Flash Drive Formatting

Hello. I have a flash drive i would like to partition so i have two virtual drives. One Vfat and the other ext3. But, i dont have a working linux right now. How can i do this with windows?

You can use windows disk managment to format into fat16, fat32 and ntfs. Ext3. is a Linux way so you'll need a linux system to do that. If you don't have a working linux just install a dual boot on your windows pc. Take the most light and easy version you can find to make the hasstle less. I heard somewhere you can also run linux from usb but I don't have any experience in that. You could also try the format and someone else's place that does have a linux pc.

Good luck!

reply to post by ambushrocks


Thx for the help. Would you know if Damn Small Linux is bootable from a fat32 formatted drive?

Yes I do.
This requires only 8 mb, but better 12 mb. Linux should boot from fat32 without a problem tiny.seul.org...

Ah I'm sorry. I read would you know of a damn small linux. Sorry my mistake. I don't know that. But I can find the answer. Are you talking from a flash drive?

Maybe you should check this site out by the way www.pendrivelinux.com...

Create 2 partitions, format one partition fat and the other linux...

How to format in linux

In case you didn't already know...

USB Flash Drive DSL

I tried to find a program that would simply format the drive, but it appears you have to install linux to do this... I also read you might be able to do this off the installation CD/DVD which would save you from having to install linux... Not sure if it would work that way with DSL...

Not an expert by any means, just wanted to help out... good luck!

Thanx for the help guys.

reply to post by ambushrocks


One last question. When i download the iso, do i have to extract the file contents before putting it on the flash drive, or do i just put the iso on the disk?

1. Format your USB flashdrive as fat32 or fat16
2. Create a folder on your desktop named gOS
3. Download the gOS ISO using a torrent client and place the ISO in your gOS folder
4. Download gOSConvert.exe and run, extracting the contents to your gOS folder
5. From your gOS folder, click fixgOS.bat to launch the converter
6. Once the converter has finished, copy the contents "from within" the newly created gOS(copytoPen) folder I.E. / gOS/gOS(copytoPen)/ to your USB flash drive
7. From your flash drive click makeboot.bat file and follow the onscreen instructions
8. Reboot your PC and select your USB device from the Boot Menu or system BIOS and proceed to boot gOS from your USB device

If all goes well, you should now be running gOS portably from a USB flash drive!

this is one of the tuts on linux pendrive. Most of the tuts are very much the same thing. Very important is to make to have a makeboot.bat on there. If you don't have it you can't boot from it. From the info stated on here you should be able to download an extra piece of software that automates the whole process a bit.

Try to find an install tutorial for the distrubution of linux you are using ( I don't know which one you chose to use)

Good luck! If you have any more questions, just let me know

well, still on the topic of linux, Can i boot a dsl live cd on an apple ibook g3?

I got a live cd to work on an HP mini pc and i saw an option for a macintosh keyboard.

As far as I know, as long as its the right computer architecture, live CDs will always work. I'm not sure of that though as I only have experience of using them with windows computers.

Sorry for the hijack .(First post) My sister came with a Vista PC that wont boot.
HDrive dying I think. Trying to create a bootable USB flash, but NONE will show up in 'My Computer'

Perfect a few days ago, but now I cant access anything.
Now my HD is playing up. What gives? Low level EMP?

What u think? Flash drive shows in Windows 7 manager , but cant format it or access the data.

And her PC. crashes randomly. Rarely get it to boot using the F8 repair startup.

I wouldn't post on a forum like this normally (long time lurker) , but this whole thing gets more crazy by the minute

Answers on a post card please (English phrase) , wot u guys think