Windows Boot disk and other boot disks...

Method · 2025-04-20T17:04:52-0400

Hi

Not sure where to post this question. Mods please move if this isnt the right place.

I recently purchased a 0.5Tb USB d rive. Its really fast and I love it....but at the moment it is comically formatted at a 32Gb FAT 32 Windows install drive (having recently been used for putting W11 on my new PC).

This seems a waste.

Is there some 'computery magic' which can be cast on this USB such that:

Part of it can be a Windows 11 boot/installation drive
Part of it can be my Macrium X recovery disk
Part of it can be a normal SSD storage pool for file transfer when needed

?

Thanks
Methy

gunrunnerjohn · 2025-04-20T17:25:19-0400

Dumb question, why not use a USB disk for your Windows Installations and for the Macrium Recovery disk? There's no reason to consume your memory with those things that will be used once or maybe never. I'd put the Windows install on a USB FLASH and just flatten that disk and use it all for your Windows.

Method · 2025-04-20T17:41:49-0400

gunrunnerjohn said:
Dumb question, why not use a USB disk for your Windows Installations and for the Macrium Recovery disk? There's no reason to consume your memory with those things that will be used once or maybe never. I'd put the Windows install on a USB FLASH and just flatten that disk and use it all for your Windows.

Sorry. I meant to say USB, not SSD!

This is a 0.5 Tb USB drive. You must have been wondering what I was talking about and were very polite with your query!

Ill go edit the original

Berton · 2025-04-20T17:43:17-0400

As for the 32GB part, that's a limit of Windows which in turn has a single-file size limit of 4GB. The Microsoft MCT/Media Creation Tool uses 8GB, 16GB or 32GB but on larger drives I've seen only FAT32 partitions at 8GB done using that MCT.

There's different ways to format a larger drive as FAT32, have done a 500GB, but no practical reason to do that except maybe for use on a Mac.

Method · 2025-04-20T17:49:38-0400

Berton said:
As for the 32GB part, that's a limit of Windows which in turn has a single-file size limit of 4GB. The Microsoft MCT/Media Creation Tool uses 8GB, 16GB or 32GB but on larger drives I've seen only FAT32 partitions at 8GB done using that MCT.

There's different ways to format a larger drive as FAT32, have done a 500GB, but no practical reason to do that except maybe for use on a Mac.

I might have perhaps not quite given the right impression of what Im wanting to do.

I want a big USB drive to be able to perform multiple tasks...act as a W11 boot/install disk, act as a Macrium revovery disk and also act as a storage drive.....so somehow have 3 partitions on it which I can choose which it uses/ sees?

Am I asking too much here?

Berton · 2025-04-20T17:51:30-0400

That can be done if the partitions [I'd make them Primary, not Logical] and for storing files/data. It's much more difficult to make bootable partitions for running diagnostics outside of the installed Windows on C:. Many diagnostics programs are Portable.

Method · 2025-04-20T17:54:27-0400

Berton said:
That can be done if the partitions are only for storing files/data. It's much more difficult to make bootable partitions for running diagnostics outside of the installed Windows on C:.

So how might I go about doing this then?

spapakons · 2025-04-20T17:54:53-0400

You can download and install Ventoy on the USB flash drive. It is a little utility that adds multi-boot to the flash drive. You install it and then you copy .ISO images on the drive, either on the root folder or some other folder. When you boot the USB flash drive it checks for available images and lets you select which one to boot. So you can boot Windows 11 setup, Macrium Reflect Rescue (or whatever is called), Linux boot disk, and many more. You can create it to boot in UEFI or Legacy mode, or both, if I remember correctly. Apart from the .ISO images you can use the rest of the drive for other data. Just format it as NTFS or exFAT to get past the 4GB limit of FAT32. You can download it here.

