How to copy Windows from a disk to a USB flash drive. How to throw the necessary information from a CD or DVD to a USB flash drive. Creating a USB flash drive using command line tools

23.08.2012

To be honest, I'm tired of good old optical drives. There are many drawbacks to optical discs - scratches, drives gradually losing their condition, and loss of properties when exposed to direct sunlight. But after all, some of the functions can be transferred to another type of media. For example, by creating a "USB stick" with the distribution of Windows 7. Convenient and reliable.

Why am I puzzled with this idea to make an installation USB flash drive with Windows 7? It's simple. One fine day, my good old disk with Windows XP, bought a long time ago, and still in use, despite the migration to Windows 7, died.


No, it did not become unreadable and did not become covered with a web of scratches, as is often the case with careless handling. He just cracked, apparently having worked out his resource. However, I didn't want to say goodbye to the paid license, and I didn't want to lose the distribution kit. At this moment, the idea of \u200b\u200btransferring the "installer" to another medium, and originated in my head, and remained to wander there. Once again, it surfaced after a sobbing neighbor knocked on my door, using inappropriate actions to kill the Windows 7 operating system, on his freshly purchased netbook. Naturally, I agreed to help him, but when at once a cheerful neighbor ran for the long-suffering "beech" and, naturally, a couple of bottles of beer (Friday evening, after all), I, picking up this work, remembered that such devices are not equipped with optical drives ...

However, there was a way out of this situation, you just need to connect an external drive, and the problem is solved. However, neither I nor the happy owner of a netbook had such a device, and I also did not want to go to my work for this unit. As a result, the only correct thought in this case came to my mind. You need to make an installation flash drive! I will say right away, not without some torment, but it succeeded, and therefore, deciding to make life easier for other suffering, I decided to write this small step-by-step instruction.
So, we will experiment with the image of the original disc with Windows 7 Ultimate 64-bit. However, no one bothers to do this with another Windows 7, 8 or Vista distribution kit (if suddenly there is a desperate fan of this "quiet horror")

Tools and equipment

What do we need for this event? First of all, of course, an installation disk with one of the above OS, or, even better, their image in iso format. You also need a flash drive with a capacity of at least four gigabytes, since the size of the distribution of the latest versions of Microsoft operating systems is not at all modest in size. And of course, you cannot do without a work computer with Windows 7 or Vista installed. Considering that there are three variations of creating a bootable "flash drive", in different cases we will need different software products. I will consider them separately:

Option 1: the easiest. Here you only need the UltraISO program, which can be downloaded from http://www.ezbsystems.com/dl1.php?file\u003duiso9_pe.exe. Despite the fact that it is paid, the trial version will be enough for our purposes, and therefore we can safely download it.

Option 2: more difficult. Here, eyes, head and hands will come in handy, as well as a simple 7-zip archiver, which can be downloaded from this link. Although, you can do without the 7-zip program, and do everything exclusively using Windows tools. Many users, especially those who are not very advanced, may have difficulties. Although, for old fighters who still love the command line, this option will seem simpler, and most importantly convenient - because there is no need to use third-party software.

Option 3: Using a utility from Microsoft designed specifically to create installation flash drives with a copy of Windows. You can download it from http://images2.store.microsoft.com/prod/clustera/framework/w7udt/1.0/uk/Windows7-USB-DVD-tool.exe. This option is simple to the point of disgrace, but it has one peculiarity - the BIOS of not every motherboard is able to recognize the installer on the drive made with this utility.

Getting started

Option 1. No particularly complex movements in this case will be required. It's simple. We launch the downloaded and installed UltraISO program using the trial period. Its functionality and operating time will be enough for us.


First of all, you need to tell the program where the operating system image is located in the .iso format, for this click "File\u003e Open", or use the hotkeys "Ctrl + O". It is very important here that this is an image, not an optical disc. Therefore, if you only have the latter, before starting work you will have to remove the image from it using the capabilities of the same UltraISO (“Tools\u003e Create CD Image”), or using one of the many utilities, for example, Alcohol 120%.


