Can a USB flash drive be used as a hard drive. How to make an external USB HDD (hard disk) bootable using standard Windows tools? How to make a hard drive from a USB flash drive
Unfortunately since computer system there are often problems 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 disk drive to roll back the system or install a new one. Therefore, experts use a flash drive.
Using it is much more convenient than carrying a heavy hard drive with you. But for this you have to learn how to do it. Many people think that it is difficult to do it. But if you apply the instructions, everything will be much easier. For everything to work out, you need to get a flash drive or memory card.
Training
Before making a USB flash drive a hard drive, you need to prepare everything for this process. First, it's worth understanding multipartitioning. As practice shows, it will have to be abandoned, since flash media cannot cope with other partitions, but only work with the first block.
Next, you need to check if Windows works with the USB flash drive. Then you will have to configure the definition of the drive as a non-removable 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 USB flash drive a hard drive, you need to understand that if you do something wrong, you can ruin the device. If the configuration is incorrect, the drive will not be able to change its connection setting. Experts suggest using a special driver.
First step
Can a USB flash drive be made a hard drive? You can, and it will be easy to do, it is only important to adhere to 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, open the Drive Control 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 appears.
You can also use In a new window you will need to enter following command - list volume. To identify a USB flash drive in the list, just look at the volume 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 USB flash drive a hard drive? After determining the type of drive, you will need to either change the connection or continue to work with it. If, nevertheless, the flash drive is defined as a removable device, you need to install the filter driver. To do this, you can use the Hitachi Microdrive utility. Thanks to it, you can not "physically" change the properties of the flash drive, but "deceive" the system by presenting the drive as a hard drive. Then you can make a USB flash drive a hard drive. The system will allow you to divide the archive into several blocks, which will have to work simultaneously. It will be enough to install the necessary software.
Stage three
Next, you will need to find the media number. Go to "My Computer", find the connected USB flash drive and click RMB. 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 are needed for the Hitachi Microdrive program. Next, you will need to find out the bitness 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 show information about the system and its bit depth. Then you can customize the program.
Configuring Hitachi Microdrive Utility
If your computer is 64-bit, you will have to go to the program folder. 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 runs on 32 bits, the chapter cfadisk_device must be used. Find the line DISK & VEN_ & PROD_USB_DISK_2.0 & REV_P and insert the media number instead.
Stage four
Last step - driver replacement. If you have a 64-bit OS, you will need to configure one more parameter. For correct operation and installation of drivers, you will have to disable digital signature verification, otherwise the system will suspect deception. In addition, it can update itself, which, of course, is undesirable for the process.
The installation can now begin. Open the "Drivers" tab and select "Download Drivers". Here you need to specify the path to the folder with the utility driver. The system detects that the digital signature is disabled, and then asks to restart the PC. After rebooting, 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 bootable USB 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". All information on the hard drive partitions will appear in the table on the right. Now you need to format the hard drive and delete all partitions. After that, you will have to partition the disk into partitions and create new volume... It will be enough to make it active and write the operating system there.
Alternative
Thinking about how to make a USB 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 USB 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 easily copes with other flash drives. Also works with Windows starting from XP version.
But still, there are some nuances associated with this program. The utility works with branded devices, but sometimes fails with other drives. The USB 3.0 connection may crash. 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 administrator, select a USB flash drive from 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 made a USB flash drive? As practice shows, laptops are not eternal, so many users simply abandon the device or just 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 the railway is placed.
This option is suitable for hard drives that were installed in older models. For example, you can use a 4GB to 100GB hard drive. Larger devices may not work over the rather slow USB interface. A box like this costs about $ 10-20. The kit comes with the necessary cable to connect the disk to a PC. There are screws to install the hard drive that will securely fix the hard disk drive in the case.
Working with a hard drive and a flash drive is not easy. Be careful not to damage the drive. You should also follow the instructions for installing drivers and carefully use the commands.
Experts advise 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 void 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 your drive.
Initially I thought of writing an instruction, but in fact it turned out that I got a review about using the device. I did not correct it, because I think this option will also be useful to our dear readers.
