How to save an image from a bootable USB flash drive. How to make a bootable flash drive image

We recently received the following question:

“Hello, Maxim! Actually the question is this. A friend of mine has a bootable flash drive, how can I make an image of his flash drive and write it to mine?”

I decided to write a short note on how this can be done.

Here I will describe one of the methods that I tested.

First, I downloaded a program (link to the version with a Russian-language interface), which allows you to create and burn disk images.

For the option of copying a flash drive once, even a trial version is suitable.

Download the program, install it, run it with administrator rights. In the welcome window, select the button « Trial period» , and we see this window:

1 – this is the folder list area of the new image project, the default project name is set from current date and time. The project can be renamed using the context menu command.

2 – This is the content area of the new project folders.

3 – PC disk list area.

4 – area of the contents of PC disks.

The original flash drive is drive S, it is written on it boot image Ubuntu OS.

Move the mouse pointer to drive S, and drag it to area 2.

A confirmation window for transferring the list of files appears. The program interface is not translated entirely correctly, but this is not critical.

If it is not necessary to rewrite the entire source disk, then the necessary files for the image are simply selected.

It turns out like this new project image:

If you need to configure any other project properties, you can find them through the menu “File” - “Properties”.

Appears standard window saving files, you can also select the image file type. Then the file is saved:

After this, the resulting file can be transferred to another PC or recorded later on another medium.

To record the image, insert a new flash drive. If the image was created earlier, then it is necessary through the menu “File” - “Open” select the image file and open it.

- "Burn hard disk image":

In the new window you can immediately see that some inscriptions are not translated at all.

Near the inscription « Disk Drive» There is a drop-down list from which you need to select the desired flash drive.

I choose drive R– this is my new flash drive.

In line "Image file" You can check again that you have selected for recording required file. Recording method - I chose "USB-HDD", and for a flash drive there are options “USB-HDD+” and “USB-HDD+ v2”.

I tried all the options, but didn't see any difference. The built-in help in the program, judging by the copyright, was last updated in 2009, and about recording on flash drives or external HDDs there is nothing there. Perhaps these settings are needed for some specific image options, and information about them can be found on the software developers forum.

If necessary, the flash drive can be formatted immediately before recording - there is a button for this "Format".

When everything has been selected, press the button "Record".

A warning window appears indicating that all data will be erased so the user can double-check that they are recording the image to the correct media.

Click "Yes" and watch the recording process:

When the message appears “Recording complete!”, you can close all windows and check the flash drive to see if it is possible to start the PC from it.

This is how you can copy a bootable USB flash drive, and also make another similar flash drive later, or optical disk, or even external hard disk.

This program also allows you to record images created in other programs.

Bootable flash drives are different from regular ones - you can’t just copy the contents of a boot USB to a computer or other drive. Today we will introduce you to options for solving this problem.

As already mentioned, simply copying files from a bootable storage device to another will not bring results, since bootable flash drives use their own markup file system and memory sections. And yet it is possible to transfer an image of an OS recorded on a flash drive - this full cloning memory with preservation of all features. To do this, you should use special software.

Method 1: USB Image Tool

Small portable utility USB Image Tool is ideal for solving our current problem.

After downloading the program, unpack the archive with it to any location on your hard drive - this software does not require installation on the system. Then connect a bootable USB flash drive to your PC or laptop and double-click on the executable file.

In the main window on the left there is a panel displaying all connected drives. Select the boot one by clicking on it.

There is a button at the bottom right "Backup", which you need to press.
A dialog box will appear "Conductor" with the choice of where to save the resulting image. Choose the one that suits you and click "Save".

The cloning process can take a long time, so be patient. When it is finished, close the program and disconnect boot drive.
Connect a second flash drive to which you want to save the resulting copy. Launch USB Image Tool and select desired device in the same panel on the left. Then find the button below "Restore", and press it.

The dialog box will appear again "Explorer", where you need to select the previously created image.

Click "Open" or just double click on the file name.
Confirm your actions by clicking on "Yes" and wait for the recovery procedure to complete.

Done - the second flash drive will become a copy of the first, which is what we need.

Disadvantages this method a little - the program may refuse to recognize some models of flash drives or create incorrect images from them.

Method 2: AOMEI Partition Assistant

Powerful memory management software hard drives, and USB drives will also be useful to us in creating a copy of a bootable flash drive.

Install the software on your computer and open it. Select items from the menu "Master"—"Disc Copy Wizard".

Celebrating "Quickly copy a disc" and press "Further".

Next, you need to select the boot drive from which the copy will be made. Click on it once and press "Further".

