How to Turn a USB Storage Device Into a Bootable Disk
A flash drive is a portable data storage device that can be plugged in to your computer through a USB port. These drives are typically used to store data which can be easily transported with a user on the go. With a little effort, you can also use your flash drive as a bootable disk. You'll be able to store ISO disk images on the drive and boot to them rather than your internally installed operating system.
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Instructions
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Format the Flash Drive
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Connect the flash drive to a Windows computer.
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Click "Start" from the Windows desktop and click "Computer."
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Right-click on your flash drive and click "Format."
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Click the drop-down list under "File system" and select "FAT 32." This is a non-proprietary file system that will allow you to use the drive on any computer.
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Type a name for the drive under "Volume label" and click "Start." Windows will take a few minutes to complete the format.
Make it Bootable with MultiBootISOs
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Download MultiBootISOs from the PenDrive Linux site linked in the Resources section below. Save the file to your desktop when prompted.
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Run the application by double-clicking the downloaded executable. It does not have to be installed.
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Select your USB flash drive using the drop-down list marked "Step 1."
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Select one of the operating systems listed in the "Step 2" window. The list includes multiple Linux distributions, utility applications and recovery discs.
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Click the checkbox marked "Opted to download ISO" and click "Create." The application will automatically download the ISO, copy it to your flash drive and input settings into a boot menu. You can install as many ISOs as you want; all will be listed in a user friendly menu when you boot your flash drive.
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Reboot your computer and boot to your flash drive. You can either access a one-time boot menu to select your USB flash drive, or you can enter the BIOS and move USB drive to the top of the boot list. Consult your computer's documentation for more detailed instructions.
Make it Bootable with UNetbootin
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Download UNetbootin from the product home page listed in the Resources section. Save the file to your desktop when prompted.
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Run the application by double-clicking the downloaded executable. The program does not have to be installed to run.
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Select an ISO to install from the "Distribution" list. This includes many different Linux variations that can be downloaded automatically. If you would like to use a different bootable ISO, you can download it and select it by clicking the "Disk Image" button and browsing to the location of the ISO file.
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Select "USB Drive" as "Type" and select the appropriate drive letter for "Drive." Click "OK." The application will download the ISO, if you selected that option, or simply install the image you indicated.
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Restart the computer and boot to your USB device to try it out.
Make the Drive Bootable using Grub4Dos
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Download Grub4dos from the product home page listed in the Resources section. Save the file to your desktop when prompted.
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Extract the files from the zipped folder by right-clicking it and selecting "Extract." Follow the on-screen instructions to extract to your desktop.
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Double-click "grubinst_gui.exe" in the extracted folder to launch the GRUB installation wizard.
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Select "Disk" from the top of the application window and click "Refresh."
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Select your drive from the drop-down box. Only the size of the disks will be shown, so you'll need to know the size of your USB drive. The disk size is displayed in MB.
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Select "Whole Disk" from the Part List and then check "Don't Search Floppy." Click "OK." GRUB will be installed to the flash drive making it bootable. Install an ISO to the drive to provide an OS to boot to. View the Grub4DOS tutorial for more information on creating a menu file for booting multiple ISOs.
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References
Resources
- Photo Credit flash drive image by AndreyPS from Fotolia.com
