Using a laptop hard drive as an external drive. How to make a flash drive from a hard drive? flash drive for emergencies

No matter how difficult the installation of the OS is, and my opinion is that it is enough to be friends with the computer and have two more hands besides the head - one right and the other left. To install an OS on a computer, you need or.

But what if there is neither one nor the other, the optical drive does not work, or you have a netbook? After a little thought, I remembered that I have an external usb-pocket for the HDD and a free old HDD 2.5ʺ is also there. In general, if there is HDD-pocket, respectively, it can be made bootable.

For this purpose, there are utilities with which you can do this, but I decided to use the standard Windows tools.

There are a lot of descriptions and videos on the network, but, unfortunately, there is one problematic point that the authors for some reason omit. Well, okay, I'll start in order.

Preparing an external HDD

Before working with a disc, be sure to transfer and save the necessary information from this disc to another medium.

All settings will be carried out using standard Windows 8.1 tools. There may be some differences from previous releases of Windows, but if there are, they are not significant.

First of all, I want to note that making an external HDD bootable is much more convenient. I divided the disk into two partitions, one contains the Windows distribution, the other partition is for my needs.

1. Connect usb-pocket and go to Disk Management.

Attention! All data on the disk will be destroyed!

If you have Windows 8.1 installed on your PC, right-click: Start / Disk Management;

If Windows is older, open the Computer Management console: Start / Control Panel / Administrative Tools / Computer Management / expand Storage Devices / left click Disk Management.

See screenshot:

2. Choose an external HDD. Be extremely careful, if you choose another disk by mistake, all information will be destroyed.

In my case, this is Disk 1. As you can see in the screenshot, the disk is divided into two volumes (partitions):

3. Delete disk partitions:

4. Create new disk partitions. One for the distribution, the second will remain for your needs:

Right-click on the free space of the disk, select the command in the context menu Create a simple volume:

5. In the Create Wizard window that appears simple volume, press the button Further:

Specify the volume size of 4404 megabytes and click Next. Please note that the size is indicated in megabytes. And since 1 gigabyte is equal to 1024 megabytes, then 1024 × 4.3 = 4403.2 megabytes is obtained under the distribution section (the weight of mine is 4.18 GB for example);

In this dialog, you need to format new section(FAT 32), click Further then Ready:

6. After that, you need to make the created partition active. (don't forget, because the computer will boot from this partition), for this:

Right mouse click, select the command in the context menu Make section active.

To the request for confirmation, we answer YES.

External HDD looks like this:

7. In the same order, we format the second partition on the disk, preferably in NTFS, but do not make it active.

Copying Windows to the active partition of an external HDD

Copying a Windows distribution to a bootable external HDD is quite simple and easy.

From bootable DVD:

Open the installation DVD in Explorer, select all folders and files, and copy to the active partition of the external HDD;

From the ISO image:

By and large, an ISO image is a kind of archive. So you can open it with any archiver. You can also open the ISO image through Total Commander or Daemon Tools. Well, if you have Windows 8 or 8.1 installed on your PC, then open it with Explorer. Select all folders and files, and copy to the active partition of the external HDD;

That's it, your external HDD can act as bootable media. Just reboot and set USB HDD as boot priority in BIOS (depending on BIOS type).

• When you turn on your laptop, press F2, to ;
• Go to tab Boot;
• AT Boot priority order install USB HDD;
• Click F10, and then OK.

If not, then check out the article.

Save your changes and get started.

As you can see from the text, preparing an external HDD for installing Windows is quite simple. And my description will not be complete if I do not talk about one problem, which for some reason is rarely written about on the net.

Making a hard disk partition active

When I divided the hard drive into two volumes, for some unknown reason, none of the disk partitions could be made active. This function was not available in the context menu.

The partition from which the computer boots is called active.

There are two ways to make a partition active:

1. Using the Computer Management console. We have already considered this method, but, unfortunately, for a number of reasons, the Make Partition Active command is not available. The solution to this problem is also not difficult. Remember how to prepare a bootable flash drive from the Command Prompt.
2. Using the Command line, through the utility diskpart. The second way is a little more complicated, but more effective. You just need to do all the operations carefully and slowly.

