Posted: 7/18/2026 7:27:59 PM EDT
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I was doing some reading and it was mentioned you should have a USB drive with your radio programming, antenna analyzer, digital programs in case the SHTF. The thinking was if your laptop took a dump or was destroyed, you have your programs backed up. If you plugged it into another computer, it would have to load whatever program you wanted to use on someone else's computer to use it ,wouldn't it? Is there a way to have a USB act as a complete drive that could run without loading your info on someone else's hard drive? I'm thinking things like RTSystems radio programming software, the software for my Antenna analyzer, FLdigi, etc. Sorry if this is basic stuff. I'm an analog man stuck in a digital world. 
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Act Accordingly…
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Yes Linux OS on a usb drive is the answer French guys fork of emcomm tools Emcomm tools ArcOS |
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Originally Posted By smeeg: Yes Linux OS on a usb drive is the answer French guys fork of emcomm tools Emcomm tools ArcOS 
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Act Accordingly…
| Something to keep in mind, for a lot of modern hardware, you'll have to disable stuff like Secure Boot and more to get those to run. No problems for you, but if they have an encrypted Windows install with Bitlocker, they'll have to re-enter their decryption key after Secure Boot is turned back on. |
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This is the sort of thing that if you're really really concerned about, buy an inexpensive laptop, build it to whatever you want - and stick it in an ammo can. Pull it out once a month or quarter and update it / use it for a bit, and return it. If you don't feel that's enough, buy two. Repeat. .... if things really go to pot. Having installation media for versions of software that do not need to phone home to activate is a very good thing. But a pre-configured boot disk is a solution looking for a very very specific problem. |
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Originally Posted By Bhart89: I can’t imagine trying to build a society back from a catastrophic event without Microsoft excel. In two generations most humans will probably never learn simple arithmetic. Imagine the advantage you'd have with a real, actual, working computer and Excel (or even *gasp* MS Access) running a business when everyone else is re-learning an abacus.
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