I’m no linux expert, but I think that issues like that are pretty common with a flash boot - based on BIOS boot sequences or similar issues, the drive likely doesn’t have as many permissions or permissions in the right order as a ssd would. As an intermediary step, you could try partitioning your drive first then doing a full install on a small partition.
If you have a business like a law firm where it is VERY IMPORTANT that a PDF has certain qualities, free tools for PDF creation can be a big gamble, especially if you have to open a PDF that someone else has created and do changes to it. And the cost is pretty trivial compared to the cost of messing up.