Hello,

I have a live pendrive and I think that it has been finalised automatically. It has a lot of space on the drive.

I can't save files to this drive. Is it possible to unfinalise the drive?

Thanks

What is on that pendrive? (written boot image?)

A Linux operating system

What software did you use to put the system (Manjaro?) on the usb?
Most of the software used to do this will create and use an iso9660 filesystem which is read-only by design. Some of the major Linux distributions can create persistence during the creation of the Live usb, others can't/don't. The method varies with different distributions. If you have a lot of unused space on the flash drive, you should be able to use a LInux system to create an additional partition on the drive to be used for data. With a basic 'Live' system, you would have to create a mount point and actually mount this partition from the Live iso each time you boot but you could save data.

The link below discusses this specifically with Manjaro.

https://forum.manjaro.org/t/solved-l...talls/39944/17

There is also software for some Linux distributions which you can use to create an iso of an installed system with any changes you have made to the installed system. I'm not aware of anything available for Manjaro.

If the usb drive you are using has a lot of free space, why not do an actual full install to it?

Hello,

I have installed the OS.

But I would like to use the remaining space on the pendrive, but keep the OS on the pendrive for emergency use.

I believe that I used Etcher to create the live pendrive.

Regards

Then you need to do some research on how to create persistence with Manjaro if you plan to use it. Otherwise, using the manual method I described in my last post is an option, convoluted but not that difficult. Some other LInux systems make this a lot easier. The link I posted above seems to indicate persistent systems are not easily created with Manjaro. If you do a full install and don't install proprietary drivers you should be able to use it on multiple computers.

Etcher and other program try to take a live distro and place it on a usb. They use tricks to make it work. Part of the problem is that the original image/iso was a cd/dvd form. Second is how your system now views this usb. Some cases it still views it like a cd/dvd. You can try a partition manager to see what it might be able to access.

Try gparted if you have it. Other tools like parted or Manjaro unique programs or command line tools like fdisk may show you if you can access the drive. Windows usually won't see a second partition on a usb flash drive.

you will likely need to create a new partition on that drive to store data on.
for that you will likely need to shrink/modify existing partitions.
gparted can do that.

Thanks to all for the advice

please share your solution.
those who actually do search before they post, will benefit from it.

I will be following the advice given by yancek, jefro, and ondoho who all advise making a partition.