The next step is to select the final flash drive, which we want to see as a copy of the first. In the same way, mark the desired one and confirm by pressing "Further".

In the window preview check the option "Fitting partitions of the entire disk".

Confirm your choice by pressing "Further".
In the next window, click "End".

Returning to the main program window, click on "Apply".

To start the cloning process, click "Go".

In the warning window you need to click "Yes".

The copy will take quite some time, so you can leave the computer alone for now and do something else.
When the procedure is completed, simply click "OK".

There are practically no problems with this program, but on some systems it refuses to start for unknown reasons.

Method 3: UltraISO

One of the most popular solutions for creating bootable flash drives can also create copies of them for subsequent recording on other drives.

Connect both of your flash drives to your computer and launch UltraISO.
Select the item in the main menu. Further - “Create a diskette image” or "Create image of Hard disk"(these methods are equivalent).

In the dialog box in the drop-down list "Drive" you need to select your boot drive. In point "Save as" select the location where the flash drive image will be saved (before doing this, make sure that you have enough space on the selected hard drive or partition).

Click "Do" to start the procedure for saving the bootable flash drive image.
When the procedure is finished, press "OK" in the message box and disconnect the boot drive from the PC.
The next step is to write the resulting image to a second flash drive. To do this, select "File"—"Open…".

In the window "Conductor" select the previously obtained image.

"Record the image Hard drive…»

"Disk Drive"

"USB-HDD+"

"Record"

Confirm formatting the flash drive by clicking on "Yes".

Having temporarily acquired a bootable USB flash drive for use, for example, with the Windows operating system, you may want to make a copy of it. A copy installation disk It’s easy to do by creating its image in almost any disk program. But we’ll look further at how to create an image of a flash drive.

On the Internet you can find programs that can make a full-fledged image of a flash drive with one click of a button, but in most cases the format of the resulting file image cannot be used in other programs or written to another flash drive.

Creating a flash drive image with a program USB Image Tool
USB Image Tool is just the program that can make an image of a flash drive without unnecessary manipulations. Program website www.alexpage.de.

After launch, the program will display all detected flash drives, and a choice of operating mode will also be available. If a regular flash drive with one partition is connected, then leave the mode "Device Mode".

A flash drive image is created by simply pressing a button "Backup" after selecting the flash drive. The image is created in IMG format, and is intended only for restoring the same flash drive.

Creating a flash drive image using the free ImgBurn program
ImgBurn can do more, but with more effort, and can create a flash drive image ISO format. You can download the program from the website www.imgburn.com.

Launch the program and select “Create an image from files/folders”.

Now go to the tab "Additionally", then "Boot disk". Finding the point "Extract boot image" and save it by first selecting the flash drive.

The saved boot image now needs to be connected to created iso image of a flash drive. This is done by checking the box next to the item “Make the image bootable”, and choosing the image itself in the graph "Boot image:", but usually the program offers to do this automatically after extracting the boot image. To continue, all you have to do is click "Create".

Creating a flash drive image using UltraISO
Making an image of a flash drive via UltraISO is also not easy. After opening the program, add the contents of the flash drive to a new project.

To create a boot image, go to the menu and select “Extract boot data from Floppy Disk/Hard Drive...”.

We connect the resulting image in the same menu by selecting "Load download file".

It would seem that UltraISO should connect the created image without problems, but in the filter when connecting it is impossible to select required format the previously created boot image. But you can select a boot image created in ImgBurn. We decide for ourselves what to do next with this, but to complete the process in the menu "File" choose "Save as…" and specify the ISO format.

If you still don’t really need to bother with creating iso image flash drives, UltraISO has the ability to create a full copy in IMA format. We go to select “Create a diskette image...”.

Unlike regular data stored on USB drives, data Bootable USB drives cannot be placed on another USB drive regular copying or by cutting and pasting files. If, for example, you have a bootable USB flash drive with an installation disk operating system, but the original ISO file is lost, you won’t be able to release such a flash drive temporarily by temporarily moving the data to your computer. After reverse movement It will not become bootable on a flash drive. Using the same principle, you cannot copy the contents of one bootable flash drive to another. If there is no source ISO file, so that you can use it to create anytime and as many bootable flash drives as you want, you need to resort to using a special software. It’s easier, of course, to store the original ISO file somewhere and burn it, if necessary, to any USB media. But if with installation disks of operating systems and Live disks for their resuscitation it is only a matter of availability free space on a hard drive, then with multiboot flash drives for installing several systems, this is both a question of free space and a question of the process of creating them.