Ventoy

Ventoy is an open source tool to create bootable USB drive for ISO files. With ventoy, you don't need to format the disk again and again, you just need to copy the iso file to the USB drive and boot it.

www.ventoy.net

Method · 2025-04-20T17:56:46-0400

spapakons said:
You can download and install Ventoy on the USB flash drive. It is a little utility that adds multi-boot to the flash drive. You install it and then you copy .ISO images on the drive, either on the root folder or some other folder. When you boot the USB flash drive it checks for available images and lets you select which one to boot. So you can boot Windows 11 setup, Macrium Reflect Rescue (or whatever is called), Linux boot disk, and many more. You can create it to boot in UEFI or Legacy mode, or both, if I remember correctly. Apart from the .ISO images you can use the rest of the drive for other data. Just format it as NTFS or exFAT to get past the 4GB limit of FAT32. You can download it here.

Ventoy

Ventoy is an open source tool to create bootable USB drive for ISO files. With ventoy, you don't need to format the disk again and again, you just need to copy the iso file to the USB drive and boot it.

www.ventoy.net

Oooooh, this sounds perfect.

Something to fiddle with! Thank you I will go look at Ventoy. Really appreciated

gunrunnerjohn · 2025-04-20T18:56:10-0400

Method said:
Sorry. I meant to say USB, not SSD!

This is a 0.5 Tb USB drive. You must have been wondering what I was talking about and were very polite with your query!

Ill go edit the original

That does make a substantial difference!

Spunk · 2025-04-20T22:07:56-0400

You can make a multi Boot USB Flash drive for Windows with Yumi

YUMI: Create Multiboot USBs for Windows & Linux with Ease

Easily create a YUMI Multiboot USB for Windows and Linux. Boot multiple ISOs, live distributions, and tools—all from one USB stick!

pendrivelinux.com

spapakons · 2025-04-21T05:30:45-0400

Spunk said:
You can make a multi Boot USB Flash drive for Windows with Yumi

YUMI: Create Multiboot USBs for Windows & Linux with Ease

Easily create a YUMI Multiboot USB for Windows and Linux. Boot multiple ISOs, live distributions, and tools—all from one USB stick!

pendrivelinux.com

As far as I understand, Yumi creates a separate partition for every system. I don't like that because normally Windows cannot access more than one partition on a removable USB flash drive (a USB hard disk is treated like a fixed disk and can have as many partitions as the fixed disk). I prefer Ventoy that can boot multiple ISO images from a single partition detectable and usable in Windows.

hsehestedt · 2025-04-21T05:56:46-0400

spapakons said:
normally Windows cannot access more than one partition on a removable USB flash drive

Actually, that has not been true for several years now. You can freely configure multiple partitions on removable drives such as USB flash drives, SD cards, etc.

In fact, I wrote my own program for the purpose of allowing me to boot from an unlimited number of ISO images and that same program divides my USB flash drives into the number of partitions that I specify. I mainly do this so that I can have a single flash drive that includes all of this:

Flash drive is bootable in case OS on PC cannot be booted.
Allows selection from unlimited number of ISO files and reconfigures drive to boot your selected image.
Have an additional partition that has every piece of software that I own, every document, and all my personal photos and videos, Bitlocker encrypted.
Yet another partition that is not Bitlocker protected for sharing data with other people.

spapakons · 2025-04-21T08:04:21-0400

I prefer to share files using a separate USB flash drive which I don't care if something happens to it. Not my utilities USB flash drive!

Method · 2025-04-21T09:18:43-0400

spapakons said:
You can download and install Ventoy on the USB flash drive. It is a little utility that adds multi-boot to the flash drive. You install it and then you copy .ISO images on the drive, either on the root folder or some other folder. When you boot the USB flash drive it checks for available images and lets you select which one to boot. So you can boot Windows 11 setup, Macrium Reflect Rescue (or whatever is called), Linux boot disk, and many more. You can create it to boot in UEFI or Legacy mode, or both, if I remember correctly. Apart from the .ISO images you can use the rest of the drive for other data. Just format it as NTFS or exFAT to get past the 4GB limit of FAT32. You can download it here.

Ventoy

Ventoy is an open source tool to create bootable USB drive for ISO files. With ventoy, you don't need to format the disk again and again, you just need to copy the iso file to the USB drive and boot it.

www.ventoy.net

Ive watched a few Ventoy tutorials on YT now and it seems great.

