UEFI - only for hard disk or does it work for USB too?

[nheather]

I want to create a USB based Linux Lite - so boots and runs entirely from the USB.

My motherboard supports UEFI - what I’m not clear about is whether UEFI only applies when you run from a system disk (HDD or SDD) or whether it works when you run from a USB?

And if you can use it with USB is it worthwhile and how do you do it - when installing Linux to the USB do I need to create an EFI partition.

[stevef]

Yes you can make a system with UEFI booting a linux USB stick.

I did it a while back with LL6.0 on a 32GB USB3.0 drive.  I generally followed the instructions at

https://www.linuxliteos.com/manual/tutor...ml#usbpers

I don't remember it as being straight forward and I needed two or three attempts to get it working.  I can't remember the details of what I did to get it working but wound up with a 4MB EFI partition on the USB stick.

Having got it working - I couldn't really think what to do with it.  I suppose if paranoid there is the attraction of being able to put your OS and data in your pocket.  If you are in a workshop, being able to quickly boot random PCs might be useful.

Regarding your questions on partitioning (other thread) - you sort of self-answer your questions which may be partly why it got no response, but I'll have a go here.

A Swap partition probably isn't necessary.
If you have separate partitions for OS and user data the tendency is to allow 'plenty' for the OS.  This is at the expense of potentially running out of user data.  You say you're not particularly concerned about the supposed advantages of separate OS/home partitions so why do it ?
A dual access partition on the stick is also possible.  I can see a use for creating data on the linux and wanting to copy it to windows or other devices -  using FAT32 would give max interoperability.