How to install windows 10 from a microsd card. How to install Windows XP from USB-Flash or SD card (program and instructions)

Let me make a reservation right away: this is not about how to do bootable USB flash drive, this operation is described in many sources.

Those who want to boot their PC from a USB drive will first of all encounter the problem of performance and, most likely, after the first experiments they will abandon this matter (even the most ancient HDD will be significantly faster than any USB drive). But there are other problems: for example, some platforms generally refuse to boot from such media. The same fate can befall those who try to use the built-in card reader (as a rule, they are all connected via USB interface To motherboard).

But you shouldn’t write off flash drives; there are many cases in which the use of such a medium is justified not only from the point of view of simplicity and comfort, but also economically: the cost of a 4 GB flash card is significantly lower than the cheapest HDD. And there are enough advantages: it takes up little space (compact), there are no mechanical parts, a range of operating temperatures (again, in comparison with hard drive) wider. From a mini-server or storage to a regular desktop workstation, from a video surveillance system to a controller technological processes- there is a use for such a system everywhere. And from the point of view of reliability or maintainability, it’s a fairy tale: I made two or three copies, one malfunctioned - I pulled it out, inserted another - and again in service.

In addition, do not forget about low power consumption, lack of noise and compact dimensions - lovers of thin clients and compact media centers will understand me.

So let’s leave skepticism aside and try to solve the problem, bypassing all the bottlenecks.

Which memory card to choose?

Since the main goal of our system is to achieve maximum performance, let's start with choosing a card.

Of all the variety of models, perhaps the most interesting is CompactFlash. Of course, it would be nice to immediately become the owner of SanDisk Extreme Pro, which (thanks to the Power Core controller and UDMA-7 interface) provides recording speeds of up to 100 MB/s, but let’s be realistic: not all cases require such speeds. The question immediately arises: what speeds are enough? At a minimum, let us remember that classic SATA drives provided throughput 150 MB/s, their predecessors PATA (Ultra ATA IDE) - 133 MB/s, and read speed optical disk(40x) was generally 6 MB/s, and these figures are purely theoretical; in practice, the real speed was lower.

It is clear that even from a relatively slow IDE drive the operating system will load quite quickly, but even from a very fast CD it will load slowly. Let's see what flash cards offer.

As in the case of hard drives, performance is determined by the UDMA mode - the data exchange speed depends on its version. Fortunately, most manufacturers do not bother customers with the need to remember what speed is provided by UDMA 5 and what by UDMA 6, but simply mark their products with a multiplicity indicator: 133x, 150x, 600x, etc.

Most often, in relatively inexpensive models you can find speeds of 133x or 150x, which in practice means 20 MB/s and 22.5 MB/s, respectively. This is the minimum below which there is no point in going below: loading the OS will take too long. It is much wiser to pay attention to cards with a value of 400x - their data transfer speed will be 60 MB / s, and the price is not much higher than that of slower ones.

In any case, even if you have to choose based on the specified UDMA version (without it there is no point in taking it at all), it is better to take a drive with the highest speed factor and a capacity of at least 16 GB.

And yet: why the CompactFlash format? But because these cards are distinguished by the highest speed and reasonable price. Their only drawback is their dimensions, but in our case this does not matter: the dimensions of a CF card are 42 mm by 36 mm, the thickness is 3.3 mm, and a standard hard drive (even 2.5 "") is 65 mm wide, about 100 long and 9.5 mm thick.

When restrictions are imposed by the interface

Let's assume we've decided on a card: we've chosen the Transcend CompactFlash 16Gb 600x model, costing up to 2,500 rubles. But what's the point if you have to work with it through a standard card reader, which, due to the USB 2.0 interface, will cut the speed to a completely unusable level?

The solution is to use the interface for connecting hard drives.

At the same time, this will help get rid of the problem with loading the OS from external media: the computer will see our flash drive as a standard hard drive.

Of course, you won’t be able to plug a flash card directly into a SATA or IDE connector; you’ll have to purchase a special adapter. Which one to choose depends only on personal preference, but be sure to check for support for UltraDMA (UDMA) mode, preferably UDMA 5. As with the CF card, this will provide maximum speed work.

