USB pen drive compatibility ???

[davew3]

Hi can anyone recomend a good usb pen drive that will boot into dos, ( Xtreme bootmaker )
Ive bought 2 already and both wont work.... DOH !!!

Thanks guys.
 

[w007]

sorry to highjack your thread , but i have a similar problem, i need to update my bios on my mobo to be able to boot a usb jumpdrive, but the latest bios for my mobo , hasnt been updated cince i bought it, i need to know if there are any third party or maybe hacked bios websites, where i may find a bios with updated stuff for my motherboar, i have a Gigabyte GA-8PE667 Ultra Rev 1.0 (latest bios is F3).

[v_lestat]

on that old of a board no you probably wont find one but youhavent tried google yet have you?
you can also try rabelshaven.com and see if they have one but its doubtful.

you'll need a newer system to do it.


to the original poster you too need to be using google to search for bootable flash drives. you will find tons of results. nearly all pen drives are bootable if you make them its just a matter of your mobo supporting it.
there are literally dozens of bootable drives.  but it also depends on your motherboard if it can boot from USB , which most cant, pretty much only newer systems in the last could years can and even many of those cant. its hit and miss.

[evil_man]

kingston work for me and...disconect all your drves from your pc....and it will boot.....create the usb with Xtreme Boot Maker and vuala all good to go

[v_lestat]

most of the PNY ones are but i cant say they all are.
again it truly truly comes down to two things.
1.
can your mobo boot from any usb device ? floppy or other wise ? (a usb floppy is not the same as a usb thumb drive, a usb thumb drive has to be emulated as a floppy in order to boot. thats what the HP Boot maker program does. sort of. it sort of turns it into a huge floppy, sometimes,, again it depends on the system and the stick)
2.
you cant just dump bootable floppy files onto a usb thumb drive and make it work. one of the fe tools out there that works every time is the HP Bootable key drive maker. (thats not its name but its close)
using that and only that will make a drive boot everytime. if your board can do it.

there are also settings in some boards' bios that specifically say, Floppy emulation for usb,,, or Treat USB as... ex. Floppy, hard drive, etc etc.

my Asus P5N-E SLI specifically has a boot setitng for USB floppy, Hard drive, or CD-rom.
but those devices also have to support it or it wont work.

find your self a 99 cent 64meg flash drive off eGay and use that, and keep all your files there for ever, with a back up on your pc of course, that way your not wasting money on a 256 or 512 or 1gig just for files that can fit on a floppy. ie., 1.44meg worth of files vs 256meg worth of space.
a perfect example would be, say you have 2 or more Xbox's or you mod peoples units (which is illegal in the usa btw) you can take that 256meg drive and keep everyones firmware files on there, and at any time boot to the usb stick and have access to them as each xbox will have its unique serial number folder.

wow,, i'm rambling lol.

just find a cheap drive, the right board, and the HP flash drive program and it should work.
older systems , as in older than 2 years probably wont ever work as the bios cant support it.

[aegzorz]

2 years? My system is 4 years old and boots just fine from usb. The HP utility is really good imho.

HP Drive Key Boot Utility: http://h18000.www1.hp.com/support/files/serveroptions/us/download/23839.html

[davew3]

Hmm thanks for that advice.
I have a micro star 6747 ( about 4 yrs old now ) which boots from floppy no probs, i know they can be unstable, so i just wanted a pen drive that i know should work.
Options in bios to boot first are zip100, usb hdd, usb fdd or card reader.
Would it be one of these ?
And finally do i still need the hp tool to make it bootable ?
I thought the xtreme bootmaker had an option to do this for you.
Thanks again

[v_lestat]

a usb floppy isnt the same as a pen drive, not any where near the same.

2 years was pretty wrong of me, sometimes i lose track of where we are within our lives, meaning it is 2007 and 2000 seemed like yesterday.
so yeah boards within the last 5 years could be ok but again, and this is more important than anything your mobo has to support usb boot devices, and i dont mean USB floppy's those are VERY different, in fact the system cant tell the difference from a ide floppy and a usb floppy (even though the bios and POST screens may show its a usb floppy, it essentially thinks its the same thing as the device itself is programmed to act as such.)

[w007]

guys what is your bios setting called, for the usb jump drive,? USB jumpdrive?

also if anyone has this motherboard, and has successfully booted from a jump drive, if you could can you explain what you set in your bios !
Gigabyte GA-8PE667 Ultra Rev.1.0
thanks

[gigabite]

in fact the system cant tell the difference from a ide floppy and a usb floppy

actually yes it can, I use a USB floppy drive all the time at work (on MANY different computers...there all acer brand) - there are Floppy Drives in the computer and I choose to use USB floppy (because sometimes the Floppies don't work in them).  In the boot menu it shows both Floppy and (brand name) USB FLOPPY...You are right in saying that USB floppy and USB (drive) are different though...if your having trouble but your board supports booting from a USB (drive/stick/whatever) plug it into the back ports and turn USB legacy support on

gigabite

[sasoseso]

The HP utility is really good imho.

  i agree