Thank you for the tips! I think I would just start with a 32 gig and be done with it. I wouldn’t really need a whole lot as portable because I can clean it out into my home system now and then. :)
32 GB should work fine. The reason I suggested skipping setting aside part of the USB drive as a swapfile partition is that USB drives aren’t made for lots of ongoing writing and rewriting when in use.
Unless the PC you’re putting the Linux USB stick in has no RAM, it’s not really needed - the distro will use the PC’s memory.
Some distros work better than others fully installed on a stick. Sometimes the stick itself may not be good for running an OS on.
Anyways, having a USB stick or two handy just for test driving different distros is a good idea - especially if you enjoy “distro hopping” without commitment, as I do. Fun way to play around with all the flavors of Linux (that can be installed on a stick).
Oh, also - if want some PCs to boot up using Mint/Linux on a USB stick, you might have to make an adjustment in the BIOS.
This explains it pretty well -
https://www.howtogeek.com/175641/how-to-boot-and-install-linux-on-a-uefi-pc-with-secure-boot
Cool thing about having a Linux USB Stick - or even install CD - is you can often use it as a “Rescue Disk” on the PC it’s plugged into. If nothing else, you can use it to copy/move/ save files from the host PC system.
On the Windows 7 thing in your original post; I’m planning on keeping Win 7, but not for use online - just for offline use. There are some good Windows programs that I’m not ready to give up yet!
Otherwise, I’m ready to go with a Linux distro as my primary OS in 2020.