Putting Knoppix on a USB stick

[jim simon]

Hi:
Being a newbie, as I nervously and slowly go through the procedures posted on http://knoppix.net/forum/viewpoint.php?t=25402 , a question pops up in my mind. If I erase my flash key and procede with all steps and finally get to the point of trying to boot up knoppix from the key, and I can't boot up after I've tried everything possible, then my question is, Can my key be restored to the way it was before installing knoppix on it? Does the key just need to be erased again or has some partitioning been changed and need be restored? Or is my key now useless? Thank you for your time in reading and/or responding.

[SiKing]

The link you posted goes nowhere, at least for me.

Let's say, for the purposes of this discussion, installing Knoppix on a USB key will effectively erase all data on the key. You will need to back it up, if you would like to preserve this data for future; even if you found a procedure that says data will not be erased (and this is quite possible), you should still back up all data first. Further, installing Knoppix does not cause any permanent / physical change / harm to your key, meaning that if you change your mind at a later time you can always restore the key back the way it was before. It is possible that as part of the installation some partitioning was modified on the key, but this is again not a permanent state, and can be modified any time to suit your needs.

[Harry Kuhman]

yup, bad link. However http://knoppix.net/forum/viewtopic.php?t=25402 is on-subject.

[jim simon]

To SiKing:
You say:
“It is possible that as part of the installation some partitioning was modified on the key, but this is again not a permanent state, and can be modified any time to suit your needs.�

My question now, is how do I restore my key to it’s original form (partitions). I’m not referring to the personal data that was on the stick.

To Harry Kuhman:
I didn’t remember the link from which I made a copy on my printer of how to make a bootable knoppix key. It was from this copy I found this link. If you have any other sources (links) that will help me in being successful on making a bootable key, I would be grateful to you.

Thanks to all

[SiKing]

My question now, is how do I restore my key to it’s original form (partitions). I’m not referring to the personal data that was on the stick.

Well there are lots of different programs that allow you to change partitions. I know that the first time you go through it, it may seem a little daunting, but trust me, there is nothing to it - especially if you're not concerned about the data. I don't know how much you know about what partitions are, but have a look here. After that, Knoppix comes with qtparted, which works very well. Fire it up, to see what partitioning you have on your key. The odds are very good, that if you did not do anything to it after your purchase, then it has only one partition, and I would even go so far as to say that it is probably FAT32 type.
Good luck.