Setting the active partition using the command line

1. Connect an external USB HDD;

2. Click Start/All Programs/Accessories/ Command line . Press the right mouse button and select Run as administrator.

3. In the window that opens, write the command diskpart and press the button Enter. A prompt for working with the utility will appear - DISKPART>;

4. Enter command list disk and press the button Enter. You will see all disks installed on your computer;

5. Select the disk with which we will work. To do this, enter the command select disk 0, where "0" is the disk number in the list, i.e. for my external drive there will be a command select disk 1. Click the button Enter, the message Disk 1 selected;

6. Next, you need to find all partitions on the selected disk. Enter command list partition and press the button Enter.

7. Select the section with which we will work. We enter the command select partition 1, where 1 is the section number in the list, i.e. for the section that we make active. Click Enter, a message will appear Section 1 selected.

8. We mark the selected partition as active, to do this, enter the command active. Click the button Enter, a message will appear DiskPart: partition marked as active.

That's all. Good luck.

More on the site:

How to make an external USB HDD (hard disk) bootable using standard Windows tools? updated: February 6, 2018 by: admin

Have you purchased a new, fast solid state drive (SSD) and your old one is lying around? Give it a new task and use it as an external storage device. To do this, you only need a case with a SATA controller; it is available for both 2.5" and 3.5" models. For the latter, a power supply is required, while compact drives have enough power supply through the USB port.

Labor intensity: average, costs: 600 rubles.

2 Mini NAS on router

Need to access the same data across your entire home network? You don't need expensive and bulky network-attached storage (NAS) for this - a USB drive can do this task if it is connected to your router. Newer devices are equipped with the corresponding port.

First you need to format the USB drive from under Windows OS in the NTFS file system and then just connect it to the router. In this case, the latter must have a USB port and must support the appropriate functionality. Now, typing 192.168.1.1 (or similar) in the browser's address bar will take you to the router's user interface.

Click the USB Settings | Sharing a storage device” (for TP-Link routers, for other devices, the name of the menu items may differ) and make sure that the disk starts up.

To access data on your home network, it will be enough in Windows Explorer to type an address like "\\192.168.1.1\Volume1". A permanent connection is achieved by right-clicking on the folder you plan to allow access to and selecting Map Network Drive.

Labor intensity: low, costs: no

3 Flash drive instead of a password

There is also a practical use for a small USB flash drive. For example, when you sign in to Windows, you can unlock your computer without entering a password. To do this, you need the Rohos Logon Key tool (1450 rubles), Predator (650 rubles) or free USBLogon (http://www.rohos.ru/products/rohos-logon-free/).

After installation, you need to select the connected USB drive and configure the security settings. After entering the Windows password, the flash drive is ready for use. Unfortunately, working with USBLogon is complicated by the German-language interface, but even without knowledge of German, it is easy to figure it out.

Labor intensity: average, costs: no

4 flash drive for emergencies

If the computer no longer works as it should, a bootable USB flash drive comes to the rescue. The Sardu tool (http://www.sarducd.it/) installs up to 20 different antivirus programs, and also provides various versions of Linux and other first aid software.

> Training: in the left sidebar, the selected software is listed by category. Check the required programs. We recommend choosing multiple antiviruses and a Linux version (e.g. Ubuntu).

> Flash drive creation: on the right sidebar, click on the symbol with the USB drive. You can start creating a bootable flash drive.

> Use in an emergency: to use a bootable flash drive in case of an "accident", you need to change the boot sequence from the drives in BIOS Setup.

In this case, you should set the boot priority from USB to HDD. Then select the desired program from the list. Don't forget to revert your BIOS changes after "repairing" your computer.

A photo: manufacturing companies, racum/Flickr.com

Windows users with a standard set of knowledge about features operating system you hardly have to deal with the need to split the memory of a USB stick into two halves. However, such an operation may be necessary if certain versions of Windows are written to a flash card with the possibility of subsequent installation or reinstallation of the system.

The USB flash drive as such has almost completely replaced compact discs due to the following reasons:

In general, splitting a flash drive into two parts will be needed for many purposes. The end result of such an operation is the recognition of the flash card by the computer as one of the hard drives. Fortunately, for this you do not need special knowledge: just learn about the following methods.

How to make a flash drive a hard drive?