I totally understand about dropping all the ISOs onto the USB and ventoy can see them and boot them

I have 2 quesitons though
1. Can my drive be over 32gb? (its 500 Gb) and if so how should I format the drive before putting ventoy on it?
2. How do I give over a portion of the drive to just data which I might want on there?

Thanks
Methy

tecknot · 2025-04-21T09:56:50-0400

Method said:
...I have 2 quesitons though
1. Can my drive be over 32gb? (its 500 Gb) and if so how should I format the drive before putting ventoy on it?
2. How do I give over a portion of the drive to just data which I might want on there?

Thanks
Methy

Hi Methy,

First copy over any folders and files to another drive. Now go into a command prompt and type Diskpart. Once in Diskpart, type "list disk" (without quotations). Now pick the USB drive from the list by typing "select disk X" (still no quotation marks). Just substitute X for the correct drive number (for the USB drive). Now type "clean" into Diskpart. Once done, type the following:

A) Create partition primary size=??? (whatever size you want the partition to be);
B) Format FS=NTFS quick label=(whatever name you want to give it, i.e. "Windows install", "ISOs", "Data", etc. with quotation marks);
C) Assign (an Explorer window for the new partition will pop up but you can close it.)
Repeat for the other two partitions.

After that you should be good to proceed with the copying the previous data onto the new USB drive.

Kind regards,

tecknot

spapakons · 2025-04-21T10:01:43-0400

You can also load Disk Manager and do these with a more convenient graphics interface. Why use DiskPart commands? If you select the wrong disk and issue a clean command, you will delete all your data!

tecknot · 2025-04-21T10:06:23-0400

spapakons said:
You can also load Disk Manager and do these with a more convenient graphics interface. Why use DiskPart commands? If you select the wrong disk and issue a clean command, you will delete all your data!

Hi spapakons,

Well that's the way I do it. You can provide alternate instructions using Disk Manager if you prefer.

Kind regards,

tecknot

P.S. Or do you want me to do it?

tecknot · 2025-04-21T12:14:31-0400

Hi Methy,

First copy all folders and files on the USB drive to another drive. Below is the Disk Management method @spapakons mentioned above:

Right click on Start and click on Disk Management:

Formatting in Disk Manager pick Disk Manager.webp

With Disk Management open right click on the USB drive, choose Delete Volume:

Formatting in Disk Manager right click Delete volume.webp

Now click on Yes in the pop-up dialog:

Formatting in Disk Manager right click Delete volume dialog.webp

After the USB drive is deleted of all folder and files, right click the USB drive and choose New Simple Volume:

Formatting in Disk Manager right click Simple Volume.webp

Now the New Simple Volume Wizard dialog pops up so click on Next at the bottom:

Formatting in Disk Manager New Simple Volume Wizard.webp

Determine the size of the new partition:

Formatting in Disk Manager size of volume.webp

Now choose the desired options for formatting the USB drive (note use NTFS for File system):

Formatting in Disk Manager format partition.webp

And select Assign the following drive letter:

Formatting in Disk Manager assign drive letter.webp

The File Explorer window for the new partition will pop up, but you can close it.

Next you will confirm the details of the format and click on Finish:

Formatting in Disk Manager confirm format.webp

Now repeat the steps to create and format by right clicking on the remaining unallocated space (in black) on the USB drive (steps 3 and 4 above):

Formatting in Disk Manager repeat for rest of space.webp

Not sure if this is easier or simpler but I hope it helps.

Kind regards,

tecknot

spapakons · 2025-04-21T12:30:03-0400

Probably not easier than copy-paste commands, but if I was a novice I would be scared to use commands I don't fully understand. At least using the mouse would make me more confident (I just click on icons, what could go wrong?). It's phycology. Many novices believe that executing the wrong command can destroy the computer. Anyone remembers the "format" command in MS-DOS? Me like thousand others tried it and erased my MS-DOS floppy disk! I could not boot my computer and the only game I could play was Ikari Warriors that boots directly from a floppy disk! Fortunately the guys at the shop were kind enough to write me another MS-DOS floppy disk. Lesson learned, never try unknown commands unless you know what you are doing (or have a proper backup).

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