Learn how to create a personalized Ubuntu version that loads an image in RAM with Booting Ubuntu To RAM tutorial. Efficiently document the process in this article.
The guide covers customizing a LiveCD, copying it to the hard drive, and making modifications to bootup scripts. These modifications enable the system to copy the LiveCD to RAM using the tmpfs feature. It is important to note that while the author has successfully used this procedure, it may not work for everyone. Users are cautioned to make a backup and not attempt this on mission-critical systems.
It is also important to understand that changes made under the live session are not saved and will be lost upon reboot or shutdown. To save data permanently, users can mount a permanent medium such as their hard drive, use a thumb drive, or use network functionality built into Ubuntu to save data to a non-volatile destination.
There are many benefits to booting Ubuntu to RAM. These include improved performance with a 400MB squashed filesystem in RAM, potentially reduced power usage and system noise, greater durability in laptops with the hard disk spun down, and fewer negative consequences of an abrupt poweroff. Additionally, it is great for privacy as anything done in this session is lost upon reboot or poweroff. However, it is important to note that by default, the LiveCD user has full sudo access, so a malicious user could potentially make permanent changes by following the instructions in this guide.