On the this moment the following options for dividing a flash drive into two parts are known:

• use of special programs or so-called utilities. You should look for them on the website of the brand, which authorship belongs to a specific USB drive model. Downloading from third-party resources can be not only unsafe, but also pointless;
• driver replacement. In this case, the digital signature of the initially installed flash drive driver is verified. As a result, the user needs to save the driver without this signature;
• installing the Hitachi Microdrive driver. Drivers for cards from this manufacturer will help to divide drives of almost any other brand into two parts.

All these are quite simple and, moreover, free methods that are worth considering in more detail.

Using utilities

With the help of such a program, you can not only turn the drive into a hard drive, but also achieve the opposite effect. The most famous utility of this kind is Lexar Bootit.

With its help, it is possible to store the most common operating system - Windows, regardless of the version of the latter.

How to install the Lexar Bootit utility?

1. Download the archive with the program from the official website of the brand. It is worth paying attention to the fact that the mentioned site contains versions for both macbooks and personal computers.

   

2. Run the program. A prerequisite is to run it with administrator rights.

   

   

3. Next, the user will be presented with a choice of portable devices. Accordingly, it is worth stopping the choice on the flash drive that you plan to split.

   

4. Click on the "Flip Removable Bit" button.

   

5. Confirm the actions taken.

   

6. Remove the flash drive using safe removal, and then reconnect. In the “Volumes” tab (“Capacity”), opposite the “Type” characteristic (“Type”), “Basic” (“Main”) should be affixed.

   

In case of problems with the functioning of the utility, it is recommended to restart Windows. As a rule, in this case, the "transformation" of the card into a disk occurs within a few minutes.

Replacing drivers

This operation is considered more complicated, but in case of inaccuracies with the previous method, it can become a worthy replacement.

How to install a third-party driver instead of the standard version of the flash drive itself?

1. Find the required flash drive in the "My Computer" tab.

   

2. Right-click to open the menu and select the "Properties" line.

   

3. 

4. In the fourth tab "Drivers" ("Drivers") select the button "Resume Driver" ("Update Driver").

   

5. In the next window, select the location of the utility.

   

6. Next - select the previously downloaded driver and confirm with the "Next" button.
7. After that, a warning window will appear in front of the user. The system will notify you that the driver is not digitally signed. Among the two options offered, it is worth choosing "Install this driver software anyway".

   

This completes the installation process. Be sure to restart the computer itself and reconnect the flash card.

Installing the Hitachi Microdrive Driver

In this case, we are talking about the so-called filter driver. This method is considered one of the most reliable and, importantly, safe.

How to install the Hitachi Motodrive filter driver?

1. Determine the type of your operating system - 32-bit or 64-bit. To do this, open the Control Panel, and then the System tab. The bit depth of your computer will be indicated there.

   

   

   

2. Download the Hitachi Microdrive driver depending on the information received. Accordingly, the download should be carried out from the official website of the mentioned brand.

   

3. On the flash drive icon in "My Computer", go to the "Properties" menu with the right mouse button.

   

4. Open the "Hardware" tab, click on the "Properties" button.

   

5. In the very last tab "Details" click on the button and select "Device Instance Path" from the list. Next, copy the code to the clipboard.

   

   

6. Next, open the downloaded driver. You can use any type of text editor to open it.

   

   

   Important! For a 64-bit system, open the "cfadisk" file.

7. The user is presented with two lines, each of which contains the word "Disk". The data after this word should be replaced with the code you just copied.

   

8. After the manipulations, the file must be saved.

   

9. Go to the “Drivers” tab, select the “Update Driver” button, then follow the instructions described in the “Changing Drivers” section.

   

As in previous cases, the computer restarts.

Video - Turn micro SD into HDD hard drive Windows 10

External drives are great for storing photos, music, videos, and copies of important files. They can be used not only with computers, but also with various media devices to expand data storage, as well as with Wi-Fi routers as low-cost network management solutions.

Off-the-shelf hard drives often contain unknown drives and the enclosures are not meant to be reused. Building your own external hard drive can sometimes be the cheaper solution that best suits your needs. And if you have an old internal hard drive lying around somewhere, you can turn it into a great external hard drive for just $10.

Selecting an internal hard drive

Internal interface

Modern hard drives have SATA interfaces and are easy to identify as they are they have 7 contacts. If you are buying a new hard drive, it will definitely be a SATA hard drive. If you are using an old one, then it will probably be a 40-pin PATA (IDE) hard drive. Most cases support either one or the other, so it's important to know which internal hard drive you're using.

