I am brand new to Linux/Ubuntu; still a devoted Win7 fan who is running Linux from a USB just to play around with it. All I can say is WOW!
But here's what I want to do: I have a freind who has a old Dell laptop, not sure if its running Windows XP or Vista; but the O/S is all screwed up. Now, what I'd like to do is to pretty much give her a "brand new computer" in the form of Ubuntu run from a USB flash drive or CD. This would give her full out-of-box functionality of her laptop while at the same time protecting all of her current user files.
My questions: I would assume that using a large capacity USB would be the best way to go for docs, jpgs, mp3, exe's, etc. Would a second USB stick be good for stand alone files? Exe's would have to be on the drive containing the O/S?
(I would also assume that in this case the best idea might be to get a full backup HDD; even a solid state drive - but then again, backward compatibility for 7 yr old hardware?)
Since my own Linux USB is brand new; can I just simply make a copy of the .iso to another USB for her; or would I have to again download the .iso and installer to her possibly corrupted Windows O/S?
What I am seeing is that all she would have to do is to boot into her BIOS, select which O/S she wants to use; in effect a brand new computer for the cost of a USB...