So, we have a Windows image, and it is already loaded into our program. We begin to create an installation flash drive, which by this time should already take its place in the USB port. Now go to the menu “Boot\u003e Burn hard disk image”.

In the window that appears, in the "Disc Drive" field, select your drive on which the Windows installer will be placed, and click on the "Format" button. Naturally, at this point, your flash drive should not have any important data for you, since all of them will be lost during formatting. Formatting is fast enough, and therefore we leave a check mark at this point, but change the file system type to NTFS, and click on the "Start" button.


After a few seconds the formatting will be finished and by clicking “ok” you will again be taken to the UltraISO menu, in which you will need to click on the “Write” button. After several confirmations that you really want to do what you want with the familiar “Yes” button, all you have to do is wait until the flash drive is created with the Windows installer you need, completely ready to go.


Option 2. In this option, it will be more complicated, because the DiskPart utility built into Windows, which we will use, does not have an interface and works only from the command line. However, even for beginners, it will not be difficult to do everything according to these instructions.


Let's start by preparing the flash drive. The process starts by running the command line. This can be done either by clicking on the "Start\u003e All Programs\u003e Accessories\u003e Command Line" sequence, or by calling the "Run" menu using the combination "Win + R" and writing "cmd" there, press Enter. Now we enter the commands sequentially, not forgetting to press the same Enter after that. Drive in only what is in italics, slash and what follows it, you do not need to write!

diskpart / call the utility of the same name
list disk / call the list of disks available in the system
In the table that appears, you need to find the device to which you are going to copy the Windows installer. This can be done by the size of the drive. At this point, it is important not to make a mistake and in the next line, instead of X, drive in the number of your device.
select disk X / select the disk to be installed.
clean / use this command to clear it
create partition primary / create a partition on the disk
select partition 1 / select the created section
active / mark the section as active
format fs \u003d NTFS / and format it in NTFS file system. This naturally takes some time, so please be patient and do not remove the USB flash drive from the slot.
After formatting is complete, you need to assign a drive letter. There are two options here: either set a fixed value with the command
assign letter \u003d z / where instead of Z there can be any other letter of the Latin alphabet that is not occupied by hard drives and optical drives. Or leave the letter assignment to the discretion of the operating system. In the latter case, it's enough just to drive in the assign command.
This completes the preparation of the drive. Enter the command:
exit / to exit the Disk part utility, since we won't need anything else from it.


At this stage, after we have prepared our flash drive, we have two options for continuing the development of events, that is, transferring the Windows distribution and boot sector to it. The first option is simple and convenient, but requires you to have 7-zip archiver installed and a disk image in .iso format, since this trick will not work with an optical disk. So, in order to transfer everything that is required to the drive, you just need to right-click on the disk image file, go to the 7-zip menu, and select the “Extract files” item, and specify the location where the archive will be unpacked your flash drive. At the end of the unpacking process, you can remove the USB flash drive from the connector and use it as intended.


However, there is a more complicated path that requires you to return to the command line. I have already described how to get there, and therefore I will not repeat myself, and I will go directly to the commands that you need to use. Before that, do not forget to insert the Windows installer disc into the drive, or mount the image into a virtual disk drive. We remember what letters you have assigned to the drive with the Windows disk, and the USB flash drive to which you want to transfer the installer, and we begin the process. First of all, transfer the boot sector from the disk to the USB flash drive by entering the following commands, where X you replace with the letter of your drive, and Y with the letter of your flash drive:

X: / go to work with the optical drive
cd X: \\ boot / go to boot sectors (X is your drive letter)
bootsect / nt60 Y / with this command, copy the boot sector from the disk to the USB flash drive.

Upon completion of the procedure, close the command line, this time finally. Everything, it remains only to copy all the files from the disk to the USB flash drive with the usual movements, and you're done. In the screenshot you can see what happens if the bitness of the installed Windows and the image of which is processed is different. Remember this subtlety.

