Hello,

I will like to know if it is there any tool in Linux that allows us to install multiple bootable operating systems on a USB and at the same time to load a lot of information, data, for storage/consultation. All in just one USB.

-- 'Ventoy' can do the former but as far as I can see it can't do the latter, loading and displaying ... not everything, data/information as well ...

Thanks for any advice.

Ventoy boots multiple OSes. Any OS will do the rest. You wanting them in one tool is unrealistic. Tools do one thing, and do it well. Like you don't use a hammer to make omelettes.

Are you referring to an actual full install on a usb (hard drive or flash drive)? Or do you mean a 'live' Linux OS with or without persistence? If it is the former, it should not be a problem but since you refer to Ventoy, I expect that is not what you are wanting to do.

I've never used Ventoy but you can put a number of 'live' Linux systems on a usb (flash drive) and have extra space or an added partition on which to store data. The limitations are that on a 'live' Linux, system files cannot be changed and maintained on reboot so each time you boot, in order to access a data partition on the usb, you would need to create a mount point for it and mount it manually.

I have a 64GB USB key with two partitions, one FAT32 and a Data partition formatted NTFS.
The FAT partition has the operating systems (live mode) and AIO boot setup. I first created the two partitions then installed AIO (in Windows) using the default boot loader Grub or Grub2, forget since it's been a while since I set it up but do change out some operating systems and utilities over time as newer upgrade versions are available. They are in ISO format and booted live.

It boots the following ISOs:

My custom built Debian testing live
Ubuntu live with persistence
My custom built Windows 10 PE SE
Windows 8.1 PE SE dual mode (32 and 64 Bit)
Gpart live

AIO is a Windows ported application.
I pop the USB stick in and the partitions show up in the file browser, click on the AIO.exe and a menu appears. Go to "Edit Menu" tab or similar to remove an older Ubuntu (Example) by simply adding the check in the box next to it and select OK or close the window and it removes Ubuntu and it's persistence file if there is one (it gets deleted and removed from the boot menu). Then go to Integrate tab to select a new Ubuntu ISO and install it, close the app and reboot to the stick, the new Ubuntu live is in the menu and ready to rumble.

The FAT partition needs to be large enough to house as many ISOs as you want to boot, don't think there's a limit.

@ Brains,

If I understand you are indicating that what I have to do first is the partition the USB disk, one section for the operating systems and another for the data, fine, but when I have downloaded/installed both of them, how do these two sections bounce independently, is it there any previous window established for the choice of one or the other?, how are they accessed? thanks.

Independent is normal. There can be no expected automatic connection unless there's something built to that end in the booted iso.Not if you boot an iso that hasn't any way to persist settings.As in anything Linux, there are multiple ultimate possibilities. Foundationally first, the extra filesystem needs to get mounted somewhere. Once that's done, its content is accessed the same way as is done from the booted OS on any other mounted filesystem, usually some sort of file manager, or opening some program that understands the file's type, and having it do the file open.

Any tutorial on how to proceed step by step with all this? I have a lot of problems to understand the issue, I have never done anything like this; I can make the partition of the USB but when I try to download the iso image it doesn't install or it installs in 'somewhere else place' [like 'MX-Live'], not in sda1 it is not even at the BIOS, and this is only the beginning ...

Need a page translator installed for this tutorial on our forum.

https://www.antixforum.com/forums/to...do-o-ventoy-2/

I have used Multiboot in the past to have multiple OS's on a USB to boot from, and it does support creating persistence, but looks like development has stopped. They now recommend to use their Windows version YUMI version with Wine. The page says persistence may not work, but not sure how uptp date that page is, so it may work fine.

https://pendrivelinux.com/yumi-multi...-YUMI-on-Linux

Are you using Ventoy? Have you read any tutorials on using it such as the one at the link below?

https://www.makeuseof.com/ventoy-create-multiboot-usb/

Your last post isn't clear as you indicate you download the iso but do not say what method (software) you are using to write it to the disk. When you write the iso to the usb and reboot, do you see it in the BIOS firmware, the name of the usb most likely. You should post more detail on the steps you take. It would probably be easier if you created 2 partitions in advance, 1 for the various iso file and one for your data partition. What you want can be done but I am not aware of any tool which will do so without user intervention.

It's been at least a couple years since I put my multi ISO USB together, it works so well there hasn't been a need to do it over again.
Just going by memory, I'm pretty sure I created the two partitions first but could be wrong, one must do some research (read instructions) on how to setup AIO.

When you boot an OS ISO, it can see all drives attached to the computer including the two partitions of the USB, as such any data in the second partition is available from anything booted from the ISOs.

If you are interested in trying AIO, when you first fire it up it should ask where you want to install it, this is where you point it to the FAT32 partition, it should also ask if it's OK to use the default bootloader Grub2 for booting the USB, accept this.
Once AIO is installed and has populated the FAT32 partition with files and folders, there should be a file called "AIOCreator.exe", click on that from within Windows OS to add/remove ISOs. On the "Main" tab of the AIOCreator application window there is a button called "MENU Editor" click on it and put a check next to the ISO you don't want anymore. When you close the application window it will make the changes removing it from the boot menu and deleting it's contents.

Click on the "Integration" tab of the application window to add an ISO
Select the category in step 1 (Select Pack) from the drop down menu (this is for the boot menu that will appear when you boot the USB stick, if you are adding a Linux OS ISO, select "Linux OS". When the menu appears you will navigate to Linux OS line and hit enter where you select the desired Linux to boot from a list of all the Linux OS ISO you have installed)
In step 2 (Select File), navigate to and select the ISO you want to integrate (install) and click OK. If the OS supports persistence, the installer will ask if you want to include a persistence file and what size up to 4GB which is maximum file size for FAT32 file system the USB partition has. It will then copy the contents of the ISO, add a menu entry to boot it and create the persistence file. When done it will send a little popup window saying "Done, Happy booting". Now you can reboot the computer to the USB to try it out.

The boot menu that shows up with my setup has a landscape photo that I took with my camera for a background, so it's customizable to a certain degree.

My cheap 64GB Sandisk Cruzer Glide is only USB2, so it takes a while to write stuff to it, creating a 4GB persistence file takes like 20 minutes to a half hour, but it works flawlessly.

Ventoy is very well documented. Why not look there?

Thanks for all the comments but it seems I didn't explain myself well initially, I don't use Windows. My operating system is MX-23, I also have MX-21.
I will comment first about Ventoy because you seem to be indicating that it is possible to have multiple systems along with the data.
I have Ventoy installed, it is the tool I use to have several bootable systems on one USB.

Now, my problem with Ventoy is that I don't see how I can enter the data (music, videos, etc) so that I can be able to access it later on the USB -- I can download it, but it doesn't appear in the main window along with the bootable systems ... how to access it, I don't know ...

Read Uteck post.
You can run Yumi in a Windows VM or on a friend’s.

No, there must be some way to do this in Linux.