Is it possible to set an active partition on USB flash?

[craney5]

Hi all,

Just a quick one, i have a 2gb usb flash pen, bascially what i am tryng to do is create a small active partition on it so i can copy my Active Boot files over and boot from the drive. Really want to give this application a try heard good things about it. I just cant seem to find a way to set an active partition or if its even possible?

any ideas?

Thanks a mill

 

[DeaconFrost]

The Active Boot tool should make your USB flash drive bootable for you. I haven't had to manually set a partition as active in well over a decade, and that was on an ancient (at the time) DOS system.

 

[Bill2]

If you just want a bootable usb drive, theres a very standard, boring way of going about it.

http://www.sevenforums.com/tutorials/46707-ms-dos-bootable-flash-drive-create.html

 

[craney5]

Thanks for the replys guys, i dont really want to make the whole usb stick a bootable drive as the Active Boot program files are only 140mb so that why i would like to create 1 small active partition and then i can still use the rest of the drive for storage.

Dont really want to waste 2gb of space for the sake of a 140mb

 

[Bill2]

Even if you make the drive bootable, you can use it for storage. You dont need to boot from the drive every time, only when you need to.

 

[Dzomlija]

Thanks for the replys guys, i dont really want to make the whole usb stick a bootable drive as the Active Boot program files are only 140mb so that why i would like to create 1 small active partition and then i can still use the rest of the drive for storage.

Dont really want to waste 2gb of space for the sake of a 140mb

All your really have to do is make the entire USB drive bootable, then simply set the hidden attribute for those 140mb of files.

That what I did on my 16GB drive. I made it bootable as an Acronis True Image Home Boot Drive. I copied my backup image to the drive, and the remaining 7 or so was used for normal purposes after hiding all relevant Acronis files to prevent them from being accidentally deleted...

 

[craney5]

Thanks for the replys guys, i dont really want to make the whole usb stick a bootable drive as the Active Boot program files are only 140mb so that why i would like to create 1 small active partition and then i can still use the rest of the drive for storage.

Dont really want to waste 2gb of space for the sake of a 140mb

All your really have to do is make the entire USB drive bootable, then simply set the hidden attribute for those 140mb of files.

That what I did on my 16GB drive. I made it bootable as an Acronis True Image Home Boot Drive. I copied my backup image to the drive, and the remaining 7 or so was used for normal purposes after hiding all relevant Acronis files to prevent them from being accidentally deleted...

Sounds like a great idea cant believe i didnt think of that lol! Have you ever used active boot before? I always use macrium to create and restore images but like to try new things every now and then. I heard this has a HD health checker built in as well which is something i have been looking for for a while now

 

[Bill2]

The boot files will be hidden automatically, you dont need to do anything if you use that tut i linked.

 

[DeaconFrost]

Have you considered looking for free alternatives? Active Boot seems a bit expensive for what it does.

 

[Dzomlija]

Thanks for the replys guys, i dont really want to make the whole usb stick a bootable drive as the Active Boot program files are only 140mb so that why i would like to create 1 small active partition and then i can still use the rest of the drive for storage.

Dont really want to waste 2gb of space for the sake of a 140mb

All your really have to do is make the entire USB drive bootable, then simply set the hidden attribute for those 140mb of files.

That what I did on my 16GB drive. I made it bootable as an Acronis True Image Home Boot Drive. I copied my backup image to the drive, and the remaining 7 or so was used for normal purposes after hiding all relevant Acronis files to prevent them from being accidentally deleted...

Sounds like a great idea cant believe i didnt think of that lol! Have you ever used active boot before? I always use macrium to create and restore images but like to try new things every now and then. I heard this has a HD health checker built in as well which is something i have been looking for for a while now

Can't say that I have.

The only disk HD Health checker that I use is SeaTools from Seagate., but that's also only because I only use Seagate hard disks, and won't need anything else.

The boot files will be hidden automatically, you dont need to do anything if you use that tut i linked.

Yes, the actual boot files are hidden, but as is the case with the Acronis Boot Media, there are some files that are not hidden, in particular the "Recovery Manager" software itself that is loaded by the "boot sector".

I guessed that perhaps the "Active Boot" software mentined by craney5 might be the same and have a few folders that are not hidden...

 

[Dzomlija]

Have you considered looking for free alternatives? Active Boot seems a bit expensive for what it does.

It's paid for itself 100 time over already, because I use it also with customer computers, so that I can continue on my merry way with data recovery while I'm formatting and re-installing their systems. (Acronis allows the hard disk images that it has created to be mounted as virtual drives in Windows, similar to what programs like Alcohol 52% does with DVD ISO images)

Great time saver, really.

 

[Bill2]

What Recovery manager? Isnt this a simple case of creating a bootable drive which can also be used for storage? If yes, theres a simple, free way of going about it. I hope the OP tries it out and if satisfied, stick to it.

 

[Dzomlija]

What Recovery manager? Isnt this a simple case of creating a bootable drive which can also be used for storage? If yes, theres a simple, free way of going about it. I hope the OP tries it out and if satisfied, stick to it.

The op wants to use a program called "Active Boot", which I don't have, so I was using Acronis Recovery Manager as an example of having to sometimes hide files on the bootable USB media after it was created...

 

[DeaconFrost]

It's paid for itself 100 time over already, because I use it also with customer computers, so that I can continue on my merry way with data recovery while I'm formatting and re-installing their systems. (Acronis allows the hard disk images that it has created to be mounted as virtual drives in Windows, similar to what programs like Alcohol 52% does with DVD ISO images)

I meant the Active Boot app. I am a happy Acronis user myself.

 

[craney5]

Thanks guys for your help, i managed to create an active partiton using diskpart in the CMD prompt. Very simple really didnt realize just how easy it was . managed to boot active boot now with no issues on my vista laptop but windows 7 dont like it .

I might just stick with macrium anyway as its never let me down reinstalling an image, the only downside to it is you can only reinstall 1 partition at a time

 

[DeaconFrost]

From what I've read about Active Boot, I wouldn't call them comparable at all. They seem to do entirely different tasks. If drive imaging and restoration is what you want, and you were willing to pay for Active Boot, then just get Acronis True Image Home. It's cheaper, and also lets me save and restoring images across my network, even from the boot disc/flash drive.

 

[gregrocker]

Even if you make the drive bootable, you can use it for storage. You dont need to boot from the drive every time, only when you need to.

Correct. For several years I've been carrying around in my pocket the same Kingston Data Traveler retractable USB stick with Win7 and Vista bootable installers, XP 9-in-1 and several dozen other tools I use for repairs and installs.

When I need to boot Win7 or Vista, I simply spill it's installer files out into the root of the HD and boot from the stick. I keep them in folders otherwise so I don't accidentally delete them.

The tool I use which always works to make the stick bootable is UltraISO trial version: from File tab Open ISO, on Bootable tab Write Image File, Format button, then Write button. Doesn't get any simpler.

 

[Bill2]

The tool I use which always works to make the stick bootable is UltraISO trial version

The one I've used with great satisfaction and also frequently recommend is the HP disk storage format utility.

HP USB Disk Storage Format Tool - Free software downloads and software reviews - CNET Download.com

Its also very handy to format stubborn usb drives that windows disk management doesnt work on.