For example, Addonics Internal UDD II (Ultra DigiDrive), connected to a SATA port, provides throughput up to 150 MB/s. However, the manufacturer has many similar solutions - such as, for example, the DigiDrive installed in the Internal SATA/USB slot. If you wish, you can find something similar for the IDE interface, but remember: this will become more difficult every day - many manufacturers have stopped producing such adapters.

If you still managed to find an adapter with UDMA support, then all that remains is to combine the card, adapter and motherboard and start installing the OS.

How to install OS on a memory card?

If you made the right choice, then the only thing that can upset you is the incompatibility of your particular motherboard with a specific adapter and/or flash card. Unfortunately, it is impossible to give recommendations on their exact selection and provide a link to the compatibility table - in most cases everything works. Sometimes, however, there are problems, but here, depending on your luck, you will have to experiment. Some enthusiastic craftsmen, for example, undertake to modify adapters themselves. If you are ready for this, no problem, the Internet is full of articles on this topic. If not, change the flash card (for example, with a similar one from another vendor). If it doesn't help, change the adapter. Alternatively, do the same thing, but with a different motherboard.

If everything worked and the BIOS and the system saw your card as a hard drive, follow the standard installation procedure operating system. There are no special comments here, the only thing that needs to be done is to disable the swap file after installation. If it is absolutely necessary, place it on an additional hard drive.

As a result, upon successful completion of the process, we will see that the OS loads no longer than 20-30 seconds, and heavy applications (such as OpenOffice.org) launch almost instantly (2-4 seconds). And all this - in complete silence.

If you are satisfied with the result, you will have to work a little with the system: move user folders to the hard drive, send directories with application software there, and thoroughly clean the system (after all, CompactFlash is small in size). How to do this is a topic for a separate article.

When you want it even faster

The sky's the limit, and in pursuit of perfection, many enthusiasts will likely want to consider larger capacity CF cards. There is a solution especially for such experimenters: the same company Addonics produces Quad-CF PCI adapter. This device is not an adapter between SATA and CF - in fact, it is a stand-alone RAID controller installed in a PCI slot and allowing simultaneous connection of up to four flash cards (for which it is equipped with special connectors).

Of course, the Quad-CF PCI adapter cannot be called a full-fledged RAID controller - its capabilities are only sufficient to create arrays of levels 0, 1 or 10, and the developers are positioning the solution as a “low-cost SSD substitute.” In fact, on its basis you can create either a high-speed array (RAID 1) for running application software (Photoshop, for example), or use it to boot the system (almost everything is supported, starting with Win98), but with reliability support, for example, RAID 10. In the latter case, the speed gain is guaranteed (compared to a single flash card).

Finally, it remains to add that such a solution is a good option for those cases when many read operations and few write operations are required: after all, the reliability of flash cards is relatively low and decreases with multiple rewrite cycles, and the speed of operation when saving data leaves much to be desired the best. So for full-fledged work it is better to use it in conjunction with a hard drive.

The next update to Windows 10 adds the ability to install applications on an SD card, USB or other type of external drive. This will be extremely useful for example for computers or laptops with small capacity hard drive. Just plug in your SD card and you can install apps on it.

This was made possible in the original version of Windows 8, but this feature was removed in Windows 8.1. Now, it's back in Windows 10.

First, you need to purchase an SD card that matches your device. Depending on the size of your applications, you may need a larger capacity SD card or a smaller Micro SD card. (Micro SD cards are often sold with adapters that allow them to function as large cards SD.)

When buying an SD memory card, remember that it's not the price, but the speed class, more detailed information can be read in the article. You wouldn't want to use a slow class SD card for an application, as they will simply slow down the application unnecessarily.

Installing new applications on an SD card (or other drive)

After you have inserted the SD card, USB drive, or other storage device, open Applications from the Start menu.

Switch to System> Storage. If you have an SD card inserted, you should see it in the list of drives at the top of the screen.