Below we will consider the simplest way, how to clone a bootable USB flash drive on a Windows system to another empty flash drive if there is no original ISO file. This method is also suitable for the case when there is only one flash drive available, and it needs to be freed from data for a while, and then returned to the initial state.

For these purposes, you can use the capabilities of backup programs or managers disk space for Windows. In particular, software assemblies from the developers Acronis, Paragon, AOMEI Technology provide functionality for Reserve copy and recovery of partitions and disks, which can be used to create backup copy bootable flash drive. The created backup copy can later be restored either to the same flash drive or to another. The mentioned programs also provide functionality for directly transferring the contents of a bootable flash drive to another USB drive - this is functionality. Just like a partition or an entire one can be cloned HDD with the operating system installed, the bootable flash drive will be cloned in the same way.

In our case, as mentioned, the simplest way to solve the problem will be considered. To transfer the contents of a bootable USB flash drive, we will use a small free utility USB Image Tool. It can be downloaded from the developer's website.

USB Image Tool – portable program, which does not require installation into the system. Simply unpack the downloaded archive and run the application file.

The utility is intended only for working with USB media. It works on the principle of creating a backup image of a bootable USB flash drive. The created image in IMG format is subsequently used to restore the contents of the bootable flash drive, either on the original or on any other USB drive.

After USB launcher Image Tool on the left side of the window we will see a list of all connected USB drives. If there are several devices, select the one you need and click on it. In the right part of the window at the bottom, click the “Backup” button.

We indicate the location on the computer where the bootable flash drive image will be stored. Click “Save”.

We are waiting for the backup process to complete.

Once the image is created, we can restore it to another flash drive. Click on the desired flash drive in the utility window on the left, and at the bottom of the window click the “Restore” button.

Hello, friends! Today we’ll talk again about creating a bootable USB flash drive.

How to create a bootable USB device? For what purposes should I use it and what program should I use to record it?

A brief overview of the five most popular and free programs to create a bootable USB flash drive.

Modern developments do not stand still, and yesterday's technologies are slowly but surely losing their relevance. So the once popular CDs and DVDs no longer seem like such a clear solution for storing, transferring and working with information. High data reading speed, versatility and the possibility of reusable use are only a small part of all the advantages of a flash drive as a bootable media in front of the disks. Today almost everything personal computers and laptops, if they are less than ten years old, support the ability to boot from USB devices. And in some cases (for example, a netbook), a flash drive may be the only boot device from an external drive.

By the way, the new Windows 10 operating system will be the first axis, the distribution of which will be officially distributed on a USB drive. And if you suddenly need to recover files from a flash drive, read about it. I also recommend paying attention to, which will help you take your mind off everyday work and lift your spirits.

By using additional software A flash drive can be used not only as a boot device for installing, reinstalling and restoring the operating system, but also to create an emergency device (Multiboot). This is a kind of resuscitator, a tool from which you can boot at any time and cure your computer of viruses, restore system files or save important data. I described how to create such a flash drive-reanimator in the article “Creating boot Live CD/DVD/USB devices and its application.” You can read this article.

Despite all obvious advantages and the growing popularity of a flash drive as a bootable device, there are not so many programs for creating it. Nevertheless, they exist, and today I will introduce you to them in more detail, but first a few words about the preparatory stage.

Preparing a flash drive

We will need the flash drive itself, plus knowledge of some important aspects. First, you need to make sure that your computer supports booting from USB devices. There is a misconception that if in the bios (boot section) there is no option to select boot from usb (there are only floppi, hdd and dvd-rom options), then boot from usb is not supported. This is wrong!

More precisely, this is not always the case. The only correct solution is to refer to the manual (user manual) of your motherboard or using specialized software (as an option - AIDA64) to obtain a detailed report on the hardware used.

The second point is the size of the flash drive. Here everything will depend on what we write on it. For example, to create a Live-USB, installation Linux disk or Windows 7, a 4 GB flash drive is enough. To create a boot device with latest versions For Windows, it is advisable to have a flash drive of at least 8 GB on hand.

The third point is transferring files from a flash drive. Typically, the process of creating a boot device involves full formatting. If there is a flash drive important files, transfer them to another device in advance. To create a bootable USB flash drive and then use it as a boot device, use the USB-2.0 port (Windows 7 does not support USB 3.0).

How to create a bootable USB flash drive

Let's consider five in various ways using the example of five free programs for Windows.

Small but enough functional utility with the self-explanatory name WinSetupFromUSB. Equally well suited for recording a bootable and/or multiboot flash drive (up to 10 operating systems) and creating Live devices. Official site .