Probably, any computer user has repeatedly faced the problem of reinstalling software and operating system. Despite the fact that the development of technology has given us devices such as laptops, netbooks and tablets - reinstalling Windows is still relevant and acquires new features.

Features of modern computers

On devices of new models, there is simply no disk drive, and the user is faced with a difficult task: he not only needs a Windows program to write to a USB flash drive, but also the knowledge of how to do it. Today, the flash drive method is becoming more and more popular. To do this, it is enough to find a sufficiently capacious flash drive (for Windows XP you need about 2.5 GB of disk space, and for Windows 7 - about 7 GB), write the Windows image to the USB flash drive using special software, make it bootable and follow the installation instructions.

How do I get the Windows operating system?

Before starting to understand the question of how to write Windows to a USB flash drive, each user, first of all, must choose a drive of the required size and the corresponding release of the operating system.

There are several ways to become a Windows owner:

  1. Buy a disc with software at one of the points of sale or in a computer hardware store that has permission to supply Windows operating systems. All of them must be marked, and their owner is issued a special sticker with a serial number, which must be placed on the computer system unit or the back panel of any device: laptop, netbook or tablet.
  2. Download software from one of the many torrents on the Internet. However, this method is illegal, and the owner of a computer on which a pirated copy of Windows is installed may be held liable at the very first check of his computer.

How to write "Windu" to a USB flash drive? The ways

Once you have your own copy of the Windows operating system, you need a reliable way to save an image of it and write it to a flash drive. In addition, this USB flash drive will definitely need to be made bootable. Otherwise, all manipulations can be considered meaningless, because you need to install an operating system, and not just transfer files from your computer to another storage medium.

Popular programs for creating a bootable USB drive

To create a full-fledged bootable USB flash drive, which will be visible during the reboot of your computer's operating system, and install Windows from it, use one of the following programs:

  • DirectGRUB.
  • GRUB4DOS.
  • UltraISO.

With their help, you can write an image of "Windows" to a USB flash drive and properly prepare it for installation. Working with each of these programs has some nuances, which we will discuss below. However, each of them allows you to create a complete boot device that easily fits in your pocket and can install a new operating system in minutes.

DirectGrub: Windows alternative entry

How to write "Windows" to a USB flash drive using the DirectGRUB program? This process is quite simple and does not require specialized knowledge and skills in information technology. Anyone can cope with this task. To do this, he just needs to follow the following instructions:

  1. Download DirectGrub program.
  2. Download or create a Windows image from an existing disk.
  3. Write "Windu" to a USB flash drive. To do this, you need to select an image in the program and click the "start" button to start the process. The program will automatically create a bootable USB flash drive and place all the data necessary to install the operating system on it.
  4. To start the installation, you need to go to the boot menu of your computer and select the boot priority from the flash drive.
  5. After the boot starts, a special Grub menu will appear on the screen, where you will need to select the very first line and start the installation.
  6. Important! After the text stage of the operating system installation is over and the computer requires a reboot, boot from the flash drive again and select the same item. After that, you don't need to press any keys until the computer boots up.

Recording with GRUB4DOS

For this method, we need several software products, namely: HPUSBFW, with which it will be formatted, and the GRUB4DOS loader, which will help in installing the operating system. How to write "Windu" to a USB flash drive if all the necessary applications are already installed? After you have found the software you need, follow these instructions:

  1. to the required format: FAT32 for WinXP and NTSF for subsequent versions.
  2. We launch GRUB4DOS, select our flash drive as a device in it and press the "Eject" button. After that, the program will create the C: / Program Files / WINGRUB / partition, install into it and create its own shortcut on the desktop. In addition, it will add all the bootloader files to our flash drive. After this will happen
  3. In running GRUB4DOS, we find the Disk line and select our drive as the target for installation. You should carefully choose the drive, focusing on its size, since the program for some reason does not write the drive letter.
  4. A console window will open in which you need to press the Enter button, after which all that remains is to correctly configure the bootloader.
  5. For the correct setup, we will trick our computer a little into believing that our drive is a floppy disk. The image can usually be found in the same location as the Windows image.
  6. After that, we just copy all the necessary images to our flash drive, reboot the computer and install any version of Windows.

