I want to set up a multi boot.......on a flash drive.

Had no idea were to put this so I posted the question here. Recently I have had more bootable recovery programs than flash drives so i was wondering to myself if it is possible to set up a massive multiboot flash drive.

Now I would like to know if it is possible and how hard it would be to partition a flash drive. If it is possible i would like to set up 4 partitions as i believe that is the max that the old bios system can support on a single disk.

After that I would like to put on several bootable programs such as these.

Kasperky rescue disk 10. An antivirus.
Linux Probably Mint or maybe Mint mate. You can suggest the best version.
Windows XP. I would like it on there.
A bootable partition manager such as minitool partition wizard.
A bootable undelete program. I have done some work with them recently and find them fascinating.
Something to repair a bios if a flash goes wrong.
Basically a full rescue package. Feel free to add on if you like.

Here are some questions. I dont know if what i am trying to do is possible. I would want a boot manager to give me the option of witch os i want from the flash drive.

The reason I want multiple partitions is some programs like different file formats. Such as Fat Ntfs and i heard linux likes ext3 file system.

If the operating systems have the same file extension such as all FAT than can i put them all on the same partition? Sorry dumb question but I don't do dual boots much.

What do you guys think of this project? Is it doable? Thanks.

Edit: I would like the operating systems to be extracted. Not installers. For example xp boots just like if it were on your hard drive.

Use YUMI YUMI ? Multiboot USB Creator | USB Pen Drive Linux

Thanks it looks like a nice program and it will do most of what i need however the only option it has for xp is an installer. I don't really care about an xp installer. I want the full fledged xp to be able to run off of the flash drive. The rest i could probably set up with yumi multiboot no problem.

What do you suggest for xp. Thanks

I suppose what im after is everything to be a live cd. So ubentu would need to be a live cd and xp would need to be a live cd so i don't have to install them to use them. Or if I did install them it would be on the flash drive itself.

Im reading a lot to try and figure out what im doing lol. You can probably tell i have no experience with this stuff.
Can the normall ISO download of Ubuntu be used as a live cd? Or do i have to download something special.

Ok stage 1 is complete i installed Ubuntu and kasperky. The boot loader is working like a charm. It gives me the option to boot Ubuntu with or without the installation. So it's working good so far. Next i need to figure out how to add a live cd of xp to the list.

I don't think Windows will run from external media. You can install from, image from and copy from but it won't install to external media. There's no way to determine the PC it will run on so the license will be invalid.

Hmmm...that doesn't sound promising. How would i run windows recovery programs on a nonbootable machine? I suppose i could look for a linux version for all my programs but that would take some time lol.

I will need to do some investigating into the linux on my flash drive and see what i can do.

I suppose i could look for a linux version for all my programs

Good Luck on that -- you'll need it.

I've been running Linux distros for the last ten years and one recovery program for which there still is NO Linux equivalent is CHKDSK. You need that to repair NTFS problems, and the Linux tool only fixes the most primitive of problems. It is not an equivalent to CHKDSK.

As to running recovery apps without booting into Windows, some (like CHKDSK) can be found on various utility apps that can be run from a boot CD or boot USB. Macrium Reflect allow the creation of a boot CD/CD that then includes boot repair functions. Minitool Partitin Wizard allows the creation of a Boot CD that can then run CHKDSK.

computergeekguy said:

Hmmm...that doesn't sound promising. How would i run windows recovery programs on a nonbootable machine?

How would you run anything on a machine that doesn't boot?

Or are you talking about Windows startup? You can do that with the Windows disc or a thumb drive. I don't understand your question.

If you're talking about walking around with a live OS on a stick, it ain't gonna happen. The OS communicates with the BIOS of the machine it was installed on and loads drivers for that machine. One license, one machine.

Minitool Partitin Wizard allows the creation of a Boot CD that can then run CHKDSK.

Thanks. I have Minitool Partition Wizard on my multi boot usb now but it shows up as pwhe811 in the moltiboot. This isn't a huge problem but i would love to rename it to " Minitool Partitin Wizard" lol Some other things i saw about mini tool partition wizard is that it could convert a MBR file system to GPT file system and vise versa for EUFI systems. This might come in handy someday as i have a EUFI computer with GPT file system that I may need to work on in the future.

I may post this in a different thread as my main purpose of this thread is complete but i would like a list of everyone's favorite bootable recovery program. Thanks.

Edit: Carwiz I have done some reading and understand your point. Microsoft doesn't like usb stick lol. My question was say you deleted something important. You stop everything and use recova. An undelete program. If you delete a windows file and windows wont boot you cant run recuva can you. So i was wanting a way to run recuva off of flash drive. This is only an example but i think you get my point now.