I have no idea if this has been done before but I have an Acer Aspire One - NG5, 512MB RAM, netbook where the SSD failed and is now FIXED DISKLESS and unable to boot until now... ;o)
It ran PCLinuxOS 2009 as its OS until the SDD failure...
The method is a little long winded and does require a Windows Vista machine with a CD/DVD drive fitted...
It requires a CD/DVD bootable Live PCLinuxOS 2009 disk in this particular case to work...
This method could be used for other Linux based OSes where the installation will be onto a diskless machine...
How to create a fully bootable USB drive from a PCLinuxOS 2009 live system onto an SSD-less or HDD-less Acer Aspire One "ZG5" netbook...
This is a little long winded but after many attempts this was the only reliable way to do this...
You will need another machine to help, Windows Vista with an optical drive as a minimum.
Also at least a 16GB USB stick for to OS proper. This is a practical minimum...
(My Acer Aspire One "ZG5" has no SSD or HDD installed but now runs from a 16GB USB stick autorunning into E-UAE.)
Preparation:-
1) Using the Windows machine boot into WIndows Vista or 7, (I have no idea about Windows 8 whether all this will work).
2) Put one of the live CD/DVD PCLinuxOS 2009 into the relevant drive and allow it to be read.
3) Now shut and power down the Windows machine in the normal way.
4) Reboot and select the drive that the live system is connected to and start PCLinuxOS 2009 live.
5) Now put 16GB USB stick into a USB slot and partition this stick into two parts, the first 1GB part as Windows and the other as unused.
Click on PCLinux Control Center (Icon) > Local disks > Manage disk partitions. Follow the instructions...
6) Once done, safely remove this 16GB USB stick. DO NOT FORMAT!
7) Power down the Live PCLinuxOS 2009 in the normal way and remove the Live PCLinuxOS 2009 disk.
8) Reboot into Windows again.
9) Connect the 16GB USB stick and format the 1GB partition as FAT32 and give it a name of your choice. This is all that will be seen by Windows.
10) When done, safely remove this 16GB USB stick.
11) Put one of the live CD/DVD PCLinuxOS 2009 into the relevant drive and allow it to be read again.
12) Now shut and power down the Windows machine in the normal way again.
13) Reboot and select the drive that the live system is connected to and start PCLinuxOS 2009 live a second time.
14) Once everything has settled create a live 1GB USB system... Click on PC > System > Make LiveUSB.
15) Follow the instructions and once finished remove the 16GB LiveUSB safely.
16) Power down the Live PCLinuxOS 2009 in the normal way and remove the Live PCLinuxOS 2009 disk.
Installation onto a diskless AA1:-
17) Using the diskless AA1, now for the install proper.
18) Put the 16GB USB stick into the top/rear right hand USB slot.
19) Boot into a live PCLinuxOS 2009 desktop in the usual way.
20) Select the installation icon and follow the instructions.
21) Ensure that you install to the 14+GB free_space/empty_partition ONLY.
22) Once installed shut and power down the Live USB version and......
23) ......reboot. You should now have a fully bootable PCLinuxOS 2009 running from USB on a FIXED DISKLESS AA1.
24) Set up you new install in the normal way and......
25) ......good luck... ;o)
NOTE:- This particular install will only work on the particular DISKLESS machine you install it to!
Bazza, G0LCU...
Last but not least, I have no idea of the lifespan of current USB sticks, but hey, it is cheaper than an SSD and fun to do too...