UltraISO software

How to write "Windu" to a USB flash drive using this program? UltraISO is a great application that allows you to write an image to a USB stick and make it bootable. Despite the fact that this program is paid, its free features are quite enough for our needs. To create a bootable USB flash drive and install the operating system from it, you will need to follow these steps:

  1. First, open the previously created image in the UltraISO program.
  2. We select the "Bootstrapping" menu item and the "Burn image" sub-item in it.
  3. In this sub-item, you must carefully check all the recording parameters, namely: USB flash drive and image.
  4. We select the method for recording the USB-HDD image, but do not check the Create Boot Partition box.
  5. We press the button "Record".

Now you just need to wait until the process of transferring data and placing it on the flash drive is over. After that, you can restart your computer, select from the boot menu and install a fresh version of the operating system.

Advantages and disadvantages of installing Windows from USB

Now we know how to write Windows to a USB flash drive and can consider all the advantages of installing the operating system in a similar way:

  1. Very fast installation process. All modern flash drives have high read and write rates, which can reduce the time of the entire process several times.
  2. High reliability. Unlike a traditional CD, which can be very easily mechanically damaged, a flash drive is not afraid of scratches and abrasions. In addition, it simply cannot break inside the drive.
  3. Very comfortably. The flash drive is small and has a rectangular shape, it is easy to hide it in your pocket, unlike a bulky CD.
  4. Compatibility. Unfortunately, on very old computers, the method of installing the operating system is, however, they are most often equipped. However, on netbooks such a device may not be available, and the flash drive will not only help with installing the software, but also save money on buying a drive.

We will look at two methods for recording an image Windows 7 to a flash drive

  • Writing an image to a USB flash drive using UltraISO.
  • Writing an image to a USB flash drive using command line tools.
Attention!
This article only covers how to write an image to a flash drive.
  • Detailed installation instructions in this article: Install Windows 7.
  • How and where to download the image legally is described in the same article, in the chapter how and where to download the original image of windows 7 64 or 32 bits.


If you are not sure how many bit version of Windows 7 (32-bit ( x86) or 64-bit ( x64)) you need for the upcoming installation, then you can learn more about the difference between Windows 7 x32 and Windows 7 x64.
Before proceeding with the installation of the operating system, it is necessary to determine from what type of media the installation will be performed. Recently, this issue has become especially relevant, since compact devices have become widespread on the computer market. Netbook"and, not equipped with optical drives, as well as flash- high-volume drives that have become so popular and at the same time perfectly cope with the task of a boot disk for the operating system.

If you have at hand flash-drive (4 GB , since the installation image takes about 2.5 GB), then after carefully studying and following the steps described in this article, you can install the operating system using flash-drive as a boot disk. This does not require any additional software: everything will be done using the command line and a mounted image Windows 7... At all installing Windows 7 from a USB stick- faster (albeit slightly more complex).

Writing an image to UltraIso to Flash

After you have received the image with Windows 7, it is necessary to record it on some medium. The question is "How to do it?".

This article will tell you how to write an image to a flash drive ( USB-Flash or HDD-Flash) using the program UltraIso.

Step 1... Install the program UltraISO (this lesson considers the version 9.31 , although there is no fundamental difference in other versions).
located at the end of the article, in the block attached files.
Figure 1. UltraISO Installation Wizard

We press "Further", along the way specifying the necessary installation parameters.
On the last window NOT uncheck the boxes "Associate .iso file with UltraIso" and "Install ISO CD / DVD Emulator (ISO Drive)".

Figure 2. Additional tasks for the UltraISO program

Step 2. After installation, we launch the program and in the offer to register the product, select "Trial period", which will enable us to use this program for 30 days (which is quite enough to record our image).

Figure 3. UltraISO installation completed

Step 3... Before you start manipulating our image, you need to insert into the free USB-Output USB flash drive or external hard drive, which will be recorded.

