| ++ '''Important guide notes:''' ++ |
| * This guide favors NEW USB drives due to how cheap small capacity drives are. If you want to reuse an old drive, then those will also work. |
| * I have removed all information from this guide that targets DVD burning. Many new laptops (and some desktops) no longer include optical drives. |
| * In a lot of cases, the optical drives that come with used equipment is likely already broken in some way. It isn't uncommon for the previous owner to neglect a failed optical drive. In regards to laptops this is even more common then it is on desktops. |
| * In the case of a USB drive, they can be reformatted and reused multiple times before the flash memory wears out. DVD media is typically single use. |
| ++ '''IF YOUR SYSTEM HAS TROUBLE BOOTING FROM USB DIRECTLY:''' ++ |
| '''Note:''' This problem typically only comes up for users with very old hardware (or systems with buggy USB boot implementations). It does NOT affect the majority of readers. |
| If your system that has trouble booting from USB media directly, a CD boot ma manager can be used as a workaround. These guides cover how to use the boot manager option: |
| [https://www.ifixit.com/Guide/How+to+use+PlopKexec+%28Subguide%29/54074|PlopKExec] |
| [https://www.ifixit.com/Guide/How+to+use+Plop+Boot+Manager+(Subguide)/54031|Plop Boot Manager] |