Scroll down and click or tap " New applications will be saved here" option to save locations. Select your SD card or other storage device and click " Apply".

Other options on this screen allow you to select the drive where new documents, music, photos, and videos will be saved.

Now go to the Windows Store and install the app as you normally would. Windows will install this application on the memory card you selected, saving space on your internal drive.

Moving installed applications to a new drive

By selecting this option, apps that you install in the future will be stored on your SD card. However, applications that you have already installed will not be moved to the SD card. To do this, I recommend simply uninstalling and reinstalling the application, which will be installed on the SD card of your choice, while saving space on the main disk.

Please note: When removing the SD card, USB disk or other external storage with applications on it and the applications will not work. You can click on the program shortcut to launch the application, but nothing will happen. Connect the drive to your computer and everything will work normally again.

Sudden failure Windows startup on a business trip it won’t be a problem if you take a flash drive with the OS with you. Unlike the installation DVD, it takes up very little space in your bag or laptop case.

Which flash drive is best for recording a Windows image?

Installation Windows flash drive will help bring the system back into working order in an hour if it suddenly crashes. The storage requirements are as follows:

• memory capacity of at least 4 GB (the image itself takes up 3 GB, but flash drives of “multiple” sizes are not available, this is not a hard drive);
• The flash drive must support USB speed 2.0 (using USB 1.2 will take up to several hours to record a copy of Windows).

Preparing a flash drive for recording a Windows image

Do the following:

Fast formatting takes up to 15 seconds. After completing the procedure, you can begin recording the Windows image. You can also format the flash drive third party program or by means of Command line».

Setting up booting from a flash drive in the UEFI interface

Before giving advice on setting up UEFI to boot your computer from a flash drive, it’s worth briefly talking about this program. The user of the latest PC will in any case encounter it the first time they try to reinstall Windows.

How is UEFI different from BIOS?

UEFI is similar to a new generation BIOS, but with mouse support. Unlike BIOS, where control is carried out only from the keyboard, in UEFI you can also control the mouse, as in the Magic Partition application, which worked with hard disk partitions. UEFI has a more modern graphical shell, vaguely reminiscent of Android first versions. So, Asus company promotes its modification of the Asus EFI program, which looks more impressive than the BIOS.

The purpose of UEFI is low-level interaction between operating systems and the hardware itself, as in the BIOS. Without the settings of this program, “built into” the PC motherboard or laptop/tablet, your computer device won't start.

Many Windows/Android tablets are equipped with UEFI firmware, which makes it possible to either replace Android with Windows and vice versa, or use both operating systems alternately on the same gadget.

How to set UEFI to boot a PC from a flash drive

This is achieved in two ways: simple drag and drop using the media index in UEFI and using advanced settings.

Shuffling drives in UEFI

Do the following:

When exiting, the UEFI program will ask you to confirm that you have saved your settings if anything has changed.

Via the UEFI advanced settings submenu

Do the following:

Video: two ways to boot a PC using a flash drive

Burning a Windows 10 installation flash drive using standard Windows tools

The developers met the wishes of users halfway and built a wizard for recording installation flash drives into Windows 10 - Media Creation Tool. Before this, you could only use third-party applications, for example, UltraISO or WinSetupFromUSB, as well as Command Line. However, all programs created to solve this problem continue to develop.

Using the Windows Media Creation Tool

Using the Media Creation Tool, burning a Windows 10 image to a USB flash drive is greatly simplified. Do the following:

1. Download from the site Microsoft application MCT.
   Download the Media Creation Tool app
2. Launch the Media Creation Tool application and select to burn the installation copy of Windows 10 to a USB flash drive.
   Select Create Installation Media
3. Select the installation language, version of Windows 10 and bit depth of your PC.
   Select your PC architecture, installer language, and Windows 10 version
4. Select the media type (flash drive only or advanced selection with the ability to burn the image to DVD). When choosing the second option, you will still have the opportunity to specify a flash drive or memory card when recording.
   DVD creation is offered to those who have a drive and blank DVD-R discs
5. Determine the USB flash drive for recording the Windows 10 image, if there are several of them.
   All data will be deleted from the drive you select
6. The Installation Media Builder will proceed to download the Windows 10 image from the Microsoft website. Wait until the ISO image downloads. To download quickly, you need as high-speed Internet access as possible, otherwise the download will take up to several days, because the image itself weighs at least 3 GB.
   Do not disconnect the Internet while downloading the Windows image to the USB flash drive
7. After downloading the Windows 10 ISO file, click Next to start burning the image.