Step 4. We open our image with "File - Open"... Next, go to the point "Boot - Write Disk Image (write disk image)".

Figure 4. Writing a Windows 7 image to a USB flash drive

Step 5. In field Disk Drive you need to select your carrier (if several flash drives are inserted into the computer). Also check the correctness of the selected image in the line "Image file"... In line "Recording method" choose USB-HDD... When everything is selected correctly, you need to press the button "Burn"... Before the process begins, you will be asked: “Are you sure you want to continue the process? All information on the flash drive will be destroyed "... Check the contents of your flash drive, and if there is nothing important on it, feel free to click "Yes"... At the end of the recording, you will be notified that the recording was successful: "Burn successful!"... Your bootable USB stick is ready.

Writing a Windows 7 image to a USB flash drive using the command line.

  1. So, to prepare the image, connect flash-disk to usb-the port of your computer. Make sure to flash- the storage device does not have the data you need, because flash-disk will be formatted.

  2. Now run command line Windows... You can find the launch shortcut at:
    Start -\u003e Programs -\u003e Accessories -\u003e Command Prompt.
    Also you can press the key combination Windows + R, after which in the window that opens "Start the program" you need to enter the name of the program "Сmd" and press "Enter".

  3. Now in the command prompt window that opens, run the command "Diskpart"... This will launch the system disk management utility. With the help of this program, we will clear the contents of the disk, create a partition on it. After that, we can make it active, format it and write the contents of the image to it. Then we will only have to place the bootloader files on the disk: after that, when the operating system boots, our flash-the drive will be defined as removable media - we can start the installation from it Windows 7.
Let's consider these actions in more detail.

After the system utility is loaded diskpart, you will see a prompt as a string DISKPART\u003e.

Now you can start executing commands.

With the command "List disk" you can see a list of all disks on this computer (Figure 5).


Figure 5. Preparing to install Windows 7 from a USB flash drive: creating a bootable USB flash drive

Now if you run the command "Select disk number» where "number" is the number of the disk that is flash-drive, then we will select this disk to apply all subsequent commands that we will enter when working with the utility diskpart.

As you can see from Figure 1, in our case it will be the command "Select disk 3".

But be very careful - you can select any hard drive and delete all data on it.

  • Next, we will delete all data and sections on our flash-storage device. To do this, run the command clean.
  • The next action will be, using the command create partition primary, create on flash-drive a new partition.
  • Let's select this section for further application of commands to it using the command select partition 1.
  • Let's make it active using the command active.
To format the disk, run the command format fs \u003d NTFS... As a parameter of this command, we specify the file system type ( NTFS).

Figure 6. To format the disk, run the command format fs \u003d NTFS.

Now it remains to initialize the disk connection using the command assign (the autorun window will open, as if we just connected to the computer flash-disk) and exit the utility using the command exit (fig. 7).

Figure 7. Initializing the disk connection with the assign command.

The final step remains - we must copy the bootloader to flash-storage device.

To do this, mount the image Windows 7that you want to install on your computer.

Now use the command line to navigate to the given (mounted) disk. After that go to the folder boot and run the command bootsect / nt60 K :.
notethat instead of the letter "K"this command must contain the letter that was assigned your flash drive when executing the assign command.

This command will launch the system utility bootsect with 2 parameters:

  • the first indicates the bootloader version OS (/ nt60 - parameter required to create a bootloader OS Windows Vista and Windows 7).
  • the second parameter is the letter assigned to our flash-drive.
This will place the bootloader OS on our flash-disk.
If you mount the 64 bit image Windows 7then you will fail to run bootsectif your operating system is 32 bit - t. this version bootsect is 64 bit.

Copying files to a prepared USB flash drive.

After the flash drive is prepared, the files are copied from the image:
you can mount the image you have with the program DAEMON Tools Liteand then copy all files from the mounted disk to the flash drive.

Installation

Now if you restart your computer, then by going to BIOS, you will be able to install your USB flash drive to boot and install from it Windows 7 (first boot device).

