Are there benefits to using a high speed read:write drive with Tails OS?

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1

This weekend I was comparing load times between lower and higher read:write speed drives.

I’m surprised to see no noticeable difference
• ~2 min to unlock Persistent Storage
• ~10 sec to load desktop screen
• Both seem to have faster load times when Persistent Storage is turned on

USB drives
• SanDisk USB-C 3.1 drive 150:150 MB/s read:write 64 GB
• SanDisk Extreme Pro USB-C 3.2 drive 1,000:900 MB/s read:write 512GB

Testing high speed SanDisk 1,000:900 MB/s read:write
• Seems SanDisk’s higher speed drive is not compatible without compromising security after debugging with Brave, Venice, and Grok AIs
• Loading error: BusyBox v1.37.0 (Debian 1:1.37.0-6+b7) built-in shell (ash)...
• Choosing the External Hard Disk in the Boot Loader is able to get Tails to find and run the drive to test load times above
• However the External option can allow an attacker to run a malicious version of Tails from the main computer’s internal drive if compromised as I understand from the docs.

Much appreciated!

2

Tails OS support (support@tails.net) shared fast and helpful feedback!

There’s diminishing returns on observable frontend speeds

E.g. A 10 to 150 MB/s USB drive upgrade shows a big difference. >150 MB/s not noticeable.

Boots after the 1st time are faster

  • Tails will repartition the USB stick on 1st boot
  • Persistent Storage does not impact this