best ways to use flash drive [as an emergency boot disk] ?

Using flash drive as an emergency boot disk as suggested by some online articles is a waste. I am thinking of making an image of my windows system which serves 2 purposes:

1. backup if my windows failed and can't be saved.

2. to compare and see if there is any unusual files.

I must confess that although I like the idea of making an image of windows system but haven't worked out yet.

 

I know this is a *windows* board, but I'd like to offer up that several linux operating systems are designed to do just what you're asking for, Greeneye.

Distros like Puppy Linux, **** Small Linux and Knoppix are built to be run on either a CD or flash drive to boot up and diagnose/troubleshoot a fallen OS (in fact, I think this was the original mission statement, so to speak, for Knoppix). You run the operating system off the CD or the thumb drive and then insert backup media that will let you retrieve your data.

The friendliest live distro is Ubuntu, which you might find easiest to work with, operates on principles you're familiar with. Find your hard drive, find your backup drive and then drag-and-drop your files to save them. Then, you can reinstall Windows, if you find the errors unrecoverable.

There are linux tools out there for resolving these kinds of issues, but they're out of even my league. So all I can honestly recommend is "get a live distro, back up your data, reinstall windows when you're ready. "

 

Is there any other use along the same line?

 

flash drive :ERD

If flash drive can only function as an ERD floppy, then its use is overkill.

Actually, I had used GPARTED to make an image of windows then burned it to a CD. But, when my windows had problem, I didn't know how to use the image to restore it. Perhaps, if I can use flash drive to boot windows then I may find a way to restore my windows using its image. But I haven't work that out yet.

NOTE: although its technic has advanced very fast, flash drive is still slower and more expensive than hard disk. So any suggestions on its use has to take that into account.

 

That makes me wonder, if your issue is speed. An external hard drive versus a flash drive... They both use USB technology. The data's not going to get to either drive faster, since the USB technology only supports up to certain data rates, right? If I'm right about the science... The issue of speed is a wash, because it doesn't matter how fast the machine is, if the rate at which it can move data is capped in transit.

Or am I missing your point?

 

I was not thinking about an external HD.