Size, height and volume
3.5" hard drives are used in desktop computers, while 2.5" hard drives are commonly used in laptops. 3.5-inch hard drives are larger than 2.5-inch hard drives, so if you want 2 TB of storage, you should only choose a desktop hard drive. However, 2.5" drives are much more suitable for portable use. While most 2.5" drives are 9.5mm tall, some are as high as 12.5mm. Before choosing a case, pay attention to the overall dimensions of your hard drive.

Speed rotation

7200 rpm and 5400 rpm are the most common rotational speeds for internal hard drives. Drives with a spindle speed of 7200 rpm are faster than those with a speed of 5400 rpm, but they tend to get very hot and consume significantly more electricity than drives with a spindle speed of 5400 rpm. If you're choosing a faster hard drive that gets very hot, then the case's ability to cool the drive is an important consideration.

Choice corps

Plastic against aluminum

Aluminum cases are much more durable than plastic cases and are also inherently better suited for hard drive cooling. If you are going to use your external hard drive 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, or if you are planning on getting a 7200 RPM drive, it is recommended that you choose an aluminum case. Plastic cases are usually cheaper than aluminum cases, but are not as good at cooling. Occasionally you can find a plastic case with a fan, but their disadvantage is quite noisy operation, especially if the hard drive in such a case is located on the table. On the other hand, if you're using a 5,400 RPM laptop hard drive for portable use, then a plastic case is fine.

External interfaces
The choice of external interface depends to a large extent on how you want to use your drive and how much you plan to spend. A huge number of cases support only USB 2.0. Most media devices and routers only support USB hard drives. USB 2.0 is the most suitable choice, it is compatible with the widest range of devices, but has the lowest performance of any interface currently in existence.

USB 3.0 is currently the fastest chassis interface available and is also backwards compatible with USB 2.0. The disadvantage of USB 3.0 is the fact that it is not as widespread as USB 2.0.

FireWire is more common in Mac computers than in others personal computers. FireWire 800 (EEE-1394b) is faster than USB 2.0 but slower than USB 3.0. For best work with Macs, FireWire 800 will be your best bet until someone comes out with an affordable Thunderbolt chassis.

eSATA performance is faster than FireWire and USB 2.0, but it is the only interface that does not provide power to the hard drive through a cable and requires a separate network adapter. eSATA hard drives also suffer from well-known connectivity issues. If for some reason you do not use only this interface, then it is recommended not to resort to it as the only interface.

Assembling an external hard drive

Building an external hard drive is a fairly simple process. Usually you need to insert the internal hard drive into the case and secure it by screwing in the screws.

Like this. After the assembly is completed, insert the hard drive into the computer and format it.

Unfortunately, there are often problems with a computer system that are not easy to solve. Someone needs to reinstall the OS sooner or later or restore the state of the PC. It is not always possible to access the hard drive to roll back the system or install a new one. Therefore, specialists use a flash drive.

Using it is much more convenient than carrying around a heavy hard drive. But for this you will have to learn how to do it. Many people find it difficult to do. But if you follow the instructions, everything will be much easier. To make it work, you need to get a flash drive or memory card.

Training

Before you make a flash drive a hard drive, you need to prepare everything for this process. First, it is necessary to deal with multipartition. As practice shows, it will have to be abandoned, since flash media cannot cope with other sections, but only work with the first block.

Next, you need to check if Windows works with a flash drive. After that, you will have to configure the definition of the drive as a fixed device. A flash drive is almost always displayed as a removable drive, and the system should "think" that a hard drive is installed.

Before you make a flash drive a hard drive, you need to understand that by doing something wrong, you can ruin the device. If the setting is incorrect, the drive will not be able to change its connection setting. Experts suggest using a special driver.

First stage

Can a flash drive be converted into a hard drive? You can, and it will be easy to do, it is only important to follow the instructions. After connecting the flash drive, you will need to determine its type. This can be done in two ways: using two commands or a special menu.

To do this, you need to open the drive management manager. Using the Win + R combination, you can launch the Run menu. You will have to enter the diskmgmt.msc command in the search bar. Information about the drive will appear.

You can also use In the new window you will need to enter the following command - list volume. To identify a flash drive in the list, just look at the size of the drive. You can also see the media type in the properties. Just go to the Volumes tab.