Now you can move on to the next chapter, which will talk in great detail about the further installing Windows 7.

Detailed instructions for installing Windows 7 in this article: Install Windows 7.

You can also pay attention to the recording of the image using the utility

One of the most pressing questions for home users and not only. A bootable flash drive or USB hard drive can help bypass the use of an optical drive, and can also be carried around if you frequently install systems or repair computers. After all, manufacturers have already stopped equipping their devices - netbooks and ultrabooks, with optical drives. If there is no disk drive, you can reinstall the system only by booting from the installation flash drive. The easiest way to create such a medium is to use a special utility. You can write anything to such a USB drive: ERD Commander, a program for working with hard drives like Paragon or Acronis, as well as an image with Windows, MacOS, etc.

To make a bootable USB flash drive from an ISO image necessary (ISO image is a copy of the installation disk in a special container with the ISO extension):

The program will automatically process the ISO image and make bootable USB drive, with which in the future it will be possible to install the OS on a computer without using a CD / DVD-ROM or download an image of a portable version of your favorite OS and install it so that it is always at hand. Also, the YUMI utility, which is an analogue of UNetBootin, copes well with recording images.

How to create / burn an ISO image

It is worth noting that you can use CDBurnerXP to create an ISO image from a finished DVD or CD containing a distribution kit with Windows or other necessary program. Run the application and select the item in the main menu "Copy Disc"... Specify your installation disc in the drive as the source, and to save the finished ISO image folder on your hard drive. Click the button "Copy Disc"... With this program you can burn previously saved images to optical discs. Having created an image, you can use it to transfer it to a USB flash drive or memory card using the above programs.

Bootable USB drive with antivirus

You can check the system for malware by running an antivirus program from a removable device (flash card, portable hard drive, etc.), if Windows has stopped loading at all. I recommend using the following software as a portable antivirus for bootable USB drive: Kaspersky Rescue Disk and Dr.Web LiveUSB. These antiviruses have been tested in practice many times and have proven themselves well. By clicking on these links you can download an application for recording an antivirus, all you need is a flash drive with a volume of at least 512 MB. If you want to boot from a flash drive or USB HDD some other antivirus or scanner program, having an ISO image, then use.

Windows emergency boot

Let's say Windows won't start and you need to save your personal data. If no means help restore the system's performance, then it is best to use the ERD Commander distribution kit (for Windows 7 32bit, Windows 7 64bit and Windows XP 32bit) and an external HDD. ERD Commander is a set of programs that allow you to boot the system from removable media, which makes it possible to start the computer even in the event of total damage to OS files. Burn the ISO file using UNetBootin to a USB flash drive or any program for burning images to disc (ImgBurn, Ashampoo Burning Studio or Nero Burning Rom) at minimum speed and boot the system from it. The interface of this loader is in Russian and is intuitive. We call the file manager and get access to the hard disk. We mark all the files that need to be saved and open the external HDD to copy the data to it. There is a risk that you have copied to your hard drive and virus. Therefore, before transferring data to a new Windows system, be sure to install an antivirus and check the files on the portable HDD.

How to burn Windows to a USB flash drive or USB disk (Windows ISO image on a USB flash drive)

Attention, the Windows 7 USB / DVD Download Tool works great with both Windows 7 and Windows 8 images.

1. Download the utility Windows 7 USB / DVD Download Tool.
2. Run the downloaded file as administrator and install.

How to burn Windows to a USB stick with Windows USB / DVD Download Tool(analogue of UNetBootin from Microsoft) .

1. Specify the Windows 7 or 8 ISO image file by clicking Browse

2. Click Next... Select the device on which the image will be created. Click USB device (if you want to create a USB flash drive) or DVD (if you want to create a bootable DVD). Before specifying the desired device, insert the USB flash drive into the USB port or the DVD disc into the drive, respectively.

3. Specify the USB flash drive where the bootloader image will be written. To start creating an installation flash drive, click Begin copying.

4. Now wait for the end of the process of creating a bootable USB drive. Once the process is complete, you will receive a ready-to-install uSB flash drive with Windows 7 or 8.