Among the shortcomings is the lack of support for the Russian language. Among the advantages, as I already said, is its versatility. The utility can work not only with Windows distribution, but also suitable for burning an installation disk with Linux.

The usual option for creating a bootable flash drive, for example, with a Windows distribution, involves selecting the flash drive itself, the option to automatically format the media, and the ISO image of the operating system in the appropriate boxes. The recording process starts after pressing the “Go” button. You can read more about how this program works.

To create a multiboot flash drive (several OS), you need to specify the path to the ISO images of the operating systems. Paragraph Windows selection 10 at the time of writing this article is not available by default, but in reality everything is written and works, you just need to select the appropriate column with the available versions - Vista, 7, 8.

2. Rufus

Perhaps the simplest solution for creating bootable USB drives. Everything is simple and intuitive. Suitable for working on systems that do not have an installed OS. Official site rufus.akeo.ie.

The main advantages are speed, simple interface, Russian language. An excellent solution if you need to create a bootable Windows flash drive 10 with UEFI support. By the way, I wrote in detail about how to do this in.

Distributed in the format of a regular installer and portable version. To create a bootable USB flash drive, in the utility window you need to specify the path to the ISO image to be written and click the “Start” button.

On new systems that use UEFI instead of BIOS, in the "Partition Scheme and Type" menu system interface» set the value to "GPT for computers with UEFI".
In other cases, the default settings will be sufficient. The option to format a flash drive is assigned by default.

3. Windows 7 USB/DVD Download Tool

This utility is official app from Microsoft. The interface is minimalistic, simple and clear, it is easy to work with. Download from the official website wudt.codeplex.com.

Perhaps the name of the utility (Windows 7 USB) will mislead many that with its help you can removable media You can only record the Windows 7 distribution. However, this is not the case. In addition to the seventh version, Windows 8.1 and 10 distributions can be stored on a flash drive.

The downside is that the utility is not Russified, but it is simple and intuitive interface designed to eliminate this shortcoming.

All that is required from the user is to insert a USB drive in advance, select an ISO image with the operating system and specify the path to the media (flash drive) to which this image should be deployed.

The operating principle of this program is based on standard tools operating room Windows systems- this is “diskpart”, “bootsect /nt60”, extracting ISO onto a flash drive. The program acts only as a graphical interface.

UltraISO is one of the best and most functional programs for working with disk images. A universal “harvester” that supports work with almost any known formats. Can work in tandem with Nero Burning Rum and integrates with virtual emulators. It will help if the image boot disk not in ISO format.

The program can convert other image formats into ISO files - NRG, MDF, MDS, IMG, CCD, etc. using UltraISO you can edit ISO files without extracting them. The UltraISO interface has been translated into many languages, including Russian. For downloading, you are offered several editions of UltraISO, adapted for individual Windows versions, as well as a portable version of the program. Download link www.ezbsystems.com.

By by and large the program does not care what boot devices will be created with its help, with what operating system, what software and from what manufacturer. The ISO image to be burned must be opened in the program window either using the Open command in the File menu or using the browse button on the toolbar. This can also be done using a combination Ctrl keys+ O.

Then in the window that appears, if the program automatically selects required flash drive, click the “Record” button.

Daemon Tools Ultra is a professional tool for working with images. The program itself is familiar to many users because it is free. Lite versions, which allows you to mount virtual drives for reading disk images. Its more functional version- Daemon Tools Ultra - among other features, offers the creation boot devices.

Among the disadvantages, it is worth noting that it is paid, but to create a bootable flash drive, you can download a free 20-day trial version on the program’s official website. Official website of the program.

Go to the official website and download the program. During installation, you must select a trial license type.

The program works with a huge number of disk image formats and can be used both to create a boot device with subsequent installation of the operating system, and to restore it (Live disk).

To create a bootable flash drive, in the main window of Daemon Tools Ultra, select the “Tools” menu item, and among its commands is “Write bootable image to USB”. Or the hotkey combination Ctrl+B.

In the recording parameters window, specify the path to the image, enable the MBR overwrite option and click “Start”.

When the flash drive is ready, all that remains is to boot from it. The easiest way is to use the boot menu keys. The table below shows clear example such keys.

Of course, this is not the entire list of programs designed to create bootable devices, but for the vast majority of users, the capabilities and functionality of the listed software will be sufficient.

Eg, Rufus program can be used as the simplest and quick tool for creating Bootable USB drive with one Windows distribution or for BIOS firmware from under DOS.