How to make a homemade external HDD from a hard drive
Some time ago I got a 500GB laptop hard drive. But due to the lack of his own laptop, there was nowhere to install it, and just throwing such a volume "until better times" - the toad crushed him. And since the hard drive from the laptop is a box a little more than 5 centimeters wide and ~ 6-7 mm thick, a strong-willed decision was made by spending minimal amount money and time to turn this disk into a kind of flash drive with a volume of 500GB, by putting it into a special device called “ External HDD pocket«.
To solve this problem, a pocket for a 2.5 ″ HDD was ordered in the online store SunBright (ME-945Q-TI) from a little-known Taiwanese firm Welland at a price of just 15 evergreen dollars.
Here are its characteristics:
- Supported HDD types: 2.5 ″ SATA I / II HDD
- PC connection: USB 2.0 at speeds up to 480 Mbps
- System requirements: Windows 2000 / XP / Vista / 7 or MAC OS 9.0 or higher
- One Touch Backup: For Windows in USB mode
- Power supply: via USB cable
- The size: 129 x 77 x 12 mm (L x W x H)
- Manufacturing material: Aluminum
For a little thing with a price of "three kopecks" - more is not necessary.
Introduction.
Most laptop owners sooner or later face the problem of lack of space. As a rule, laptops with screen sizes up to 15 "do not have a free second slot for a 2.5" device. Therefore, the owners are forced to think about either replacing the laptop itself, or replacing its hard drive. After replacing the hard drive, there is always an old drive that can be easily turned into an external one. USB stick to carry data.
Naturally, you can purchase a mobile 2.5-inch hard drive and turn it into external storage... Fortunately, the cost of external storage allows it. For example, at the time of this writing, they ask for $ 40 for a 250 GB mobile hard drive, and for a 500 GB device from WD they ask for only $ 45.
We decide on the type of hard drive.
For the sake of fairness, it should be noted that an ordinary desktop 3.5-inch hard drive can also be turned into an external drive - you simply cannot call it mobile. If you have an unused 2.5 or 3.5 inch hard drive available, then first of all you need to decide on the type of its interface.
The following interface types exist on the market today: IDE (ATA) and various SATA options. As a rule, all SATA interfaces are backward compatible with each other, and we will not dwell on their variations. The situation is quite different between IDE and SATA interfaces, which are absolutely incompatible with each other and have different connectors.
A new window should open. In it, enter the command "List of drives" and wait for the display of the list of drives connected to the computer. Now enter the command "Select Disk" and then the disk number. With the drive selected, enter the "Cleanup" command. So keep going if you are sure of what you are doing.
Run the Create Primary Section command to create a new Primary Section. After receiving information about the success of the operation, enter "Asset" to activate the newly created section. Enter the "Exit" command to close the "Command Prompt".
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The figure shows you two hard drives with different interfaces. Winchesters have a mobile format of 2.5 inches. On the left is a hard drive with a SATA interface, on the right is a hard drive with an IDE interface.
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Other download sites
Very nice and very user-friendly free software. Caveat, partition software can sometimes cause problems. This allows you to create, format, rename and delete partitions on your computer without shutting down the system. The configuration changes will take effect immediately. Finally, you can get an idea of \u200b\u200bthe properties of a partition, logical drive, or hard drive.
Figure 1-2 Click on the image to enlarge it in a new window. If prompted, click Yes. ... Figure 1-3. Click on the image to enlarge it in a new window. Click Close if you do not need more than one copy of this hot spare. Figure 1-4 Click on the image to enlarge it in a new window.
In our hands was a 250 GB hard drive from Western digital Scorpio Blue series with SATA interface. This drive was used for a long time in the Acer laptop, but its capacity was not enough, and it was replaced by a more spacious 500 GB solution.
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Despite the long-term use, the work of the hard drive did not cause any complaints, so it was decided to use it as an external mobile drive. To do this, we had to find an external case for him, which we did. External AGESTAR case for a 2.5-inch mobile hard drive.
In hardware stores, there are many different external cases for 2.5-inch hard drives. Their key difference is as follows:
- body material,
- type of external port (interface),
- cost.
As a rule, various cases with a USB 2.0 interface are presented in stores, cases with an eSATA interface are presented in a much smaller number, and even fewer cases with their combination of USB 2.0 & eSATA. Several cases with a modern USB 3.0 interface were found on sale, but their cost exceeded the cost of the hard drive itself, so we did not consider them.