Video: Burning Windows 10 to a USB flash drive using the Media Creation Tool

Burning an installation flash drive using the Windows Command Line

This method is loved by professionals who operate by entering commands. But the third-party applications discussed above do the same thing - clearly and automatically.

Preparing a flash drive using the Windows Command Line

Do the following:

Burning Windows 10 to a USB flash drive via Command Line

To write a copy of Windows to a USB flash drive, you need the Boot Sector Registration Tool (bootsect.exe program). Do the following:

Video: recording Windows 10 to a USB flash drive via DiskPart

Burning a Windows 10 USB flash drive using third-party applications

In the Media Creation Tool “combine” there was no need to rack your brains over UEFI: everything superfluous was removed, even a small child could write Windows 10 onto a flash drive, and such a flash drive would be detected by any gadget or PC “wired” for UEFI. IN third party applications- Rufus, UltraISO (try to use latest versions) - UEFI support included optionally.

Burn Windows 10 to a USB flash drive using Rufus

Rufus will bring the BIOS/UEFI setup to the front. There is no need to look for it in additional settings. Do the following:

You can now enter UEFI by restarting your tablet or computer and begin installing Windows.

Video: recording Windows 10 to a USB flash drive in Rufus

Creating a multiboot USB flash drive for Windows 7/8/10 using the UltraISO application

For "multi-system" Windows flash drives we need corresponding images that occupy more than tens of gigabytes. You are unlikely to be able to burn such a flash drive if it does not reach at least 16 GB.

As an example, recording using the UltraISO application and Windows assembly 7/8/10 from a certain Startsoft. Do the following:

Once the recording is complete, you can use the USB flash drive to (re)install Windows. The installer will prompt you to select any version of Windows, including 10.

Of course, you can also create flash drives from one Windows version. And not only in UltraISO program. Everything is decided by the image file (single or multi-build of Windows, “packed” into an ISO file).

Video: recording Windows 7/8/10 to a USB flash drive using UltraISO

Burn Windows 10 to a USB flash drive using WinSetupFromUSB

The WinSetupFromUSB program is distributed through the winsetupfromusb website. Do the following:

1. Download, extract and run the application. It does not require installation.
2. Select a USB flash drive to copy Windows. In the formatting settings you can specify as file system FAT32 and NTFS. Do not confuse the required flash drive with others if they are connected
3. Select ISO file, where your copy of Windows is stored.
   Choose a look Windows systems, not the contents of the disk in the image
4. Click the button to start writing a Windows image to a USB flash drive. Pressing "GO" will start recording
5. The WinSetupFromUSB program, like any modern application, warns about clearing existing data from the media. Confirm your request. Cleaning the flash drive is done for reliability
6. The second request to delete data and partitions must also be confirmed.
   Confirm the request to delete data and partitions
7. Start creating a copy of the Windows image. At the end of the process, the program will notify you that the copy of Windows has been successfully written to the media. Click "OK"

Before recording a copy Windows application WinSetupFromUSB will delete partitions (if there were any) on the flash drive and recreate a single partition that occupies all the memory on it, then clear all data by quick formatting. This mandatory procedure is done for reliability - Windows image takes up at least 3 GB, and to copy it you need free place. If the flash drive is partitioned and full, it may cause the recording to fail and you will waste your time. For this purpose, preliminary clearing of the media memory is necessary.

After recording a copy of Windows, the unallocated space can be used by creating a separate folder and downloading drivers and application programs, which you used (if there is enough space), without disturbing the structure of the Windows distribution on the flash drive. It is not recommended to store valuable files on it. single copy- be sure to store backup copies of them on other media.

