USB Bios update

[BotherRed]

What type of USB drive should I get to update my motherboard's bios? 

[Eigenvektor]

Doesn't really matter. Virtually any drive will be big enough for the BIOS file. Just make sure to format it as FAT32.

[BotherRed]

Just now, Eigenvektor said:

Doesn't really matter. Virtually any drive will be big enough for the BIOS file. Just make sure to format it as FAT32.

Is there a certain size, speed, brand, etc. that's better then others for that? I'm sure I can look up a walkthrough for how to make sure it is formated as FAT32

[Sanedish]

Get a random one you have laying arround. if you're mb supports it, use an usb-c flash if you have one, otherwise, i'd recommend usb 3 (the blue one), usb 2 is just a bit slower, but overall, you can take you're ali express stick. it might be a bit slow, but work.

[Eigenvektor]

Just now, BotherRed said:

Is there a certain size, speed, brand, etc. that's better then others for that? I'm sure I can look up a walkthrough for how to make sure it is formated as FAT32

No. It really doesn't matter. You just copy a small file on it, then use that to update your BIOS once. This isn't performance critical or anything.

[Sanedish]

Just now, BotherRed said:

Is there a certain size, speed, brand, etc. that's better then others for that? I'm sure I can look up a walkthrough for how to make sure it is formated as FAT32

I used an sandisk one, the only thing you may experience is a faster update

[Eigenvektor]

2 minutes ago, Sanedish said:

I used an sandisk one, the only thing you may experience is a faster update

Very unlikely. The update is primarily limited by the write speed of the BIOS chip, not the read speed of the USB disk.

[mariushm]

USB sticks under <= 32 GB can be easily formatted in Windows to FAT32.  Plug the usb stick, right click on the drive letter, select Format  and select FAT32. 

If you want to know if it's FAT32, then right click on drive letter, select Properties, it should say there.  If it doesn't say there, type Computer Management, and i nthe application that opens you should have Disk Management - you'll find there the USB stick and it will say how it's formatted.

 

If you want to update the bios without going into bios, on a motherboard that has this feature,  you may have to name the bios file in a specific way, for example MSI.ROM for a msi motherboards, it will say in the manual or in the zip file you download from the website how the file should be renamed.

Then you just plug the stick in the USB port dedicated for bios flashing (usually has a logo or some different color on it) and press the button on the back (again, it should say how the process works  in the manual you can download from the website)