Analyzing and cleaning your system
Starting with removable media
Most computers are set up to search for bootable media like your rescue disk and ask if you want to boot from that bootable media... For more information, contact your system manufacturer.Figure 2-1 Click on the image to enlarge it in a new window. Figure 2-2 Click on the image to enlarge it in a new window. Click Update → Update Virus Signature Database. ... Figure 2-3 Click on the image to enlarge it in a new window.
The key difference between USB 2.0 and eSATA is data transfer speed. The use of the USB 2.0 interface allows for maximum compatibility, since these ports are available on all computers. A significant disadvantage of the USB 2.0 interface is the low data transfer rate, which will not allow you to unleash the full speed potential of your hard drive.
Click On Demand → Custom Scan. ... Figure 2-4 Click on the image to enlarge it in a new window. Select Deep Scan from the Scan Profile drop-down menu, in the Scan Targets field, select Next next to Computer and click Scan. If infected files are found that cannot be cleaned, you will be prompted to act on those files. Figure 2-5 Click on the image to enlarge it in a new window.
Figure 3-1 Click on the image to enlarge it in a new window. Figure 3-2 Click on the image to enlarge it in a new window. Instead, it's a copy of the code that composes the files themselves. For example, you won't be able to save changes to your system or install updates or new applications.
The eSATA port is more promising, but it is not widely used and is found only in expensive versions of motherboards, cases and laptops. The eSATA interface allows you to fully unleash the potential of SATA devices.
The material of manufacture can also be very different. In a simple case, it is plastic. In more expensive versions, an aluminum case with a leather case is included.
The cost of external cases also varies. The cheapest option will cost the user $ 3, the expensive versions will cost more than $ 100.
It is highly recommended that you select the lowest speed available when writing to the disc to minimize the chance of errors during the writing process. Which choice is entirely a personal choice. Click the Select Disk Image to Burn button to open the file manager.
If not, click the button to manually select it. Click the properties button to open the properties window, and then click the button under the write speed item. Again, it is highly recommended that you select the lowest speed available. Once selected, click the Close button.
Buying a $ 100 hard drive case that costs less than $ 40 when it's new and half the price once it's started is wasteful to say the least. Therefore, for testing, we were provided with a case worth a symbolic $ 3 - AgeStar SUB2P1. Completion and external examination of AgeStar SUB2P1.
Click the "Record" button to start the recording process. Follow the instructions on the screen if necessary. It is recommended to read the reviews to make your choice of software. Please note that this is a device, not a partition number. To find disks, enter the following command into the terminal.
Through alternative applications
Click the center icon. Click the "Record" button. Restart the system after the recording process is complete. Radiation exposure to radiation radiation. Absorbable dose metric prefixes Data transmission Typography and digital devices image processing Measurement of wood volume Molar mass calculator Periodic table.
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We didn’t expect any miracles from the $ 3 device, both in terms of equipment and in terms of performance. The device comes modestly packaged in a bag. The front wall of the device is covered with a cardboard box listing the key characteristics of the device. This is support for 2.5-inch mobile hard drives or solid-state drives with SATA interface, the presence of a transmission interface uSB data 2.0 and different options colors.
To be fair, it should be noted that our suppliers have confirmed that they have not seen anything other than the black color of this case.
More about information and data storage
The data can consist of any falsified basic operation instruction for user data such as text and video, for example. They can be in different formats, although usually in the case of binary computers. Some data is temporary, used for the duration of a set of operations. They are removed when these operations are completed. They use temporary storage devices such as random access memory. Other data needs to be archived for longer, on permanent storage devices such as hard drives or solid state drives.
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After opening the package, we were pleasantly surprised by the fact that the set contains an operating manual completely in Russian.
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The case is completely made of plastic. On the front wall there are paper stickers indicating the model, which in any case will be erased, so we recommend that you remove them immediately from the surface of the device.
Data is information stored in the form of characters that can be read by a device or people. Most of the data is read by computers where it is stored in files. Some of the files may be computer-executed and contain computer programs. They tend to differ from the data, but not always.
To prevent data loss, some storage methods include data redundancy, duplicate parts, or all data in multiple storage locations, so if you are lost or damaged in one location, you can still access elsewhere. A data redundancy solution uses a redundant disk array of independent disks that maintains duplicate data or spreads data across disks or disks that function as a "logical drive."
