I searched but only found 1 thread related but I wanted to ask the question in a slightly different way. Forgive me if it is discussed in detail somewhere else.

I am a brand newbie to Linux. I have downloaded Mandriva Toronto. I have burned the image to a CD and I intend to setup a USB flash boot.

My question. I do not want my hard drive to get written to under any circumstances. I have it set up running Windows and I don't want to damage the installation and would be most .
comfortable knowing that Linux will not write (even as scratch pad) to my Hard drive.

Is the normal default operation for Toronto running off of a CD or USB flash to not write to the HD? There are several options when i first put in the CD and this is not the same as the Mandriva version I tried yesterday. What options, if any, allow this version of Linux to write to the hard drive? (Knowing this will enable me to avoid these options)

Just to be clear I do not want anything written to my Hd. At least not until I understand things more.

Thank you

yes the entire MCNL project was designed to allow you to boot a slimmed down copy of mandriva from a CD or USB key and never touch the existing hardware.

Several folks have used MCNL as our main linux install, and chris the woman who designed it, was always against this

j

Thanks,

I can't believe that I have to ask this but I can't figure it out nor can I find any post on it:

I booted off of the CD (Toronto). I then stuck in a USB flash. I then went to create MCNlive and after finally figuring out the password of root a warning window came up. I was not able to scroll down to the bottom of the window where i am sure there is a button to click to continue or at least a command to type.

There were no scroll bars on the window and i could not move it up to read the bottom. I tried unsuccessfully to change my font size, resolution, window size.......

Is this stuff too obvious for most?

Here you'll find more info about MCNLive (Toronto), also on www.mandrivaclub.nl is a english subforum with questions and answers about MCNLive.

NOTHING is too obvious for most.

remember this was created for a specific project by some folks who have a really good handle on things.

I tried to create some simple step by step stuff about MCNL here:

http://www.thehess.org/Rollyourown1.html

that may help.

The instructions are really about making YOUR mandriva desktop into an MCNL type USB drive (2007.1 only so far), but hopefully it can shed some light on some questions you may have.

j