Partition USB Flash Drives

Martin — Fri, 17 Apr 2009 13:22:12 +0000

USB flash drives cannot be partitioned in the Windows operating if the drive is identified as removable media. The only way to partition the USB flash drive is to flip the removable bit so that it is recognized as fixed media instead which can be partitioned like any normal hard drive.

A tool that can flip the bit and should work with most usb flash drives is Lexar’s USB format tool. It is a portable tool that has been designed for Lexar USB drives but it works with other brands as well. The main interface can not only be used to flip the removable bit but also to format the usb drive, set a volume label and a partition to be bootable. You only need to press the flip removable bit button if you want to prepare the flash drive for use with multiple partitions. The drive has to be removed and connected again to the computer system afterwards.

It should be noted that Lexar USB Format (via Shell City) will not partition the usb flash drive which has to be done with other tools. For that you can use the build in tools in the operating system. Read Joshua’s System Partitioning With Vista article to find out how to do that in Windows Vista. A more universal software is the gParted Live CD which can be booted from any computer system.

Another option to create multiple USB stick partitions has been discussed before at Ghacks. The process involves editing the Windows Registry and has the disadvantage that the add-on partitions are only visible on that computer system.

Tags: gparted, lexar usb format, partition, partition usb drives, usb flash, usb flash drives, usb format, usb multiple partitions, usb sticks

HP USB Disk Storage Format Tool

Martin — Sun, 01 Mar 2009 09:53:58 +0000

There is no direct way of making an USB device bootable in the Windows operating system. Probably even more bothersome to some Windows users is the fact that USB storage devices can only be formatted with the FAT file system and not the NTFS file system. HP’s USB Disk Storage Format Tool (download) works with a wide variety of USB devices including many not manufactured by HP making it more or less an universal software tool to format an USB device using the additional parameters and settings that Windows is not offering.

The disk storage format tool displays a simple dialog after execution. The connected and recognized USB devices are listed on top. After making a selection there the user can select a file system for the USB device including the NTFS file system. It is furthermore – but not at the same time – possible to make the USB disk storage device bootable from DOS which is an excellent way of installing new software or running diagnostic software programs on a computer system without having to boot in the operating system itself.

The HP USB Disk Storage Format Tool will recognize many but not all USB devices that are connected to a computer.

The disk storage format tool has a size of roughly 2 Megabytes and needs to be installed on the computer system before it can be used.

Tags: disk storage, Hardware, hp, usb bootable, usb disk storage, usb format, usb format tool, windows software

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Partition USB Flash Drives

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