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The case material is soft black plastic, which does not smell, it is homogeneous throughout its structure.
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The covers of the device open in two different directions, which provides easy removal and installation of the hard drive in an external case.
This access speed also depends on the type of storage you are using. These speeds are constantly improving due to technological developments in this area. These are more affordable storage devices for memory. Main memory is also part of main storage, main memory includes RAM, it is much slower than logs but has large capacity and is actively used while the computer is running. data to which current programs are constantly available.
Secondary storage includes network storage devices, which means that all devices reside inside the computer as a hard drive. It is used to store data that often does not need to be accessed. Secondary storage is more persistent than primary storage.
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The two sides of the outer case are fixed with a plastic latch made of the case material. Thanks to the recesses on the walls of the lids, they are securely fixed and pouring a glass of liquid, or leaving the device in the rain, will hardly lead to any problems.
This type of storage, unlike others, requires an operator to manually insert and remove storage media. Removable stand-alone storage devices are often used for backup purposes or for transferring information between individuals.
Tertiary storage or offline bulk storage usually refers to significantly slower storage that can rely on the various media stored in the library. The data can be accessed on demand from a computer: the robotic arm retrieves and assembles the data required, and then return to its original position.
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The device is designed for SATA hard drives, which we have repeatedly emphasized. Controllers with SATA ports for power and data transfer are soldered inside.
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A mini USB port is soldered on the side wall for data transfer and powering the hard drive. There is no additional port to provide power to the drive, which may cause some problems for users. With a weak power supply that lowers the voltage along the 5 volt line, you often have to face problems with starting the hard drive. As a rule, connecting the drive directly to the port on the motherboard, and not on the case of the system unit, using a high-quality USB cable allows you to forget about this problem.
Device type and media type
Optical media includes all data carriers that can be read with light, such as a laser. The reader can be a single stand allowing you to use only one disc at a time or more than one, like in an optical jukebox. The latter is an example of a tertiary media library with a robotic operator. Optical media are either rewritten or can only be written once but read more than once.
Semiconductor support is probably the most widely used type. It takes the same amount of time to access any part of memory, and it also needs to be accessed randomly, regardless of the order in which the data is written. Nearly all storage and flash storage solutions use semiconductors. Solid-state devices based on semiconductor technology are becoming "alternatives to hard drives." They are still significantly more expensive to burn than hard disks, but can be accessed faster, do not break easily if exposed, and they do not make noise.
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Sellers of computer components often talk about the presence in the kit as an advantage of this or that external case USB cable for data transfer or offer to purchase it separately if it is not available. We advise our users not to pay attention to this, as a mini-USB-USB cable is usually available in almost every family and is often supplied with mobile phones. In our case, we have successfully used a stale data cable from a Nokia mobile phone.
Computer storage includes hard drives and floppy disks, which are now almost completely obsolete, and video and audio can also be stored on magnetic tape. Finally, plastic cards can store limited information on a magnetic stripe, which includes credit and debit cards, access cards, and key cards such as a hotel and identification cards such as a car license, gym membership card, or university card. Microchips are now being added to magnetic stripe cards.
Historically, paper media was widely used in the early days of the computer era. They have been used to create information such as readable operating instructions on computers and other machines and devices, such as frames. In particular, perforated tapes and perforated papers were used. Perforated tape was also used for storage text messagessuch as telegrams and newspaper articles, and was also used in cash registers. From the late 50s to the 80s, magnetic and other forms of storage were replaced.
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The next step is to install the hard drive in the case. This is done quite simply by lightly pressing. The most important thing is to correctly rotate the hard drive according to the power and SATA ports located in the case.
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Paper media are still used today, but have very limited capacity, for example, for evaluating tests or counting votes. Have you had any difficulties translating the unit of measurement into another language? No problem with internet and home networks. Execute the following actionsto find the connection problem.
Check configuration and wiring
In the following sections.
Troubleshoot by device type
- Make sure all cables are connected correctly.
- Make sure the cables are not damaged.
- To do this, check another cable of the same type.
The absence of any protruding elements on the hard drive controller circuit allows you not to worry about its back surface during transportation and use of the device.
