Faster Install Method

Windows 7 can be installed from a USB drive or a USB thumb drive if your computer supports booting from USB devices. To do this:

1. Access computer BIOS and change first boot device to USB.
2. Boot to existing Windows installation.
3. Pop in the Windows 7 DVD.
4. Close any widows that AutoPlay executes.
5. Open a command prompt.
6. Use xcopy to copy all the files from the DVD to an empty USB thumb drive.
7. Boot the comp with thumb drive connected.
8. Install Windows 7.

This is much much faster than installing from a DVD.

XCOPY COMMAND: (where d: = dvd and e: = thumb drive)

Code:

xcopy d:\*.* /s/e/f e:\

 

Yes. Copying the DVD to a USB stick has 2 main advantages:
1. creates a backup of the DVD.
2. USB is faster than DVD.

The most noticable part is when the installer (which is loaded in RAM) copies files to the hard drive, USB is much much faster than DVD.