Miray Forum

Is it possible to install HD Clone on a USB Flash Drive so that the computer will boot into HD Clone the same way it does from a CD?

This is not (yet) possible, but we're working on it. Expect it to be included in one of the next revisions of our installation program.

This still requires a bootable USB flash drive beforehand, as the Partition on the drive has to be marked active and bootable (but this can be done with the Windows-Built-in formatter). Everything else, including the boot loader, will then be prepared by the installer.

I've created a USB drive that boots to HD Clone by using the HP tool available here:

http://h18000.www1.hp.com/support/files/serveroptions/us/download/23839.html

This tool has worked with a couple of the 1GB Sandisk thumb drives that I have.

At the end of the prep process the tool allows you to select an image to load off of the drive. I gave it the name of the floppy version of HD Clone - hdclone.img and after the tool was finished I copied the hdclone.img file over the one that the tool created.

Also, the computer's BIOS setup must be configured to boot from a USB device and the USB device must be first in the boot priority. My boot time to HD Clone on the thumb is less than 20 seconds, much faster than booting from CD.

BTW, Super Talent makes an internally mountable USB Drive. Instead of having the standard USB connector it has the type of connector that plugs into the motherboard header. See it here:

http://www.everythingusb.com/super_talent_readyboost_2gb_12525.html

Buy it here: http://www.ewiz.com/detail.php?name=RBV-2G

voxelman,

Much thanks to you, my friend! The HP tool is very fast and efficient and saved me lots of digging around just to get a bootable partition on one of my Kingston flash drives. Booting from the USB is, indeed, MUCH faster and saves the IDE port I needed on a particular client's machine.

Also, thanks to the Miray crew for a wonderful tool...WELL worth the investment!

Cheers,

Rich

Thanks Voxelman
Your procedure saved me a lot of work.
For those who are interested, I managed to clone a partition from an ASUS EeePC 1000H to an old ASUS P4S8X-X, booting from a SD card on EeePC and from a CD on P4.
Thanks also to Miray for their nice tool.

Regards