Running Linux from a USB drive is possible. You can boot just about any distribution you want from USB. There are some things you should consider before going this route. I've used Linux in just about ...
Your USB drive should be able to store and boot as many operating systems as its storage capacity allows.
I've tested many portable Linux distros, but PorteuX is the one I keep on my USB drive ...
Third, I made a Linux Mint 16 XFCE edition live/install USB. Some posts I read indicated this had to be done from a Mac to boot into it correctly, but the one I had lying around that had been prepared ...