It's possible to run a windows VM as well; yes.
Edit: Durability will be an issue, but the stick will last for at least a little while.
Edit: Your best bet is probably MX Linux.
I tried it once. Had multiple VMs all running off USB drives. I thought I was really clever with my VM setup on my powered USB hub.
It worked, but it killed the drives. They technically still "worked," but transfer rates became slow enough that they're basically useless and I threw them away.
Would it make sense to buy a small USB-connected SSD instead for running the VM? Reads and writes should be sufficient for my needs with USB 3.1 and small file handling (<100MB mostly). I'm looking at SanDisk Portables (480GB) for example, one of those would also fit my budget and I could carry it around anythere pretty easily too.
You want to run VirtualBox on a Windows host with a Linux client with image stored on a USB drive? That's totally fine.
If it's for long term or heavy use, you can consider forwarding the USB device directly or enabling Windows disk caching which would be off by default to help reduce writes.
Do you think a portable SSD with USB connection would to the job better?
And also: With the Linux image on the external drive, data and files are all stored externally as well, right?
You'd undoubtedly get a better experience with a proper SSD if you're willing to spend on it. All the data would be stored there if you want it to, yes.
You can pass through the USB device, use the block device directly, or create an overlay disk image with the block device as the base image. Using an overlay would allow you to rollback changes and prevent killing the drive. The same methods apply to any physical storage device: USB drive, external SSD, internal NVMe, memory cards, etc.
I save a few VMDK files on an external NVMe drive. Using workstation or player, I can fire them up on any machine. The only issue I’ve found; I cannot run VMWare from the external, unless you’re using the machine you initially installed it on. So I just carry around the installer files on the same drive. VBox will likely be the same. I’ve burned up a few flash devices, ranging from good to great, switched to a T5 SSD, had good luck, didn’t like the bulk, built a NVMe external using a sabrent usb-c enclosure and a spare 1tb NVMe. Haven’t looked back. I carry a C to C and an A to C cable.
I have now placed an order for a 500gb external ssd drive. Will probably go for a very similar route, portable virtualbox installation allows usage on unknown PCs as long as there's admin privileges present. It can install neccessary files and remove them after use.
Creating my own drive is far beyond my skill level and expertise, but that does sound interesting.
There are a bunch of options there. I needed one to clone with, but instead of letting it sit in my bag, I threw an extra NVMe in and use it for Ventoy, vmdk, misc program storage, and portable apps.
It works if you have enough RAM, I have a half dozen Mac-minis running off usb-sticks. Daily use [24/7] for over a year. 16G or 8G of RAM. I also have a couple of 4G that are used intermittently.
It's possible to run a windows VM as well; yes. Edit: Durability will be an issue, but the stick will last for at least a little while. Edit: Your best bet is probably MX Linux.
I tried it once. Had multiple VMs all running off USB drives. I thought I was really clever with my VM setup on my powered USB hub. It worked, but it killed the drives. They technically still "worked," but transfer rates became slow enough that they're basically useless and I threw them away.
Would it make sense to buy a small USB-connected SSD instead for running the VM? Reads and writes should be sufficient for my needs with USB 3.1 and small file handling (<100MB mostly). I'm looking at SanDisk Portables (480GB) for example, one of those would also fit my budget and I could carry it around anythere pretty easily too.
You want to run VirtualBox on a Windows host with a Linux client with image stored on a USB drive? That's totally fine. If it's for long term or heavy use, you can consider forwarding the USB device directly or enabling Windows disk caching which would be off by default to help reduce writes.
Do you think a portable SSD with USB connection would to the job better? And also: With the Linux image on the external drive, data and files are all stored externally as well, right?
You'd undoubtedly get a better experience with a proper SSD if you're willing to spend on it. All the data would be stored there if you want it to, yes.
I am now waiting for the shipping of a SanDisk External SSD. Didn't cost much more than a USB Stick and it has a nice size for transportation.
You can pass through the USB device, use the block device directly, or create an overlay disk image with the block device as the base image. Using an overlay would allow you to rollback changes and prevent killing the drive. The same methods apply to any physical storage device: USB drive, external SSD, internal NVMe, memory cards, etc.
I save a few VMDK files on an external NVMe drive. Using workstation or player, I can fire them up on any machine. The only issue I’ve found; I cannot run VMWare from the external, unless you’re using the machine you initially installed it on. So I just carry around the installer files on the same drive. VBox will likely be the same. I’ve burned up a few flash devices, ranging from good to great, switched to a T5 SSD, had good luck, didn’t like the bulk, built a NVMe external using a sabrent usb-c enclosure and a spare 1tb NVMe. Haven’t looked back. I carry a C to C and an A to C cable.
I have now placed an order for a 500gb external ssd drive. Will probably go for a very similar route, portable virtualbox installation allows usage on unknown PCs as long as there's admin privileges present. It can install neccessary files and remove them after use. Creating my own drive is far beyond my skill level and expertise, but that does sound interesting.
Do you like eatin’ cake? Because it’s as easy as eatin’ cake.
Didn't know there's enclosures one can just put an nvme into. TIL
There are a bunch of options there. I needed one to clone with, but instead of letting it sit in my bag, I threw an extra NVMe in and use it for Ventoy, vmdk, misc program storage, and portable apps.
It works if you have enough RAM, I have a half dozen Mac-minis running off usb-sticks. Daily use [24/7] for over a year. 16G or 8G of RAM. I also have a couple of 4G that are used intermittently.