Splitting a USB drive into multiple partitions - Good or Bad Idea?

[Snickerzz]

So i'm the type of person who has multiple USB drives for various things, but that leads to having multiple drives which is just a pain in the butt. So I was wondering if it would be a good idea to just buy a 128GB flash drive and split it into multiple 4/8GB partitions, instead of having a bunch of different separate drives. I'd be using the drive for random files, Windows installs, etc. Would the bios even see it as multiple drives or just one big drive? 

[DXMember]

BIOS will recognize it as a single storage device regardless, BIOS is not aware of partitions or file systems.

If you intend to use it as a bootable Windows setup drive you will have to create a primary partition and store the setup there. You can create a bunch of additioncal secondary partitions but you will not be able to boot from them.

 

You can boot only from MBR (Master Boot Record)

[Electronics Wizardy]

If you want to have multiable bootable os's you would need a boot loader that points it to other oses I know there is a program but forget the name.

[burnttoastnice]

If you want to have multiable bootable os's you would need a boot loader that points it to other oses I know there is a program but forget the name.

 

Grub is one of them. There's another one that allows you to boot multiple live or persistent OS's from a flash drive too, but I forgot what it's called. That would be admittedly much simpler than partitioning the USB in my opinion

[AlwaysFSX]

You know, folders are a thing. :mellow:

[aardappel12]

You know, folders are a thing. :mellow:

 

Waaaa.. Please, do tell more.

[BillytheSkids]

Snickerzz,

Getting 1 large USB to consolidate installs is something I did a while ago and love it. For a boot loader as they discussed I used easy2boot found at http://www.easy2boot.com/. This allows you to just drop ISO's into specific categorized folders and you can also easily customize the boot screen with things like background images, different color font, etc for a personal touch. You can then partition the drive to remove the clutter of having a storage fold lost among all the install folders, but you have to do it in the manner easy2boot instructs as installing adjusts the boot loader. The drive I got was only a 16 GB because a lot of third party boot utilities are less then 1 GB and you can easily consolidate Windows Install images from retail discs by modifying the ei.cfg. You don't actually need to modify it however if you place it in the appropriate folder, easy2boot has specific unattend files for selecting the appropriate type of Windows install.

Hope this helps.

[Snickerzz]

BIOS will recognize it as a single storage device regardless, BIOS is not aware of partitions or file systems.

If you intend to use it as a bootable Windows setup drive you will have to create a primary partition and store the setup there. You can create a bunch of additioncal secondary partitions but you will not be able to boot from them.

 

You can boot only from MBR (Master Boot Record)

Alright. :c

 

If you want to have multiable bootable os's you would need a boot loader that points it to other oses I know there is a program but forget the name.

booo :C

 

Grub is one of them. There's another one that allows you to boot multiple live or persistent OS's from a flash drive too, but I forgot what it's called. That would be admittedly much simpler than partitioning the USB in my opinion

Yes, simpler is always easier DX

 

You know, folders are a thing. :mellow:

But would that work

 

Snickerzz,

Getting 1 large USB to consolidate installs is something I did a while ago and love it. For a boot loader as they discussed I used easy2boot found at http://www.easy2boot.com/. This allows you to just drop ISO's into specific categorized folders and you can also easily customize the boot screen with things like background images, different color font, etc for a personal touch. You can then partition the drive to remove the clutter of having a storage fold lost among all the install folders, but you have to do it in the manner easy2boot instructs as installing adjusts the boot loader. The drive I got was only a 16 GB because a lot of third party boot utilities are less then 1 GB and you can easily consolidate Windows Install images from retail discs by modifying the ei.cfg. You don't actually need to modify it however if you place it in the appropriate folder, easy2boot has specific unattend files for selecting the appropriate type of Windows install.

Hope this helps.

Look's nifty :3 thanks