Persistence pays off

If you decide that the benefits of persistence outweigh the downsides then this is very simple to set up. Go to Applications > Tails > Configure Persistent Volume. Needless to say this can only be done if Tails is installed on a USB stick. Once you’ve chosen a passphrase, click on ‘Create’ and wait for the volume to be ready.You’ll then be presented with options as to what data you’d like to preserve. You can enable the following list of options: GnuPG (Stores all OpenPGP keys), SSH keys (both public and private), Pidgin settings (accounts, chats and OTR keys etc.), Icedove configuration and emails, Gnome Keyring, Network Connections, Browser Bookmarks, Printers, Electrum Bitcoin Client settings, APT Packages and APT Lists (enables installation of additional software). Finally, you will also have the option to create a folder called ‘persistent’ (which is stored in Places > Persistent) to store any personal documents that you create or download. Note that by default the password manager, KeepassX doesn’t save its database here, so make sure to use the Save As… feature if you want to use this. You can deactivate any of these options at any time but the files you’ve already created will already be on the persistent volume. Finally, shut down your computer and restart using your Tails USB stick. You’ll notice you’ll have the choice each time you boot on whether to use persistence or not, so if you don’t need access to your personal data, it’s possible to use the Live mode.