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

[RhapsodyOfFire]

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]

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

 

[gregrocker]

For 8 years I've been using the same 16gb Kingston Data Traveler to install all versions Win7 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]

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]

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]

For 8 years I've been using the same 16gb Kingston Data Traveler to install all versions Win7 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]

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

 

[bobkn]

For 8 years I've been using the same 16gb Kingston Data Traveler to install all versions Win7 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]

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]

+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.

 

[mangoh]

+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.

I followed the link you are referring to, am I missing something special?

It's just a bootable USB with windows 7 on?

confused

 

[Zepher]

For 8 years I've been using the same 16gb Kingston Data Traveler to install all versions Win7 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.)

I knew what he meant.
It's spelled Zephyr, but a long time ago when I first signed up for dial up Internet (1994), Zephyr was already used so I chose Zepher and have used it that way since.

 

[gregrocker]

The value of Ultra ISO is that it always works in my experience. MS Download tool can be fussy about the ISO source, or just not work. Universal USB Installer uses Linux so it scares some users. Ultra must be installed and used as Trial version but it always, always works.

 

[mangoh]

The value of Ultra ISO is that it always works in my experience. MS Download tool can be fussy about the ISO source, or just not work. Universal USB Installer uses Linux so it scares some users. Ultra must be installed and used as Trial version but it always, always works.

+rep

thanks for explanation

edit: PRSOM

 

[RhapsodyOfFire]

Thanks to all the answers. I will start installing from USB flash drive when I can . CD/DVD indeed needs a lot of time sometimes to locate a given file.