Strange(?) question about a USB drive

So I am aware that I don’t need to do it this way but its a little project as I managed to get a good deal on a USB a / c thumb drive.

I want to use it to hold my music collection, but also want to use it to boot into a linux version.

Looking around I think I am right in saying that iOS 13 supports APFS so I am thinking that I could format the overall drive that way and then have partitions, one for storage (music etc) and then another for linux and subsequently another for another OS.

Has anyone done this or have any views? I am confident of installing the OS etc, but unsure if a single stick can handle both with the boot process for Linux systems?

Essentially I want to be able to hold down option on boot and be able to choose a system off of the drive when I like but still be able to use the drive in OSX on a normal boot for the storage element.

Any input appreciated.

Cheers

It’s probably doable. If you google “dual boot linux Mac” you will find many articles. One example is below. (I have not tried this myself)

Keep in mind that booting from an external drive is now blocked by default in Mojave on Macs with the T2 chip . You have to boot into recovery mode to re-enable it.