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Some users may argue that the plastic case does not provide adequate heat dissipation from the hard drive. Naturally, external cases made of aluminum are much more efficient in this task. At the same time, one should not forget that mobile hard drives do not have such a high power consumption to suffer from overheating, and in laptops, as a rule, they are not additionally cooled by anything.
If a file has been modified, it may not play even if its file extension is compatible. In addition, files can be copyrighted. Operating instructions for photo editing application. Some images may not be displayed if some of the files are missing or damaged.
Below are some of the most common problems. Click them to find a solution to a specific problem.
- In the "Sound" option, set the speakers to "Audio system".
- In the "Sound" option, set "Audio Output" to "Fixed".
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After the end of the assembly of the device, the stage of testing and using it begins. Applying voltage to the device is accompanied by a glowing blue LED, which also symbolizes the user about the data transfer process. It should be noted that not everyone will start working with the created external storage smoothly. If the hard drive has already been used, it has been formatted and partitions have been created on it, you will not have any problems getting started. It is defined as a regular USB flash drive using the Plug & Play method. But those users who have purchased a new hard drive without formatting and with no partitions will have a problem that will be associated with the absence of a drive letter in the "My Computer" tab.
To do this, you need to create partitions on the hard drive and format it. This can be done through various boot disks, but it is better not to bother and do it in the operating room itself windows system.
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To do this, you need to go to the "Control Panel" through the "Start" section, then visit the "Administrative Tools" section. In this section, select "Computer Management", where in the "Disk Management" tab you can mark and format the newly connected external drive. After creating partitions, formatting them, you will have access to them through the "My Computer" tab and you will be able to exchange them with the drive, as with a regular hard drive. Test configuration.
The assembled external drive was tested both on a desktop computer based on a modern Core i7 processor and an equally modern motherboard, as well as on laptop Acer Aspire 7730 based on Core 2 Duo processor. It should be noted that the level of performance on two different systems turned out to be comparable.
1. Data reading speed was tested in HD Tach 3.0.4.0 software
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It's nice to note that the external drive we assembled shows a much higher level of performance than the WD My Passport Essential external hard drive we tested earlier. Maximum speed data transmission was 34.3 Mb / s, and the average latency was about 17.9 ms.
2. Speed \u200b\u200bof data reading in HD Tune 4.5.
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In the second synthetic test, we got similar data to the previous ones, which also turned out to be slightly better than the official external WD My Passport Essential hard drive.
3. Speed \u200b\u200bof recording 64 MB files in HD Tune 4.5.
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Somewhat more valuable is testing closer to practice, by writing 64 MB files. In this test, we got quite expected results, which were also limited only by the capabilities of the USB 2.0 interface.
Separately, I would like to note that during the entire test the temperature of the hard drive did not exceed 35 degrees Celsius, while a similar hard drive installed in the laptop had a temperature of about 43 degrees. Therefore, worrying about the working conditions of the hard drive in this case on the part of users will be unnecessary.
4. Boot speed of the Windows 7 operating system.
During practical testing on the speed of loading an image of the Windows 7 operating system, we obtained results similar to those for other external drives with a USB 2.0 interface.
5. Evaluation of drive performance in Windows 7.
We tested the performance of the external drive we assembled using the Windows 7. To do this, in the command line, you need to call the command: "winsat disk -drive g -ran -write -count 10", where "g" is the letter of the tested disk in the system.
The test results show that the drive we assembled received a much higher rating than the factory WD My Passport Essential solution. 
Conclusion.
Based on the materials of this article, it can be seen that any mobile hard drive can be turned into a good external drive without unnecessary hassle. Especially for testing, we asked for the cheapest external case, worth $ 3. Three dollars allows you to get an excellent external drive from a mobile hard drive, at least for data storage. Not to mention the fact that the same external case facilitates data recovery from the hard drive of "dead" laptops.
Despite the fact that many people criticize AgeStar products for their low quality, after many years of using it, I have only positive impression about him. First of all, it is for a democratic cost. Defects are found in all manufacturers, even though AgeStar has this figure slightly higher than Thermaltake. But the latter has no analogue to the presented external case for three dollars and with a 6 month warranty. We present AgeStar products with a gold medal of honor for optimal ratio performance / price.
