Making USB pen bootable so that I can run fx DFT

delanvital · January 04, 2010, 10:03:48 AM

I have tried 10-15 options now. For all kinds of different reasons, I can't end up with a bootable USB-pen that can run a diagnostics on a drive in a laptop. I have Win7 64bit. Any ideas?

I have managed to make the usb pen bootable with the HP utility and tried various windows-to-Linux and Windows apps to make a boot disk for this purpose, but to no avail. I have even tried using the Virtual Floppy Drive app, but fails under Win7.

I have an ISO-reader (built into Total Commander) etc. but the problem is getting the image files I have, to the USB-pen, properly.

Carr0t · January 04, 2010, 11:03:41 AM

Are you sure that the laptop you're trying it on has boot from USB enabled in the BIOS?

delanvital · January 04, 2010, 11:29:15 AM

Quote from: Carr0t;300670Are you sure that the laptop you're trying it on has boot from USB enabled in the BIOS?

Aye, it boots from USB and I can also get it to boot a regular DOS image fine. The problem is getting the .ISOs onto the disk. I can extract them via Total Commander and place the files on the disk, but with images from various programs, I get various kinds of errors, crashes etc. I have tried extracting the files with another app as well...

The reason I am doing all this crap is because my boss' laptop fails to load Vista. It fails at a crcdisk.sys. The HOP bios allows for disk check, which sometimes fails, sometime doesn't. I wanted to run a diff. program to check the disk, but I have no CDs here so that I can burn an image, only my USB pen.

Edit: When booting into recovery from boot options, I can see the various other partitions, but not the main, large partition. It boots without a disk driver, so it reads directly and it takes AGES. 20 minutes boot.

StrontiumDog · January 04, 2010, 04:16:23 PM

Guide here...

http://www.intowindows.com/bootable-usb/

or if you want to make a bootable version of win7 use:

http://www.mediafire.com/?jzoylhwdxmz

very simple and easy.

delanvital · January 04, 2010, 05:08:04 PM

Quote from: StrontiumDog;300705Guide here...

http://www.intowindows.com/bootable-usb/

or if you want to make a bootable version of win7 use:

http://www.mediafire.com/?jzoylhwdxmz

very simple and easy.

Trust me, that guide was one of the first I found. I guess I was perhaps not clear enough in my title, as it is misleading, sorry about that

1. I can make the stuff boot.
2. i cant make it handle programs extracted from ISOs properly.

I would prefer to use DFT, imho the best disk app, but that fails because something in the app doesn't like being run from a drive any other than A:, despite me editing config.sys and autoexec.bat to reflect the changes. It loads to the RAM-drive, then stalls...

I have tried others but the apps either doesn't have the functions needed (TestDisk), fails to load (basically any official dos-based app) or has some odd FreeDOS image (seatools), in which I can't find the program for extraction to the boot-ready pen-drive and so it goes on...

I have given up, I will grab a stack of CD-ROMs of my own and bring to work tomorrow to sort this out :sideways:

Jabbs · January 04, 2010, 05:39:49 PM

Have you tried Ultimate Boot?

http://www.ubcd4win.com/index.htm

StrontiumDog · January 04, 2010, 05:57:33 PM

In that case you can try, http://neosmart.net/blog/2008/windows-vista-recovery-disc-download/

You should be able to copy extra tools onto the stick with it and use the command prompt option...

T-Bag · January 04, 2010, 06:03:34 PM

Have you tried extracting the .iso with another program like Poweriso? If you've made it bootable it sounds like it's the image that is corrupt.

Jabbs · January 04, 2010, 06:11:06 PM

Quote from: T-Bag;300719Have you tried extracting the .iso with another program like Poweriso? If you've made it bootable it sounds like it's the image that is corrupt.

and of course the USB stick should ideally be formatted prior to the operation.

Just thought that Ultimate Boot might not work on a 64bit processor - not sure as haven't tried it yet - I've got UB on a USB stick in front of me so will try it on my PC tonight

lionheart · January 04, 2010, 06:11:14 PM

Would it not be easier to remove the drive and run the apps on another machine with the suspect drive attached ?

Tutonic · January 04, 2010, 06:45:13 PM

Quote from: lionheart;300722Would it not be easier to remove the drive and run the apps on another machine with the suspect drive attached ?

My thoughts exactly

BartPE can, I think, boot from a USB drive.

delanvital · January 04, 2010, 07:14:59 PM

Quote from: Jabbs;300715Have you tried Ultimate Boot?

http://www.ubcd4win.com/index.htm

If that is the pay thing, no, otherwise I will try tomorrow

Quote from: StrontiumDog;300717In that case you can try, http://neosmart.net/blog/2008/windows-vista-recovery-disc-download/

You should be able to copy extra tools onto the stick with it and use the command prompt option...

Cool, will try

Quote from: T-Bag;300719Have you tried extracting the .iso with another program like Poweriso? If you've made it bootable it sounds like it's the image that is corrupt.

As mentioned, yes.

Quote from: Jabbs;300721and of course the USB stick should ideally be formatted prior to the operation.

Just thought that Ultimate Boot might not work on a 64bit processor - not sure as haven't tried it yet - I've got UB on a USB stick in front of me so will try it on my PC tonight

Which I have done with perhaps 6 different programs, including proper flashdisk erase. I have also written new MBR a ton of times, made new partitions, formatted with FAT16, FAT32 and NTFS and that Linux one for those disks I've tried, some done manually, some with apps.

Quote from: lionheart;300722Would it not be easier to remove the drive and run the apps on another machine with the suspect drive attached ?

Quote from: Tutonic;300727My thoughts exactly

BartPE can, I think, boot from a USB drive.

Removing it would void warranty, according to the papers provided. It has to be done at a certified shop. There is still warranty on the thing, but if he sends it in he ends up waiting for a month or more. I was thinking a proper diagnostic would make this period shorter + I could maybe rule out a defect drive, if i was lucky, and fix it from there... although I doubt it.

Bart requires Windows disks, which is on one of the partitions of the disk, no restore disks.

I will give it another whirl tomorrow. Thanks for the suggestions, much appreciated

Tutonic · January 04, 2010, 09:04:33 PM

You don't need a Windows licence key to create a Bart CD - you just need the core operating system files.

So if you've got an old XP disc kicking about, you're good.

Liberator · January 04, 2010, 10:28:06 PM

UBCD (Ultimate boot disk) on a USB drive worked fine on a brand new REVO nettop with a dual core 64bit Atom 330, so there should be no problems with compatibility.

I used it to prove some hard drive surface corruption on the unit and also pulled off the SMART information showing the drive was less than 17 hours into it's life and 1300+ logged errors.

delanvital · January 05, 2010, 07:51:19 AM

It turned out I had a version of BartPE at home and UBCD on CD which I have used in the past. I quite liked both. Running both on the laptop failed. BartPE crashed to BSOD and UBCD just stalled in the boot. I then tried DFT, burned to CD-ROM which also stalled like yesterday. Odd. I then tried SeaTools, since the disk is from Seagate, and that worked - and reported physical error on the disk and has reported error codes already. Smells like more than a defect disk... :g: