Testing different operating systems is something I do a lot of (mostly for work), and while I enjoy it, it can definitely be a hassle to constantly have to switch operating systems. It's already a lot of work to install an operating system on a computer, but I also have to create the flash drive I use to install it. It can become tedious, but thankfully, there's a way to make things easier.
Ventoy is a tool you may have heard of, and for good reason. It lets you use the same USB drive to boot multiple operating systems, making it easy to test them out quickly and with far less downtime. Here's why it's so great.
Every operating system at my fingertips
Try anything, anywhere
As I already mentioned, one of the more annoying parts of testing new operating systems is that it always requires a fresh start, not just for the computer, but for the flash drive I boot it from. I need to reformat it each time to flash the ISO file onto the drive, and make it bootable, which not only takes time, but also wears down the storage medium that much faster.
With Ventoy, that's not a problem. Ventoy itself is bootable, and then it lets me choose from any ISO file stored on my USB drive so that I can boot from it. That means I can carry multiple operating systems with me at any given time to try on different computers, or even the same one.
It also means I don't have to start over each time I find something new to add to the rotation, or if I want to replace one of the OSes with a newer version of it. I can simply drag the new ISO into the flash drive, and I can then boot from it, no extra setup required. I can also have files that aren't bootable without much concern if I still want to use the drive as regular storage. I don't have to worry about my files interfering with the OS files on the drive, as long as there's enough space.
This is great not only for simplicity, but also if I were to want to help someone else. If they need to reinstall Windows or switch to Linux, I can have multiple options ready to try in an instant. It's just way easier.
Run ISOs from local disks
You don't need a big USB drive
Having all these portable ISO files I can boot anywhere is already fantastic, but truthfully, most of my testing is done on the same laptop, and what's more, I have a fairly small 16GB drive I normally use, so unless I want to pull out a portable SSD, I can't really have a ton of ISOs on a portable drive.
Thankfully, Ventoy has another solution. Not only can it boot ISO files inside the USB drive, I can also pick ISO files on my local disks and boot those instead. That means I can simply download an ISO file on my test laptop and quickly boot from it without having to load up my USB drive, and it's easier to get started testing something new. Like I said, I test most things on the same laptop anyway, so unless I want to install a distro on the local drive, why not just do it this way?
Of course, this does require you to disable BitLocker encryption if you're using a Windows 11 PC, as you won't be able to read files from the disk otherwise. Still, it's a very useful feature, and if you're testing multiple Linux distros, there's a good chance you already disabled BitLocker anyway.
Even data persistence works
Don't start fresh each time
If all of this wasn't enough, you can even use Ventoy if you want your operating systems to have data persistence. If you boot a live USB that supports persistent data, you can create a persistence file and use a JSON configuration file to allow Ventoy to load that persistent data. This way, even though you're using a live USB with multiple distros, you can keep your configuration for each one.
In fact, Ventoy supports multiple persistence files per distro if you have multiple setups you want to keep, and for distros that support it, you may even be able to use the same persistence file for different OSes. It's also easier to set up than many distros with this feature built-in, as they often require a separate partition, whereas Ventoy can just use a DAT file to serve as the backend for the persistent. I tested this with Ubuntu and sure enough, after installing Vivaldi, it was still there when I launched Ubuntu again from the live USB.
If you have a larger portable drive, this basically means you can carry multiple ready-to-use operating systems — with the data you want — all in one drive, ready to boot on any machine. You can quickly load up a Linux distro of your choice and run various tests, or just see how it might run on the PC you're using if you want to know whether it's a viable option.
Ventoy is fantastic
If you're hopping between different operating systems and PCs frequently, Ventoy is an incredibly useful tool that will make it easier to quickly switch from one operating system to the other, and even test any one of them on different computers for whatever purpose you may want. I'll certainly be keeping Ventoy in my toolbox going forward, and I recommend doing the same.