Second phase

How to make a flash drive a hard drive? After determining the type of drive, you will either need to change the connection or continue working with it. If, nevertheless, the flash drive is defined as a removable device, you need to install a filter driver. You can use the Hitachi Microdrive utility to do this. Thanks to it, you can not "physically" change the properties of the flash drive, but "deceive" the system, passing off the drive as a hard drive. Next, you can turn the flash drive into a hard drive. The system will allow you to divide the archive into several blocks that will have to work simultaneously. It will be enough to install the necessary software.

Third stage

Next, you will need to find the carrier number. Go to "My Computer", find the connected USB flash drive and click RMB. After selecting "Properties", go to "Details" and in "Properties" select "Path to device instance". The device number will appear below. In this line, you need to copy the characters after the second slash. The numbers will be needed for the Hitachi Microdrive program. Next, you will need to find out the bit depth of the system in order to figure out how to configure the drive.

To do this, just go to "My Computer", right-click on the free area and select "Properties". A new dialog box will display information about the system and its bit depth. After that, you can configure the program.

Configuring the Hitachi Microdrive Utility

If the computer works with a 64-bit bit depth, you will have to go to the folder with the program. In it, find the cfadisk document, find the chapter cfadisk_device and cfadisk_device.NTamd64. After the slash, you will need to paste the copied equipment number. If the computer is running on 32 bits, the cfadisk_device chapter must be used. Find the line DISK&VEN_&PROD_USB_DISK_2.0&REV_P and insert the media number instead.

Fourth stage

The last step is to replace the drivers. If a 64-bit OS is installed, one more parameter will need to be configured. For correct operation and installation of drivers, you will have to disable digital signature verification, otherwise the system will suspect fraud. In addition, it can update itself, which, of course, is undesirable for the process.

Now you can start the installation. Open the Drivers tab and select Download Drivers. Here you need to specify the path to the folder with the utility driver. The system will detect that the digital signature is disabled, and then ask you to restart the PC. After the reboot, the flash drive will work as a non-removable drive.

Working with a hard drive

It is also possible to try to figure out how to make a bootable USB flash drive from a hard drive. It is enough to configure the hard drive to work with the OS. Through the "Control Panel" you need to go to "Administrative Tools" and "Computer Management". In the left column we find "Disk Management". In the table on the right, all information about the partitions of the hard drive will appear. Now you need to format the hard drive and delete all partitions. After that, you will have to partition the disk into sections and create a new volume. It will be enough to assign it active and write the operating system there.

Alternative

Thinking about how to make a flash drive an external hard drive also leads the user to the Lexar Bootlt utility. It is not often talked about, although it is very simple and effective for this task.

The utility is free and helps to convert a flash drive into a fixed device. By the way, thanks to the same program, you can return the drive to a removable type. The software is designed for Lexar devices, but can easily handle other flash drives. Also works with Windows since XP version.

But still there are some nuances associated with this program. The utility works with proprietary devices, but sometimes fails with other drives. May fail with USB 3.0 connection. And it is important to remember that after flashing any device, the warranty is lost.

After installing Lexar Bootlt, you need to run the program as an administrator, select the USB flash drive in the list, and then click on the Flip Removable Bit command. Next, you need to save the change and restart the PC.

Working with a laptop

Can a laptop hard drive be converted into a flash drive? As practice shows, laptops are not eternal, so many users simply abandon the device or simply sell it. But you can benefit from it by turning the hard drive into a drive. Usually it is enough to purchase a special box where to place the hard drive.

This option is suitable for hard drives that were installed in older models. For example, you can use a hard disk from 4 to 100 GB. Larger devices may not work over the rather slow USB interface. A similar box costs about 10-20 dollars. Included with it is the necessary cable to connect the drive to a PC. To install the hard drive, there are screws that will securely fix the hard drive in the case.

Working with a hard drive and a flash drive is not easy. You must be careful not to damage the drive. You should also follow the instructions for installing drivers and carefully use the commands.

Experts advise you to immediately figure out how to remove program drivers. In our case we are talking about Hitachi Microdrive. To do this, open the properties of the hard drive and select update drivers. This process will automatically get rid of third-party installations and load the native driver.

Changing the parameters of the flash drive will lead to the fact that the user will be deprived of the warranty, so it is better not to experiment with a newly purchased device. In addition, if you make a mistake in the settings, you can lose the drive.