Is it possible to copy files to a bootable USB flash drive? Flash drive backup: Backup Windows data to a USB device. Other features of the Exiland Backup utility

Hello admin! My friend has a cool one a 16 GB multiboot USB 2.0 flash drive with five operating systems, several useful LiveCDs and a bunch of other useful programs, and I have a blank 32 GB USB 3.0 flash drive. The question is, how can I transfer all the information from his 16 GB bootable flash drive to my 32 GB flash drive and so that my flash drive automatically becomes bootable? That is, I want to make an exact copy of his flash drive on my own, but I have no idea how this can be done.

Hello friends! The situation is basically clear. In simple words, our reader has a bootable flash drive of 16 GB in size, on which operating systems and some useful software are located, and he wants to make an exact copy of this flash drive on another a larger flash drive, for example 32 GB. And in clever words, we need to produce flash drive cloning.

• Note: The same is possible.

So, we connect two flash drives to our computer.

The first flash drive is 16 GB, it is bootable and contains several operating systems, plus a LiveCD, user files and program installers.

The second 32 GB flash drive is clean.

Disk management.

Let's launch a free program.

Choose Master-->Disc Copy Wizard.

Select the source flash drive - the bootable flash drive from which we want to copy the contents.

Left-click on the selected flash drive and click “Next”.

We select the target flash drive, that is, the one to which we want to copy the contents of the bootable flash drive.

This window shows what the flash drive will look like after cloning. We don’t need two partitions on the bootable flash drive, so check the “Fit partitions of the entire disk” checkbox.

"End"

"Apply"

Create an image of a flash drive, and then write the image to another flash drive? USB Image Tool is a program for creating images from flash drives and vice versa, you can upload a saved image to a flash drive. The utility creates and restores images in .img and .imz format (compressed). USB Image Tool is a portable program that can be launched from any folder and from any media. Additionally, in the program directory there is a tool for working with images from the command line (usbitcmd.exe).

An example of creating a copy of a bootable USB flash drive

Suppose there is a bootable flash drive with programs, testing utilities, operating system distribution (for example, Windows, Linux), drivers, and the like. Task: make another similar bootable USB flash drive. Insert the original flash drive, launch the USB Image Tool program and save the image to disk (the "Backup" button). We insert another flash drive and restore the image created from the reference flash drive to it (the "Restore" button).

Official site: http://www.alexpage.de
OS: Windows All
Supported languages: English
Version: 1.58
License:freeware (for free)

One of the fundamental properties of information is that it does not sit still. Humanist philosophers of the past declared that the truth always comes to light, and modernity has shown that any data used in the slightest degree tends to spread out and fill as many media as possible. Experience shows that sometimes files reach their final destination in unusually confusing ways...

From a laser disk to cloud storage, from the Internet to a computer, from a computer to a flash drive, from a flash drive to another flash drive...
Copying information from a flash drive to a flash drive is done in the same way as transferring files from a flash drive to a hard drive, except that in some cases it takes a little longer.

Copying data from flash drive to flash drive while simultaneously connecting

To transfer data from one flash drive to another, the easiest way is to connect them to the computer at the same time. If the number and location of USB connectors allow this (some flash drives have cases that are too bulky to be inserted into nearby ports), the copying process becomes elementary.

You just need to open both flash drives (double-click with the left mouse button on the flash drive icons in the “My Computer” window), select the files to be copied (left-click on the files in combination with the Ctrl key held down), right-click on one of the selected files, click "Copy"

and then, going to the window of the second flash drive, right-click again and select “Paste”.

The same can be done by replacing mouse operations with keyboard shortcuts Ctrl+C/Ctrl+V.

Copying a flash drive to a flash drive when connecting each one in series

If it is impossible to connect flash drives at the same time, the algorithm is slightly lengthened. Instead of directly transferring files, you must first save them to the hard drive of your personal computer. The sequence of actions looks like this:

— First, the copied files are highlighted in the window of the first flash drive. Selection is made using the left mouse button.

- Then, using the right mouse button and “Copy”, or using the Ctrl + C keys, the files are transferred to the clipboard - the allocated PC memory

— Then you need to open some folder on the computer’s hard drive (or at least go to the desktop) and press Ctrl+V (or right-click on the free space of the folder and select “Paste”).