Many users may have noticed that any programmer who comes to fix problems with the system has with him. This trick is very useful, because in case of any problem with the system or hard drive, the user can always restore access to the computer and understand what the problem with the computer is. In this case, not everyone wants to have a system in the computer, it is much easier to carry a small system disk with additional files with them. Therefore, anyone should know how to make a hard drive from a USB flash drive.
But how do you turn a USB flash drive into a hard drive? It would seem that such a process should be difficult and resource-intensive, but in reality everything is carried out quite simply, while the volume and "age" of the flash drive does not matter. The main condition for a flash drive is that it works properly. Also, not only a USB flash drive, but also an SD card is suitable for this role, the process of changing properties is identical.
It is worth knowing that multipartitioning should not be applied to such external media, since many operating systems support only the first partition on non-HDD disks. HDDs are non-removable media that are installed in a computer. You can remove them, but it takes a lot of time and effort, so people use cards and external drives to facilitate the entire process of transferring information or the operating system right with them.
First, you need to make sure that Windows detects the USB stick as a non-removable device. In this case, any flash-card has an inverse parameter as standard, then you need to start changing. Some do not think at all about the safety of their equipment, so they simply modify the USB flash drive. But this method is dangerous in that many flash drives simply cannot change to the selected parameter, because of which they will break and have to be carried in service center... It is much easier and safer to replace the response from the device with the desired result. For this, a special driver is installed. A flash drive instead of a hard drive on Windows 7 will work the same as with any other operating system.
Before making a USB flash drive a hard drive, the device must be connected to the computer, and then determine the type of flash drive.
First option
Open Media Control Manager. You can find it using the "Run" button, "diskmgmt.msc" is entered here and "Enter" is pressed. Now you can see what type of drive has, removable or non-removable.
Second option
You can also see the type of device by opening the Volumes tab in the properties of the flash drive.
Third option
You can also enter the diskpart command.
So, now the user knows whether the flash drive is a removable or non-removable device in this case.
Second step
If the device is defined as "non-removable" then it can already be used as a hard drive. Otherwise, before using the flash drive instead of hard disk, its type must be changed to "non-removable". For this, a special filter driver is used, which can easily change the incoming information, changing it to the necessary one. One of the most common and simplest filters is the Hitachi Microdrive driver. Thus, the user does not intrude into the microclimate of the flash drive, while simply deceiving his system by giving it a false answer.
After the medium becomes non-removable, the computer will consider it a full-fledged hard disk that can be partitioned, each of them will function simultaneously. The main thing at this point is to download a program that is suitable for your operating system in terms of bit depth.
Stage three
Once the user has been able to trick the computer, the device code can be identified. You can find the code in the "Details" tab, "Device Instance Path".
As a result, it is necessary to copy the information, some manipulations will be made with it in the Hitachi Microdrive program. When copying, you must remove all information after the second "\\".
On a 64 bit system
Now you need to find the cfadisk file in the Hitachi Microdrive folder, where we find the cfadisk_device and cfadisk_device.NTamd64 sections.
In the sections instead of the information after the "\\" we insert the code of our device.
On a 32 bit system
The process is similar, only in the file for the 32-bit version you need to find the "cfadisk_device" section.
Here you need to replace "DISK & VEN_ & PROD_USB_DISK_2.0 & REV_P" with the device code.
If you want to set your own name for the device, then you need to replace "Microdrive_devdesc" with the desired name, let's say "USB_hard".
Fourth stage
The last step is driver replacement. On 64-bit operating systems, before this action, you must disable the driver digital signature verification so that it does not update itself due to third-party interference.
You need to open the "Drivers" \u003d\u003e "Update Drivers" tab. Next, the folder with the Hitachi Microdrive driver is indicated. This driver is selected, it remains to skip the message about the lack of a digital signature, then restart the computer and see the result of the work. The drive has become non-removable.
Removing the driver is done by pressing the Update drivers button.
Here's how easy it is to make a hard drive from a USB stick. This procedure can be carried out by any person, if you follow the instructions, while the computer cannot be damaged at all, like the drive system. If you use a high-quality volumetric external drive with good performance, then there is no question of whether you can use a USB flash drive instead of a hard drive. In this case, it will cope with the task no worse than hard drives.
