external storage device
I used to have an older laptop from a friend, and the internal EMMC chip failed. I discovered you can boot from the SD card slot and run Linux. You asked if frequently reading and writing to the SD card could wear it down faster, or if there’s a better type to choose. Since your USB port is also dead, switching to an SD card reader might be a safer option.
It makes sense since Raspberry Pis often rely on SD cards for storage, so using one of these is perfectly acceptable.
Information flows without damage; only the act of writing wears the card. You may wish to explore this link: https://stackoverflow.com/questions/2435...ta-logging For more guidance, check out: https://blog.nunosenica.com/reduce-write...h-raspbian
Cycles often carry SD cards, yet they prove more durable than anticipated. After nearly a decade of continuous operation on a basic Class 10 card, I was surprised by its longevity. A word of caution: if you intend to use it as a full desktop environment rather than just for command-line tasks, performance may suffer significantly. Writing is the main bottleneck, and read speeds remain modest, varying with the card and laptop controller. For serious desktop work, I’d advise using a lightweight distro that boots from RAM—similar to a Live ISO, but with persistent storage and update capabilities. I’m uncertain about Ubuntu’s setup for this scenario, though Alpine Linux offers a viable path. It runs from memory, uses musl instead of glibc, which limits compatibility with most applications outside its repositories. You could work around this by installing via Flatpak, bundling all required libraries. The trade-off is a smaller footprint, but the process can be more complex. If Ubuntu struggles, explore other distros that simplify memory-based operation.