How to create multi-boot flash drive

[alan10]

Thanks

The YUMI tool had no problem presenting ocz-tools-320.iso as a menu choice.
When next I try I will avoid the ...(Run from RAM) option

Regards
Alan

 

[alan10]

My previous tests were on a slow and cheap Flash which does no work anymore.
I suspect the WinPE failure might have been a corrupted file because the Flash was on its last legs.

I have now repeated my test, but with the latest YUMI version YUMI-0.0.8.7.exe, and it works nicely.
It now meets my needs, but it would be better if I could run one ISO after another but without letting the BIOS see my hardware until all ISO's have been used.

PROBLEM.
I run an OCZ Linux ISO to "Secure ATA Erase" of my SSD,
and when that ends I run a Macrium Reflect WinPE Rescue ISO to restore a disk image to the SSD.
After which the SSD is again bootable.

On 2 occasions the SSD was successful in booting up.
On the third occasion it FAILED to boot even though it had the capability.
I suspect the problem was that after the ISO Erase of the SSD the system restarted,
and the BIOS launched and not only saw me hitting the F8 function key to select the Macrium ISO,
but it also saw that SATA Port 0 (my SSD) did not have a valid boot device and it cancelled the SSD Boot Priority.
I spent an unhappy hour clicking and banging the the BIOS settings before I could make the BIOS accept the the SSD was not a Removable Device and then eventually giving it an acceptable Boot Priority once more.

I should be able to avoid an aggravation repeat if a MultiBoot loader could launch an ISO and when it completed it returned to the MultiBoot Loader for me to make my next ISO selection.
(it would also save time and effort of hitting F8 for running the subsequent ISO.)

QUESTIONS :-
Is it feasible for a Multiboot loader to "call" a Linux ISO and and then launch a WinPE ISO ?

Does such a Multiboot loader already exist ?

Regards
Alan

 

[kado897]

I doubt it. The problem is that once Linux/WinPE is booted it knows nothing of what booted it so the only way to get out is to shut down or reboot.

 

[alan10]

Not the answer I wanted, but many thanks for the speed with which you answered

Regards
Alan

 

[alan10]

   Tip

The trick with the "Unlisted ISO" option of YUMI is that they must NOT have spaces in the ISO name

The obvious solution when hitting this problem (and hopefully remembering this trick) is to delete the bad ISO from YUMI and remove spaces from the name of the original ISO file and then have YUMI add it again.

Question
When YUMI launches the ISO application, could the application be aware of its new name and restrict capabilities or abort due to :-
A foolish integrity check by the application programmer of a freely available download ?
or Licensing checks on a bootable version of commercial software licensed to an individual ?

My immediate concern is the consequence of changing a free download from
"PC_BootableTools_v4.3.0.3740.iso" to
"ocz-tools-4.3.0.3740.iso"

I am looking for general guidance upon the probability of encountering a problem due to such a change,
or whether I should always ask the suppliers of commercial and free ISO's for each ISO.

N.B.
My reason for a name change is that YUMI already holds several old ISO tools including "ocz-tools-320.iso" which secure erases the OCZ SSD,
and now I have updated ISO's and I immediately recognize which is old and which is new,
excepting the latest OCZ SSD tool has the stupid change to "PC_BootableTools_v4.3.0.3740.iso".
Why do OCZ waste half the name on telling me that I have a Bootable tool in YUMI
All my other tools have different version numbers as part of the original family names.

N.B.
I am retaining on YUMI the old tools which are known to work,
so that I have a fall-back in case the latest and greatest version should fail me for some reason.

Regards
Alan

 

[kado897]

I've never had a problem with changing names but the only way to be certain is to try it.

 

[alan10]

Thanks - I will do try that.

If it fails I can at least fall back to the previous version that is on the same Flash Drive.
So much better than the old way of one tool per Flash drive and having to sacrifice the old working version to make way for the new version, and no way back.

Regards
Alan

 

[kado897]

Yes you can now have a multitude of tools on the one USB stick and I find that tools boot more reliably from a USB than a CD.

 

[gregrocker]

I dont' want to give up on my Kingston USB 3.0 stick if there's a workaround to get more than one app to boot on it. Anyone?

Yumi will not boot multiple ISO's on my Kingston Data Traveler USB 3.0 flash stick. I've tried everything but it will only boot one Win7 ISO at a time I write with UltraISO.

Should I try Sardu?

 

[kado897]

I've not tried it with install disks, but you could try adding them to YUMI as unsupported ISOs. Some WinPE disks work and some don't.

 

[alan10]

YUMI initially formats a Flash Drive and gives it the Label "MULTIBOOT".

If I change the Label to "MULTIBOOT-2" :-
Will the ISO APP's work the same; and
Will YUMI be able to continue adding/removing ISO's.

Reason :-
I am making a spare copy of my first MultiBoot flash drive (in case the original gets lost or suffers damage),
and I would like to easily distinguish between them.

Regards
Alan

 

[kado897]

It should be OK but the only way to be sure is to try it.

 

[alan10]

It should be OK but the only way to be sure is to try it.

Thanks

Situation Update :-

Tried it - Didn't like it -Won't do it again.
I booted into the Flash drive and Linux failed.
I do not know if it was the YUMI linux launcher that failed to launch,
but I think I was able to select a Linux ISO before disaster struck.

