Fast external flash options?

[zzing]

I am considering an mba 11 or 13 sometime in the new year. I am coming from a 15 mbp2010.

One thing that would be a rather huge adjustment for me would be the decrease in space for stuff. I am not sure how good the 256 is for the price. I like the option of having some things on external media.

Specifically, I would like to be able to boot a linux or windows system from a usb3 flash drive. My only experience with this kind of thing is usb2 and 30mb/s I get from external hard drives or much less from flash drives is certainly not enough for this.

So here I ask two things: 1. Does there exist an external flash drive that is very fast such that an external operating system could run from it without too much trouble?

2. If such a flash drive existed, could it boot something like Windows?

 

[ConCat]

The last I tried (and heard), it was impossible to boot anything but Mac OS off of USB drives due to firmware limitations. You'd be able to off of a Thunderbolt drive though. The prices have come down a bit so you may want to check it out, you just have to do a little searching for the good prices.

EDIT: As for speed concerns, there aren't any. Both USB3 and Thunderbolt are more than capable of booting an OS at acceptable speeds. The only roadblock is, like I said, firmware limitations. It is possible that the new USB3-equipped macs CAN boot off of USB now, but that has never been the case historically. I suppose it's worth looking into.

 

[Boomhowler]

still waiting for this

http://www.anandtech.com/show/5321/oczs-portable-thunderbolt-ssd-lightfoot

it should be the ultimate "mobile mac"-tool, just bring your computer with you, even without a computer