* Do not forget to enable the computer boot from a USB device in the BIOS before installing Windows 7 from a USB flash drive!

* The minimum size (volume) of a flash drive must be at least 4GB!

Bootable USB flash drive with Acronis Disk Director 11, True Image 2012, Paragon Partition Manager 11

This assembly is a universal solution for bootable USB drive with a choice of the most popular data recovery software, OS and hard drive. You just need to write the downloaded archive to a USB flash drive and you will receive universal bootable USB disk... You can also burn this assembly to disk.

Supported OS bit: 32bit + 64bit
Vista and Windows 7 Compatible: Full
Interface language: Russian
System requirements: Processor: Intel Pentium or its equivalent, with a frequency of 1000 MHz or higher; RAM: 512 MB or higher; Mouse; SVGA video adapter and monitor;
USB flash drive larger than 2 GB (for all boot images)

Bootable USB stick Windows based Preinstallation Environment 3.1 (WinPE) includes:

  • Acronis Disk Director 11
  • Acronis True Image Home 2012
  • Paragon Hard Disk Manager 11
  • Paragon Partition Manager 11 Professional
  • Paragon Home Expert 11
  • Windows 7 x86 Recovery Environment
  • Windows 7 x64 Recovery Environment

Instructions for installing a bootloader on a USB flash drive

Booting a computer from a USB flash drive or other removable media

In order for your computer to start up from a CD, DVD, flash drive or external USB drive when rebooting or turning on, you must make changes to the BIOS settings. Most modern motherboards provide the ability boot from USB stick, but on older models sometimes you can only enable booting from optical discs. In some cases, this problem can be solved by installing the latest BIOS version, but for very old motherboards, such updates may not be released.

After turning on the PC, enter the BIOS by pressing the key "Del" or "F2"... Then find the appropriate menu items, specifying the boot order and used for this device. Depending on the manufacturer and BIOS version, this can be done in the sections "Boot" or "Advanced BIOS features"... In addition, modern motherboards allow, without reconfiguring the BIOS, to specify the device from which the system will boot. To do this, when starting the PC, you need to call "Boot menu"... As a rule, this can be done with the key "F12".

Optical disks (CDs and DVDs) are now used extremely rarely, since their niche for portable storage media was occupied by flash drives. In the article below, we want to introduce you to ways to copy information from disks to flash drives.

The procedure is not much different from the trivial operation of copying or moving any other files between different storage media. This task can be performed both by third-party tools and using Windows toolkit.

Method 1: Total Commander

Total Commander has been and remains the # 1 most popular third-party file manager. Of course, this program is also capable of transferring information from a CD or DVD to a flash drive.

  1. Open the program. In the left working panel, in any available way, go to the USB flash drive where you want to place files from the optical disk.

  2. Go to the right panel and there go to your CD or DVD. The easiest way to do this is in the drop-down list of drives, where the drive is highlighted with its name and icon.


    Click on the name or icon to open the disc for viewing.
  3. Once in the folder with the disk files, select the ones you need by pressing the left mouse button while holding down Ctrl... Selected files are marked with a light pink name.

  4. It is better not to cut information from optical discs, in order to avoid failures, but to copy. Therefore, either click on the button labeled "F5 Copy", or press the key F5.

  5. In the copy dialog box, check that you have selected the correct destination and click "OK" to start the procedure.


    It can take a certain amount of time, which depends on many factors (the state of the disk, the state of the drive, the type and speed of reading, the same parameters of the flash drive), so be patient.
  6. Upon successful completion of the process, the copied files will be placed on your USB flash drive.

The procedure is fairly straightforward, but optical discs are notorious for being capricious — if you encounter a problem, visit the last section of this article for possible problems.

Method 2: FAR Manager

Another alternative file manager, this time with a console interface. Due to its high compatibility and speed, it is almost ideal for copying information from CD or DVD.


FAR Manager is known for its lightness and almost lightning speed, so we can recommend this method for users of low-power computers or laptops.