I then rebooted into Windows
Oh the Horror
My Secondary 600 GB WDC HDD with all my Macrium image backup files was changed from GPT style to MBR style,
and instead of NTFS it was mostly RAW or Unallocated depending upon whether I believe Windows Disk Management or MiniTool Partition Wizard Professional v7.7
and the monstrous complex GUI Disk Indentity changed to the simple 8 digit hexadecimal number as used by MBR Disks. :banghead:

AND IN ADDITION
It changed to the same Disk Identity as my 900 GB Samsung HDD which held partitions D:\ and H:\ which held my Browser Profiles and my Portable Tools.
CONSEQUENTLY
Because Windows saw the Samsung after it saw the WDC it decided to blame Samsung for a Disk Signature conflict
and so the Samsung HDD was knocked Offline and partitions D:\ and H:\ still have their contents but not their drive letters.
:banghead: :banghead: :banghead: :banghead:

Fortunately a NON-Experimental Boot Flash with a Macrium ISO was able to create image backups of those partitions,
and then was able to restore those image backups to a "spare" USB2 connected HDD,
and after a reboot back into Windows the only correct drive letter was C:\
and after setting all the wrong partitions to NONE I was able to allocate H:\ and D:\ to the new restored partitions on my "spare" USB2 HDD.

After two hours of desperation I now am back on the Internet again.

I do not know what exactly caused the problem.
I not only changed the Volume Label of the experimental Flash Drive,
I also ran an MBR backup tool on this experimental Flash Drive before I attempted to boot from it.

In view of dire consequences I have no immediate plans for further boot tool experiments. :busted:

PLEASE NOTE :-
I really want to regain all my Macrium Image Backup files, BUT I am not in a desperate hurry.
I expect fully qualified advice from the MiniTool Partition Wizard developers in the next 24 hours.
My son purchased the Professional licence for my birthday last year.
Several years ago they responded within 24 hours even though I was a low priority user of the Free version.
Hence with all due respect I am not looking for advice from this forum.

MiniTool Partition Wizard includes a Recovery Wizard,
and years ago the free version 4.? recovered all partitions in my Laptop.
The Professional version 7.7 has analysed and is ready to restore all the partitions on my 600 GB WDC HDD
and I fully expect it to be successful on this situation.
I am however waiting for advice from the developers of Minitool P.W. upon whether (and how) to convert the HDD back to GPT style either before or after Partition Recovery.

N.B. All but the recent Macrium Images were already safely duplicated from my internal 600 GB WDC HDD to an external eSATA connected 930 GB HDD.

Regards
Alan

 

[kado897]

Yikes...

 

[gcapp99]

MultiBoot USB Drive That Actually Works!

I know this is an old post, but I recently decided to consolidate my CD & DVD "Toolkit" onto a 16GB Flash Drive. My kit includes Windows 7 & 8, Acronis TrueImage, Hiren's, Spotmau Suite, GParted Live, SuperGrub, Todo Backup, Partition Master, etc.

I banged my head against the wall with Yumi, Sardu, XBoot and several others. None of them would give me a fully functional MultiBoot USB Stick.

I then tried EasyBCD. It took me a few trial-and-error sessions before I discovered the formula for success. Here's how I did it, but be warned: MAKE SURE YOU SELECT THE USB FLASH DRIVE AS THE TARGET!!! If you mess up, your computer won't boot afterwards!

Now that I have your attention, here are the steps that I followed that gave me an awesome keychain asset:

1. The partition on the flash drive MUST be designated "Primary"- Mine was "Logical" so I used GParted, deleted the existing partition then created a new Primary one.
2. Format the partition as NTFS- FAT32 won't permit ISO's larger than 4GB. *Use Quick Format as a full format can damage some flash drives.
3. Download & install EasyBCD. After it's installed, right-click the EasyBCD icon and click Run as Administrator.
4. Select "BCD Deployment"- IMPORTANT!!! Select your flash drive from the Partition pull-down & click "Install BCD". If you don't verify you're deploying to your flash drive partition you will mess up your computer!
5. After deployment, leave "Bootable Disk Created" window open- DO NOT CLICK ON IT!
6. Copy your ISO's to the flash drive's root directory.
7. Now click "Yes" at the window from Step 5.
8. Select "Add New Entry"; In the window on the lower half of the screen, select the ISO Image tab.
It should now display NeoSmart ISO Entry. Click the "Path" icon & navigate to your USB drive's root directory. You should see the ISO's you copied to the drive in step 6. Double click the ISO you want as the 1st Menu Item, then click the "Add Entry" button. Repeat this process until all of your ISO's have been added.
10. MAKE A NOTE OF EACH ISO's name as you add it- you'll need this to create the Boot Menu!
11. Edit Menu Items, renaming them as desired.
12. Click Save & you're done.

Hope someone finds this useful. I spent a lot of hours on Yumi and the others before I figured this out...

 

[kado897]

Thank you and welcome to Seven Forums gcapp99. That is a useful method to add to our armoury.

 

[gcapp99]

Like everyone else on these forums, I spend lots of time searching for answers & solutions when faced with a technical or functionality challenge. This MultiBoot USB Drive was something I've wanted to do for a while but the guides on the Pendrive site and elsewhere left me frustrated, providing only partial results.

While I pride myself as having a much higher than average tech ability, I don't pretend to know it all. I was sure that this "wheel" had already been invented, but despite my hours of searching, trial & error downloading, etc., a fully functional MultiBoot USB Drive eluded me. All of the other utilities would create a bootable USB, but none would allow for the assortment of bootloaders on the ISO's in my Toolkit. So I dug my heels in and figured it out.

Bottom line: I have benefitted from the posts on this & other sites many times, saving me time & frustration. This solution is provided in the spirit of sharing and "giving back" to the community. As I said in my original post, if it helps another weary tech to get it done, mission accomplished.

Cheers!