Partition 16 Gb Flash Drive For Boot Utilities

I would like to partition a 16 GB flash drive for use as a boot rescue environment if possible. I have run across information suggesting this is possible...link:

http://www.wikihow.com/Partition-a-Thumb-Drive

Anyone know if this will this work? Can I just NTFS the drive and use Partition Master?

Also, I was thinking of a large number of partitions and maybe one partition for portable programs. Anyone have any smashing ideas of bootable rescue type programs to use for this purpose? All I have in mind so far is Paragon Backup and Restore and Falcon Rescue disk. There are so many security type programs, I'm not sure what are the best ones to have...

 

Yeah, thanks David, that's a great idea. I have time to think about this, as I have rescue disks for a number of things for myself.

I want to make this flash drive the ultimate (and legal) rescue and maintenance tool. Hopefully I can find some crazy great rescue type programs out there, either bootable or portable. I'd like to be able to put it together and then maybe hand them out on flash drives to friends when they have a problem or as a gift...

 

Don't forget...
http://www.majorgeeks.com/files/details/tweaking_com_windows_repair_portable.html

 

LOL, thanks Eldon. Wouldn't be complete without Tweaking.

This project is harder than I thought it would be. Normally, I would map it all out, but I am completely frozen on what to include and how many partitions to use.

I could see using anywhere from 5-10 partitions for rescue disks, free space for moving files, and then a partition for portable apps->Tweaking at the top of the list. There must be a gajillion bootable tools that are all amazing. I also keep getting the idea that I could go so far as to create a bootable environment where I decide what to include. This could require a good bit of research, so that kind of concerns me. I guess with a flash drive, I can afford to make a few mistakes, but I would like to get this right the first time.

The hardest part of this is trying to make up my mind whether I am going to upgrade to Win10 or just wait and pay in 2020. I have upgraded one PC, but I don't know. The experience in W7 is in every way just as good as far as I can say. I have alot of configurations in 7, too. Before I start with this flash drive, I guess I will have to wait until I make up my mind about W10, so I can be sure I am using the software that works best with whatever I decide to go with.

I don't know why the W10 upgrade decision is so hard for me right now... I do suspect I will just completely cave in within a couple of months though. I am very happy to have found a way to control updates in W10 Pro, so that will make it easier...

 

AltBo,
Have a look here.
http://portableapps.com/

Here's the platform that will put all your apps and other files on a start menu.
http://portableapps.com/download

And here are some great apps.
http://portableapps.com/apps

As for Windows 10...
I'll run Windows 7 for as long as I can - I realize a hardware upgrade might bring that to an end. Then it will be Linux Mint (for internet) and Windows 7 & XP in a virtual machine for my programs.

 

Eldon...

Thanks. Appreciate the input. I'll take a look...

 

I like the idea pretty much. Also, I'm thinking if a 16gb flash is enough maybe even a 'lite' version on cd/dvd. And for a 'kicker' version on 32gb thumb. I recently bought one of these for 12.99. Good thought though.
On the 10' issue I think I'll wait and buy a new box with 10' sooner or later. I have vista 7 and 8.1 machines already and don't want to give any of these a boot' so to speak. Instead of $99 for a os I'll just spent $299 for the whole rig to try it out. I usually buy when something breaks and needs trouble shooting anyways. And still plenty of places to get 7' boxes around. Saw some last weekend for 199 and 299 at different places including one place with refurbished boxes.
And with all these flavors of Windows around have you thought of tools also for each specific target platform?

I'm with you. Hope it goes well!

 

ImandyMann...

Thanks for the comments. I really thought this would be easy if I could get started, but I keep thinking there is great software out there that I will forget about.

That's another thing. I was thinking of giving them away, so which OS do I start with? I guess I will end up with a 7 and a 10 version that I can image onto a flash drive.

I almost forgot about the burnable Windows 7 rescue disk environment. That is a very solid tool with command prompt, system restore, and all the rest of the repair tools. Have to remember that for sure.

Looks like I have a heap of learning with Windows 10. I am NOT looking forward to that part, right now. I do have a W10 installation disk for 32 bit, but the 3 W7 PCs I haven't upgraded are all 64 bit Pro. I have no idea what kind of tools are on the W10 installation disk or what kind of burnable rescue tools there are available in Windows 10.

I like your strategy. Don't know why, but I have mostly focused on trying to get the most from PCs that start off underequipped. I have a PC I paid $85 for that has a Pentium dual core and 2 GB, but it will support of all things a core 2 quad (literally over 3x the processing power of the current processor) and 4 GB. Crazy config, and it came with W7 64 bit (sad I can only use 4 GB on the board). The OS is probably worth more than the equipment, but I plan to see if I can upgrade that one. I have another crazy old box that has a P4 1.5 GHz processor. This is a turn of the millenium job called a Compaq Evo, but for some reason it will support 3 GB of RAM. Never seen support for that much RAM on any other PC of that time. It was made back before there was such a thing as dual channeling, but I do want to upgrade the RAM for laughs. I only have 1.125 GB in there now.

I guess I have just stuck with ebay. I spent $200 a couple of times for great core 2 duo PCs back several years ago. Otherwise, I have gone for bargains that I can get for $100 or less...other than this i5 PC that I spent $135 for used. The great thing has been being able to find PCs with a working W7 64 bit key. The off lease PCs are usually great this way and a great deal and sometimes they are very upgradeable...

 

I've recently read that the '7 rescue enviroment works on earlier windows also. And alot of techtool type software was exixting through all the changes to windows also so I'd imagine most have roll-back or compatibilty with earlier versions also. For some of the more polished softwares have you thought about eula's. I wonder if emails to dev's would generate interest enough to a least drop some hints as to what can be done?

 

Thanks for the information, ImandyMann. I think I read something about that recently too. I will look into it in more detail.

This must be a real sigh of relief to alot of developers. I am really glad to hear about it, myself, too.

I hadn't even thought of that at all. It would be great if some devs pitched in and came up with a flash rescue disk that could be bought online somewhere or heck even in Walmart or Target or whatever. That would be amazing. I have to get my head together as I really hadn't even considered some of these angles before.

Thanks again for the insights. I will probably wait until I determine what I am going to do about Windows 10 before I dive into this little project of mine...maybe a couple of months...