Q: What are the advantages / disadvantages of LiveCD / LiveUSB / Embedded vs. Full platform?
Q: What's the difference between the .ISO and the .IMG files I can download to install XigmaNAS?
Q: What's the difference between LiveCD / Embedded
vs. Full platform?
A:
Full platform boots and runs from hard disk, none of your RAM is used to store the
OS.
LiveCD/LiveUSB & Embedded platforms boot from disk(CD/DVD, HDD, USB or CF), then load into a RAM drive and run from RAM drive to limit read/write access on disk.
Run LiveCD/LiveUSB saving the configuration on floppy or USB
The
OS will boot and run from CD/USB and the configuration will be loaded from/saved to floppy or USB.
Advantages:
Easy to update and maintain.
Changes are not saved. If by mistake you delete/modify a system file, just reboot and you get everything like before.
Floppies / floppy drives, Flash drives are cheap.
Disadvantages:
Slow to boot if using CD/DVD or USB 1.0.
Floppies / floppy drives can be unreliable.
The root file system will use space in your RAM.
The root file system will be limited to the amount of RAM it uses/gets allocated.
Difficult to customize. Changes are not saved.
NAS4Free does not officially support floppies (fdformat utility was removed)
Embedded install on USB or HDD
The
OS boot loader and a compressed XigmaNAS file system will be installed on HDD/USB/CF.
The
OS will boot from HDD/USB/CF and the compressed file system will be decompressed to RAM, and then run from RAM.
Advantages:
Easy to update and maintain.
Damage resistant: Changes are not saved. If by mistake you delete/modify a system file, just reboot and you get everything like before.
Disadvantages:
Full install on USB/HDD/CF
The
OS is not loaded onto a RAM disk, all reading and writing is done on the hard disk or USB/CF device.
Advantages:
Saves RAM, only necessary files will be loaded on RAM.
You can define the size of the root filesystem.
Easy to customize.
You can install extra packages and / or plug-ins.
Disadvantages:
None of the listed “advantages” is actually a good thing.
Difficult to maintain and upgrade.
Any changes ( deletions / modifications / plug-ins / additions ) are permanent / final.
Easy to break the system if you make a mistake.
Must make sure you have a backup of the OS partition before you try to customize.
Should be installed onto hard drive because constant reads/writes will shorten the useful life of USB flash / CF cards.
Upgrades to LiveCD/LiveUSB
Upgrades to Embedded
Upgrades to Full install