Video: writing Windows 7/8/10 to a USB flash drive using WinSetupFromUSB

Creating Bootable SD Cards with Windows

Theoretically, creating bootable memory cards - (mini/micro)SD, MMC (MemoryStick) and many others - is possible. Required:

• the presence of a USB card reader that supports all of the above types of memory cards;
• the memory card, regardless of its type, must have a capacity of at least 4 GB;
• All devices support at least USB 2.0 standards.

But it's not that simple. If a laptop or tablet has a slot for an SD card or a built-in mini-card reader connected directly to the main/motherboard of the device or PC, it is not always possible to assign booting from the BIOS. And although there is a “Bootable Add-In Cards” item in the bootable devices menu, for example, in Award BIOS, these are by no means flash drives or even a built-in card reader.

Using an adapter with an SD memory card as a flash drive

The most affordable option is a USB-microSD adapter: a microSD memory card will work like a flash drive. There are different adapters - from the simplest, miniature ones, designed for one SD card, to universal ones, with several slots for cards and other adapters of different formats.

In this case, the above methods for writing a regular Windows flash drive also work with SD memory cards - you only need support for USB 2.0 speed (up to 35 MB/sec) from both the USB port, the adapter and the SD card itself. Use any of them.

Errors when writing a Windows installation flash drive

Below are the most critical errors with tips on how to eliminate them.

The flash drive is not readable and is not detected by the application.

The most common error is that the Media Creation Tool (or other) program does not see the flash drive. Causes:

• The flash drive is damaged - a manufacturer defect or any mechanical failure;
• The flash drive has exhausted its resource - it was often formatted, the storage chip is worn out;
• frequent “hot” shutdowns when writing/erasing data, which “killed” the flash drive;
• The flash drive operated at extreme temperatures, often overheated, moisture condensed on it, which led to premature destruction of the materials from which the electronic media itself is made, its printed circuit board and contacts;
• USB port is faulty - there is not enough power, the controller has failed USB bus, contacts are worn out, the USB port socket is loose;
• faulty additional device(USB-Hub or USB card reader when using an SD card instead of a flash drive), or its external power is not turned on if it is powered from a separate adapter;
• you recently serviced the computer yourself and did not reconnect the USB port controller to the motherboard of your PC or laptop if the port has a detachable cable;
• failure of the microUSB port of the tablet, if you are using a tablet;
• unreliable connection - the USB connector and/or plug is dirty;
• viruses received over the network or from other infected drives that damaged data and the boot sector (boot record, media partition table);
• from active and long-term use, “broken” or weakened sectors have formed on the flash drive - “remapping” or software repair of the flash drive is required;
• an outdated version of the program with which you tried to record Windows files to a flash drive.

The last point requires clarification. For example, the first versions of WinSetupFromUSB do not support Windows 10 - they were created when Windows 8.1 and 10 did not yet exist.

Error during the process of writing the installation flash drive

It happens that writing a Windows distribution to a flash drive is interrupted or is slow and bad. Causes:

• the outdated version of the program did not warn that the flash drive was too “small” to write a copy of Windows onto it;
• sudden power loss or data loss due to an unreliable connection of the flash drive to the USB port;
• error in file ISO image- the ISO archive is damaged or has an invalid format, taken from an unverified source, infected with a virus, or the developer/builder made a mistake;
• The flash drive and/or port support outdated USB 1.2 speeds, and recording is greatly slowed down, taking up to several hours;
• unexpected wear of the flash drive - appears at the pre-formatting stage or during the process of writing “broken” sectors.

The last point involves checking the flash drive using Victoria programs or HDD Scan/Regenerator followed by software repair (remap/restore weakened and “broken” sectors). However, such a flash drive should be thrown away - it is not suitable for such important tasks as reinstalling operating systems, preloading the OS (LiveUSB technology, often used to recover data from a single partition C when the OS crashed on it) and running other utilities without and/or bypassing the OS available on the PC or gadget disk.

Installing a Windows installation flash drive is a hassle, but it's worth it. Use the tips from the article to create it, and then if problems arise with loading the system, you can easily deal with them.

