Windows 7: Does installing Windows from usb pen drive damage the drive?

RhapsodyOfFire · 25 Jul 2012

While installing Windows XP/7 from Usb pen drive (not hdd!) is it risky? I mean the USB speed isn't limited from the installation itself so the usb drive makes maximum speed for like 15-20 minutes or even more. Does anybody with experience installing from usb pen drive noticed some problems with his usb drive after several installations? What is the speed of installation compared to cd/usb-hdd?
Maybe what I heard is a myth (that the drive can get damaged) and it isn't that risky. Usb pen drives after all have a big warranty and some are made life-time even!

DustSailor · 25 Jul 2012

Complete myth. You are able to use it as much as you'd like

gregrocker · 25 Jul 2012

For 8 years I've been using the same 16gb Kingston Data Traveler to install all versions Windows 7 in both 32- and 64-bit, alongside my tools and apps also used for install. It is no slower than it was to begin with and has lost no available disk space when I occasionally reformat using UltraISO Software To Create Bootable USB Flash Drive.

mangoh · 25 Jul 2012

Quote: Originally Posted by DustSailor

Complete myth. You are able to use it as much as you'd like

This!

Tbh I find installing via a USB (after it has been made bootable) is far quicker to install in comparison to using a CD

bobkn · 25 Jul 2012

I've done it a few times.

The USB flash drive gets slightly warm to the touch.

The install takes roughly half the time as from a DVD. (That's with a cheap, low-performance, flash drive. I guess that the speed comes from the low reading latencies, not the streaming data transfer rates.)

At least here in the US, 4GB USB drives are readily available for $7.

Even if the drive's lives were shortened (AFAIK, they are not), would it matter?

To coin a phrase, just do it.

Zepher · 25 Jul 2012

Quote: Originally Posted by gregrocker

For 8 years I've been using the same 16gb Kingston Data Traveler to install all versions Windows 7 in both 32- and 64-bit, alongside my tools and apps also used for install. It is no slower than it was to begin with and has lost no available disk space when I occasionally reformat using UltraISO Software To Create Bootable USB Flash Drive.

How did you get Windows 7 so early? And a 16GB flash drive was a few hundred bucks 8 years ago.

Golden · 25 Jul 2012

I think Greg means he has been installing all Windows versions for 8 years, so Vista and XP as well.

bobkn · 25 Jul 2012

Quote: Originally Posted by Zepher

Quote: Originally Posted by gregrocker

For 8 years I've been using the same 16gb Kingston Data Traveler to install all versions Windows 7 in both 32- and 64-bit, alongside my tools and apps also used for install. It is no slower than it was to begin with and has lost no available disk space when I occasionally reformat using UltraISO Software To Create Bootable USB Flash Drive.

How did you get Windows 7 so early? And a 16GB flash drive was a few hundred bucks 8 years ago.

8 years ago? That'd be XP. (Vista went GA in January of 2007, if memory serves.)

I don't recall the price of a 16GB key drive in 2004. (I dimly recall admiring a 128 GB drive in Fry's, roughly at that time. Physically too big to comfortably carry in your pocket.)

And it's spelled Zephyr, isn't it?

(Damn, but smilies are stupid.)

gregrocker · 25 Jul 2012

Sorry it was a typo, was guessing at 5 years. But I think it's this debit now that I search:

04/01/2008 BUY.COM 03/31 CARD #2816 PURCHASE 461043909000409 -28.09

Still it's had hundreds of installs of the full OS, then all of the apps and tools I use for each install, so I've been waiting to see if it will slow down or lose blocks but it hangs in there through unsafe removal, snapping apart, even going swimming with me sometimes in the baggy where I keep it in my pocket. For this reason I change the baggy regularly.

rraod · 26 Jul 2012

+1 Greg for the UltraISO tip. I didn't know that before.

Tried to rep Greg, but failed. Some message about spreading reps. Didn't understand.

Anyway kudos to Greg.

Windows 7: Does installing Windows from usb pen drive damage the drive?

Does installing Windows from usb pen drive damage the drive? problems?