After this, you need to remove the flash drive (close all its folders and files, right-click on its icon in “My Computer”, select “Eject”, wait for the message in the lower right corner of the screen that the flash drive can be removed, and pull it out of the port ) and insert the second flash drive.

— Select previously copied files using the mouse, press Ctrl+C

— Open the second flash drive through “My Computer” and press Ctrl+V

- Remove the second flash drive in the same way as the first.

That’s the whole “secret” of copying information from one flash drive to another, we hope everything worked out for you. Happy copying!

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 file system and memory partition layout. And yet, it is possible to transfer an image of an OS recorded on a flash drive - this is a complete cloning of memory while preserving all the features. To do this, you should use special software.

Method 1: USB Image Tool

The small portable utility USB Image Tool is ideal for solving our problem today.

1. 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.



2. 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.

3. 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 the boot drive.

4. Connect a second flash drive to which you want to save the resulting copy. Launch USB Image Tool and select the desired device in the same panel on the left. Then find the button below "Restore", and press it.



5. 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.
6. 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.

This method has few disadvantages - the program may refuse to recognize some models of flash drives or create incorrect images from them.

Method 2: AOMEI Partition Assistant

A powerful program for managing the memory of both hard drives and USB drives will also be useful to us in creating a copy of a bootable flash drive.

1. 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".



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



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



4. In the preview window, check the option "Fitting partitions of the entire disk".
   
   
   Confirm your choice by pressing "Further".
5. In the next window, click "End".
   
   
   Returning to the main program window, click on "Apply".



6. 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.
7. 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.

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



3. 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.
4. When the procedure is finished, press "OK" in the message box and disconnect the boot drive from the PC.
5. 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.
, but this time click “Burn Hard Disk Image...”.


In the list entry utility window "Disk Drive" install your second flash drive. Set recording method "USB-HDD+".


Check that all settings and values ​​are set correctly and press "Record".
6. Confirm formatting the flash drive by clicking on "Yes".

Sometimes, users think about creating an image from a flash drive, especially a bootable one. This may be needed in many cases, but the most common is to transfer all data from one drive to another.

Creating an image is not that difficult, however, in most cases it will not be in iso format, although this is not entirely correct. This happens because iso was created for disk copying, despite the fact that the format itself can be recorded on any drive. However, it is still possible to burn a flash drive to ISO, and this article will present several ways to do this.

Using UltraISO to create an image

This application is very popular among Russian users. It has a clear and accessible interface, allows you to create and record images. There are several ways to do this.

In the first case, you will need to click on the drive itself and drag it to the part of the window that is responsible for the list of files in the program.

In the next window you will have to agree with the transfer data. In the menu item, you need to click on the item responsible for extracting boot data from the disk and saving it to your device. Then in the same menu item you should select “ Upload download file" After that, you can go to File - Save As. Here you can select the ISO format and save all the data. This completes the creation of the copy. However, you can doima file, which will be better, because This format is designed to work with storage devices.

It's much easier to do this. You just need to click on the marked item and select the drive from which byte-by-byte copying will be performed. In this case, the carrier will copied completely, even empty data. That is, if there is only one data on a 4 GB flash drive, the image will still take up four.

Using the USB Image Tool

Creating a copy using this application will not take much time. You need to download and install it. After launch, the user sees all drives on the left side of the screen. You should select the one you need and pressbackup. This will allow you to get an img file that contains all the data from the drive.

To record the created image, you can use the same utility. You just need to press the left button. However, this is more of a data backup. It is impossible to write the received file to another drive, only back to the same one.

PassMark ImageUSB application to create a full copy

This program does not even require the user to install it on the computer. All you need is download and run.

After launch you only need select media, which will be copied. In the second step, you should select the same as in the picture. In the third paragraph, you need to specify the directory in which the final file will be saved. Then you just have to press Create and wait for the process to complete. To record a file, you need to select the first item in the second step.

ImgBurn utility

This program will allow you to create an image from a disk or folder. To get started, you need to select the item shown in the image.

After this, in the next window you will need to specify the flash drive as the source. To do this, you can click on the marked icon.

It will also be necessary to go to tabAdvanced on the right side of the screen and set the same settings as in the image. This will turn the created image into a bootable one. If this is not necessary, then this item can be skipped.

As can be seen from the article, create an image from a drive isn't that hard if it's just a file. If you need to make a boot image, then you should use specialized utilities.