Buying Android smartphone or a tablet, many of us are primarily interested in whether this or that model has a memory card slot on which we could not only store our photos, videos, music and other files, but also on which we could install applications and games that sometimes take up gigabytes of precious free space in the built-in memory.

With the advent of the ability to install programs on a memory card or other external storage device, owners of tablets, smartphones and other devices running the operating system Microsoft systems. Today I want to tell you how this can be done.

To force Windows 10 to install applications on a Micro SD card or external USB disk you need to do the following:

1. Go to the system settings menu by clicking on the notification icon on the taskbar (on a tablet) or the “Start” button, then click on the “All settings” tile or the “Options” menu item (on a PC, laptop, etc.):

2. In the settings window for your device that opens, select “System”:

3. In the menu that appears, select “Storage”:

4. A window will open in which you can view the occupied and free space on all drives available and connected to the computer, as well as select the drive on which your new programs will be installed by default and where files will be saved. various types(documents, music, images, videos)

In the menu located under “New applications will be saved here:”, select the drive where you wanted to install applications.

As you already understood, in the same way we can set the default storage location for documents, photos and videos by selecting external drive or memory card in the corresponding menu items.

Now it's time to answer the question that many have already asked: “What happens if I disconnect the drive or remove the memory card?”

The answer to this is very simple: nothing bad will happen. If you try to open an application from a non-existent drive, it simply will not launch, and after you reconnect the USB drive or memory card to your Windows 10 device, access to the application will be restored.

In this article I will tell you how to properly prepare and burn a system image onto a flash drive for subsequent installation of the system on a computer. Nowadays, many people have netbooks, where there is simply no optical drive, or sometimes it’s simply not possible to install the system from a disk. This article is primarily aimed at them.

So, first, let's find out what we need:

1. A little free time

2. Computer

3. Program for preparing a flash drive WinSetupFromUSB.zip (downloads: 31225)

4. Actually the flash drive itself (even an SD card will do)

5. An image of the operating system that we want to install.

As an example, I will show how we will write an operating system image to a 4GB SD card Microsoft Windows 7 Home Premium 64-bit. I would like to immediately draw your attention to the choice of operating system. If your computer has less than 4GB of RAM, then you should install a 32-bit (x86) version of the operating system, since a 64-bit version will simply clutter RAM unnecessary processes.

Insert the flash drive into USB port and format it to FAT32 or NTFS using Windows. To do this, you need to go to My Computer, find the flash drive there and right-click on its icon. IN context menu You should select “Format...”. In the formatting window, select the file system FAT32 or NTFS (the latter will be better if the flash drive has a capacity of more than 4GB), as well as the cluster size, select “Standard cluster size” and click the “Start” button. Everything is shown in the picture:

Next, we download a small program in which we will do all the operations we need. There are several programs of this type, but I chose WinSetupFromUSB because it requires no installation, takes up almost no disk space, and is easy to use.

Let's launch the program. First, we need to select the device on which we will burn the image. This is done in the drop-down menu at the top (if the flash drive is not displayed in this menu, click on the Refresh button). Next, we need to prepare the flash drive for recording the image, because if we simply copy the image, it will be impossible to enter the system installer, because there is no boot sector. To create it, click on the Bootice button.

In the Bootice utility window that opens, click the Process MBR button, then see if the Grub4Dos checkbox is checked (if not, check it) and click the Install/Config button. In the Config Grub for DOS window, click on the “Save to disk” button, the program will display a window that the boot record has been successfully written to the drive.

We return again to the Bootice utility window, where we click the “Process PBR” button and do everything the same, without changing anything in the last window, click OK.

That's it, now all we have to do is write the image to a flash drive, this is done in the main program window, which we saw immediately upon launch. You need to check the required box - if you are going to install Windows XP, then this is the first checkbox, but if Vista or Seven - the second. Next, click on the “…” button on the other side of the checkbox and set the path where our unpacked image is stored on the hard drive, or simply mounted in a virtual drive using DaemonTools or Alcohol. Click on the “GO” button and wait until the process finishes.