Partitoning Usb Drives

[toby 0]

Is there a particular program I need, and can all usb sticks be split, and then each partition run an OS (one that is meant to be able to run from USB)?

[yordan 10]

Yes, I just noticed that the Disk Management in Microsoft Windows does not allow you to drop the partition inside the USB flashdisk.Partition Magic does the job, no problem. Unfortunately, Partition Magic is not free.Let's see if other forumers around here know a free software which does the same job.By the way, why do you want to split your flashdisk ? Mines are never big enough, even my 4gig stick is too small today.Yordan

[toby 0]

I've downloaded about 6 Os's that total about 1.1 gig, so plus music and documents, 4gig is probably what I'll get. Thank you, it seems there are keys for Partition Magic, but the 'free trials' are fake.

[faulty.lee 0]

I've downloaded about 6 Os's that total about 1.1 gig, so plus music and documents, 4gig is probably what I'll get. Thank you, it seems there are keys for Partition Magic, but the 'free trials' are fake.

Toby, try search for "partition magic rapidshare.com", you get better chances for working ones.

I use my usb stick for storing documents and running live linuxes. I manage to get 2 onto 1 partition. Earlier i thought the only way to run more than 1 live linux is by splitting up the partition. But I found out that even partition magic also can't do the job. I used version 8. So i what i did was install slax 6 first using instruction from the web. Basically copying the 2 folder, "boot" and "SLAX" from the iso or tarball, then run syslinux againt the usb stick, to make it bootable. Then I added backtrack2 by just copying the 2 folder from BT2 cd, which is "boot" and "BT", but this time, I rename the "boot" folder to "boot-bt". Open up the file "slax.cfg" under the slax' boot folder. Add the following towards the end of the file

LABEL btMENU LABEL BackTrack 2KERNEL /boot-bt/vmlinuzAPPEND vga=0x317 max_loop=255 initrd=/boot-bt/initrd.gz init=linuxrc load_ramdisk=1 prompt_ramdisk=0 ramdisk_size=4444 root=/dev/ram0 rwTEXT HELP										Help for currently selected:										Run BackTrack 2ENDTEXT

I copied the setting from BT2's boot config under "boot\syslinux\syslinux.cfg". Take note of the boot folder setting for the 2nd OS, which I refer to boot-bt here instead of just "boot". e.g. "initrd=/boot-bt/initrd.gz".

That's it, boot it up, and you'll get a nice slax boot screen with the option of running BT2. Tested, and 100% working.

Btw, I'm using Corsair Flash Voyager 4GB, highly recommended for it's read and write speed. I booted slax 6 in 1 and a half minutes only. Others brand around 4 minutes or slightly less. They just ain't fast enough for regular use.

[FirefoxRocks 0]

Who seriously needs to partition flash drives? The only valid reasons are either running a Linux distribution or for security purposes if you can somehow manage to password-protect a partition, or hope that Windows can't read ext3 or something. But aren't directories created for this purpose (security)?Anyways, running an operating system off of a flash drive is kinda awkward for me, it would be slow even with a USB 2.0 port and the flash drive life would die pretty quick I would think.

[Miles 0]

I agree with FireFoxRocks. Partitioning a flash drive, except for running linux, is pointless. I could understand joining 4 flash drives together with RAID, but partitioning them has no real point. I suggest you google it if you really want to and see if someone has made a guide, or a program, to do what you want.

[toby 0]

SYSLINUX is not normally used for booting full Linux installations since Linux is not normally installed on FAT filesystems. Instead, it is often used for boot or rescue floppy discs, Live USBs, or other lightweight boot systems. ISOLINUX is generally used by Linux LiveCD and bootable install CDs.

Thanks, I'll try it and report back. Edited March 22, 2008 by toby (see edit history)