Linked by Eugenia Loli-Queru on Mon 16th Jan 2006 04:07 UTC
"Booting a computer from your USB flash drive may seem like a daunting task, but it is actually quite easy. With the right equipment and some basic knowledge this very useful technique can be taken advantage of in all sorts of different circumstances. This article goes over booting your Windows or Linux system from USB as well as booting directly into Linux and a few other details of the process."
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Member since:
2006-01-08
I needed to flash a new BIOS on my PVR, which runs Linux and has no floppy drive. The flash utility comes in DOS and Windows flavor. It may be possible to make a CD with Windows and the flash utility, but it seemed likely to involve quite a few steps. I've always used DOS floppies in the past.
The HP utility didn't work for me, not liking the Compact Flash card borrowed from my camera. Or perhaps it was the drivers for the card reader it didn't like.
Booting my desktop back into its usual Linux, I copied a bootable DOS floppy and added the flash utility and BIOS image to it. I then copied the new floppy as an image to the Compact Flash card using dd. Sure, the card ended up formatted for only 1.44MB, but that's all that I needed.
My PVR booted from the card and USB reader, and the BIOS was updated. The only catch, which appears to common, is that I needed to set it to boot from the USB-ZIP drive, as the USB-FDD setting didn't work. I read several tales of USB-FDD not working, even with USB floppies, much less flash devices.
Sometimes quick and dirty is good enough. And yes, my camera reformatted the card just fine afterwards.