Manual:Wiki on a stick
By a "stick" we mean a USB stick, otherwise known as a USB key, USB flash drive, keydrive, thumbdrive, or pendrive. However the instructions will apply to other removable storage media (memory card, PC Card/PCMCIA/CardBus disk, LS-120 SuperDisk, or other portable media).
Why put a wiki on a stick?[edit]
Having a personal wiki as a wiki on a stick is useful for demonstrations, personal knowledge management, sophisticated note-taking, or super-fast installations using a simple copy.
Considerations[edit]
Always stop the servers and then use the system tray "unplug/eject" icon to stop the media before removing it.
Take regular backups if you are putting a lot of effort into wiki content, or software configuration/customisation. Remember that a USB key is an easy thing to lose.
Security[edit]
If you lose your USB key, anyone finding it will have access to the information in your wiki. Note that conventional web security measures as described on Manual:Preventing access, do not help (much) in this situation, since they will have direct access to the database server (it's on the USB key!). So avoid placing sensitive/confidential information in your wiki pages. Or alternatively...
You may want to use encryption software such as TrueCrypt, to protect your data. This requires you to mount a drive prior to server start up, and dismount the drive after server shut down each time.
On Windows[edit]
- Manual:Installation on Uniform Server
- Using XAMPP Portable Light: Manual:Installing MediaWiki on XAMPP and Manual:Streamlined Windows Install Guide
