Tutorials/Playing and saving Minecraft on a thumb drive

This tutorial explains how to run Minecraft on a portable drive. This is useful if you want to retain your game data (launcher profiles, worlds, resource packs, etc.) when switching computers.

The primary focus of this guide is to create an installation of Minecraft on a portable drive. However, the exact same steps can be followed to create a portable installation of the game; that is, an installation that is not so "integrated" with the computer, which is useful for managing multiple installations and generally keeping things organised.

Please note that this tutorial will only work with the modern 2.0 launcher, thanks to the addition of the  option. It will not work with the older launchers. Another thing to note is that while this guide was written specifically for Windows, it is still largely applicable to other operating systems.

Instructions for Windows
'''For the sake of this explanation, this tutorial will guide you through installing the game to. However, this guide can be used to install the game to any directory. When following this guide, replace this directory with the directory you actually want to install the game to.'''

Setup
Before making the game portable, it is important to move all existing game data to the desired directory. Navigate to the portable drive in the file explorer, and create the  directory. Navigate to the  folder and copy all of its contents (but not the folder itself) into.

Once the game data has been moved to the new directory, you now need to move the launcher there too. Simply move  to.

Now all files are in place, the last step is to create a shortcut to the launcher. This shortcut must also be in. Once the shortcut has been created, right-click it and select Properties. In the Target field, append  to the end of the string that is currently there. Once done, the full Target field should read:.

Everything is now finished. When you want to play, just use the shortcut to launch the game. Do not start the launcher directly (without using the modified shortcut), or the game will just use the default directory in  as its working directory. It is recommended to set the launcher's executable to have the "hidden" attribute to avoid accidentally running it.

Setup
Assume that the portable drive is at /dev/sdb1 and that Minecraft is installed at ~/games/.minecraft. Run the following in a terminal: umount /dev/sdb1 mkdir /media/minecraft mount /dev/sdb1 /media/minecraft mkdir /media/minecraft/games # If there is a folder called games in your portable drive, skip this command cp -rn ~/games/.minecraft /media/minecraft/ # This might take a while cd umount /dev/sdb1 rm /media/minecraft # Check to make sure that your portable drive is not mounted! After that, to launch Minecraft, enter the following in the terminal with superuser privileges. umount /dev/sdb1 mkdir ~/games # If there is a folder called games in your home directory, skip this command mount /dev/sdb1 ~/games # You will not be able to play any games that are saved in the ~/games directory Run the Minecraft launcher to start playing.
 * Note: You may need to use a different directory name depending on your distribution and set-up.
 * Note: The following commands require may require superuser privileges. Make sure you are running these as root or are using sudo.
 * Note: Text following the # symbol are comments, and can be omitted for that line.
 * Note: 'cd ~/.minecraft/' is the same as 'cd /home/user/.minecraft/'

Or use this script: mv ~/.minecraft ~/.minecraft.bak cp -a minecraft ~/.minecraft java -jar minecraft.jar mv minecraft minecraft.bak cp -a ~/.minecraft minecraft rm -r minecraft.bak rm -r ~/.minecraft mv ~/.minecraft.bak ~/.minecraft

Setup

 * Locate your Minecraft files. Press Command+Shift+G while in finder and then paste ~/Library/application support/minecraft into the dialog.
 * Copy that minecraft folder in your application support folder.
 * Insert in your portable drive and make 2 folders in it:
 * data and launcher (caSe SensiTive)
 * Paste your minecraft folder into the "data" folder in the portable drive.
 * Drag your launcher into the "launcher" folder
 * Remove your portable drive

Playing
Once you are done setting up, you can test if your Minecraft can start on another Mac. Or use this script: mv ~/Library/Application Support/.minecraft ~/Library/Application Support/.minecraft.bak cp -a minecraft ~/Library/Application Support/.minecraft open Minecraft.app mv minecraft minecraft.bak cp -a ~/Library/Application Support/.minecraft minecraft rm -r minecraft.bak rm -r ~/Library/Application Support/.minecraft mv ~/Library/Application Support/.minecraft.bak ~/Library/Application Support/.minecraft
 * Insert your portable drive into another Mac to test
 * Open the launcher folder and move the Minecraft launcher into your Applications folder.
 * Double click the launcher to run it. Then after Minecraft loads, exit it.
 * Again, go to Users/USERNAME/Library/Application Support
 * In "Application Support", delete the minecraft folder.
 * Move the minecraft folder in your data folder on your portable drive to the desktop.
 * Then drag it from your desktop into application support.
 * Run Minecraft again.

Source
If you have any trouble understanding, the original guide can be found in this forum thread.