Method 3: Windows System Tools

Most users will be satisfied with the fairly convenient file and directory management implemented in Windows by default. In all individual versions of this OS, starting with Windows 95, there was always a toolkit for working with optical disks.


As practice shows, most often failures and problems occur when using the standard "Explorer".

Method 4: copy data from secure disks

If the disk from which you are going to transfer data to a USB flash drive is copy-protected, then the methods with third-party file managers and "Guide" they won't help you. However, for music discs, there is a rather tricky copy method using Windows Media Player.

  1. Insert the music disc into the drive and start it.


    By default, Audio CD playback starts in Windows Media Player. Pause the playback and go to the library - a small button in the upper right corner.

  2. Once in the library, take a look at the toolbar and find the option on it "Copy from Disc Setting".


    Click on this option and select from the dropdown list "Extra options…".

  3. A window with settings will open. By default, the tab is open "Rip Music from CD", and we need it. Pay attention to the block "Folder for ripping music from CD".


    To change the default path, click on the corresponding button.
  4. A directory selection dialog box will open. Go to your USB flash drive and select it as the final copying address.

  5. Set copy format as "MP3", "Quality…" - 256 or 320 kbps, or the maximum allowed.


    To save your settings, press "Apply" and "OK".
  6. When the options window closes, take a look at the toolbar again and click on the item "Rip Music From CD".

  7. The process of copying songs to the selected location will begin - the progress is displayed as green bars opposite each track.


    The procedure will take some time (5 to 15 minutes), so wait.
  8. At the end of the process, you can go to the USB flash drive and check if everything has been copied. A new folder should appear with your music files inside.

Ripping videos from protected DVDs cannot be done using system tools, so let's resort to a third-party program called Freestar Free DVD Ripper.

  1. Insert the video disc into the drive and run the program. In the main window select "Open DVD".

  2. A dialog box will open in which you need to select a physical drive.

    Attention! Do not confuse a real device with a virtual drive, if any!

  3. The files available on the disk are marked in the box on the left. On the right is the preview window.


    Mark the videos you need by checking the boxes on the right opposite the file names.
  4. Videos cannot be copied "as is", they will have to be converted in any case. So take a look at the section "Profile" and choose a suitable container.


    Practice shows that the best size / quality / no problem ratio will be MPEG4, and select it.
  5. Next, you should select the location of the converted video. Click the button Browseto bring up a dialog box "Explorer"... We select our USB flash drive in it.

  6. Check the settings and then click the button "Rip".


    The process of converting the clips and copying them to the flash drive begins.

Note: In some cases, it is better to copy multimedia files not directly from a disk to a USB flash drive, but first save them to a computer, and then move them to a flash drive.

For disks that lack protection, it is better to use the above methods 1-3.

Potential problems and malfunctions

As already mentioned, optical disks are more whimsical and demanding in terms of storage and use than flash drives, so there are often problems with them. Let's take a look at them in order.

  • Copying speed is too slow
    The cause of this problem can be both in the flash drive and in the disk. In this case, a universal way is intermediate copying: first copy the files from the disk to the hard disk, and from there to the USB flash drive.
  • Copying files reaches a certain percentage and freezes
    In most cases, this problem means a problem with the CD-ROM: one of the copied files is incorrect or there is a damaged area on the disk from which data cannot be read. The best solution in such a situation is to copy files one at a time, rather than all at once - this action will help to find the source of the problem.
  • Disc is not recognized
    A common and rather serious problem. There are several reasons for it, the main one being the scratched surface of the CD. The best solution would be to remove an image from such a disk and work with a virtual copy, and not with a real medium.

    There is a high probability of problems with the disc drive, so we recommend that you check it too - for example, insert another CD or DVD into it. We also recommend that you read the article below.

As a summary, we would like to note: every year more and more PCs and laptops are produced without hardware for working with CD or DVD. Therefore, in the end, we would like to recommend that you make copies of important data from CDs in advance and transfer them to more reliable and popular drives.

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