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Not all updates are the same ...In this article, we will show you how to make sure that USB flash drive or SD the card was detected in Windows like a normal local hard drive... You are probably asking, why is this necessary? The fact is that Windows by default defines USB flash drives and memory cards as removable drives, which are windows tools cannot be split into multiple sections. And even if you split the flash drive into two or more partitions using third-party utilities (in the same Linux), then only the first of them will be available in the Windows operating system (by the way, a built-in one appeared in Windows 10 1703). Those. Windows supports normal work with multipartitions only for HDD disks that are defined in the system as local (i.e. non-removable).
RMB bits and USB sticks
Windows operating systems recognize USB sticks as removable / removable devices due to the presence of a special bit descriptor on each device RMB (removable media bit) ... If, when polling a connected device through the StorageDeviceProperty function, the system determines that RMB \u003d 1, it concludes that the connected device is a removable storage device. Thus, in order from the system's point of view to convert a USB-flex to a hard disk, it is enough to modify this descriptor. This can be done directly (which is rather risky due to differences in hardware implementations specific devices, and not always possible), or indirectly, replacing the answer USB devices using a special driver that allows you to filter information in the device response.
Advice... Some manufacturers produce special utilities for flashing the controller of your flash drives. First of all, try to find such a utility and / or firmware on the manufacturer's website. This is the most correct way. If such a utility is not found, follow the recommendations from this article.
Connect to any free port computer USB flash drive, then open the Disk Management Manager ( diskmgmt.msc) and make sure that its type is defined in the system as Removable(Removable device) .
Also, the device type can be viewed on the Volumes tab in the disk properties (as we can see here Type: Removable). 
Or using the diskpart command:
List volume
In this article, we will consider two ways to change the RMB bit on a USB flash drive - using the Hitachi filter driver (changes are made only at the driver level of a specific computer) and changing the bit in the controller firmware using the BootIt utility from Lexar (more universal way, but there are a number of restrictions and are not applicable to all models of flash drives and SD cards). Although both of these methods are quite old and I initially tested them on Windows 7, they continue to be relevant and work equally well on modern Windows 10.
Lexar BootIt Utility
Recently I came across a rather interesting utility - Lexar BootIt... It is a free portable program that can change the RMB of a removable storage device to a fixed USB device (or vice versa). Despite the fact that the Lexar BootIt utility is designed for Lexar devices (Micron, Crucial), it can work with flash drives from other manufacturers. BootIt utility supports all versions of Windows from Windows XP to Windows 10.
Important... The utility is guaranteed to work for Lexar drives. According to reviews, the “Flip removable bit” function does not work on fast USB 3.0 flash drives. In addition, when you reflash the controller, you void the warranty for the USB flash drive and can make it inoperable.
You can download BootIt on the Lexar website (lexar_usb_tool) or from our website ().
- Run BootIt.exe as administrator
- Select your USB flash drive in the list of devices
- Click the button Flip Removable Bit
- Save your changes by clicking OK.
Reconnect the device and use Device Manager to verify that it has changed from Removable to Basic.
If the BootIt utility did not help to change the RMB bit on the removable drive, try the following method based on the Hitachi Microdrive filter driver
Filter driver for flash drives Hitachi Microdrive
In order for a USB flash drive or SD card to be recognized in the system as a hard drive, we need a special filter driver that allows us to modify the data passed through the system stack of the current device driver. We will use Hitachi's USB flash drive filter driver ( hitachi Microdrive driver), which at the OS driver level allows you to change the type of flash drive from removable to fixed (USB-ZIP -\u003e USB-HDD). By using this driver, you can hide from the system that the connected device is removable. As a result, the system will consider that it is working with a regular hard disk, which can be divided into partitions that will be simultaneously available in the system.
Hitachi Microdrive Driver Archives:
- 32 bit systems - (3.0 Kb)
- hitachi Microdrive version for 64 bit systems - (3.8 Kb)
It is necessary to download the driver version for your system in accordance with its bitness. Both archives have the same structure and consist of two files:
- cfadisk.inf- installation file with driver settings
- cfadisk.sys - Hitachi driver file
The next step is to identify the device code of our flash drive. To do this, in the disk properties on the tab Detailsin parameter Device Instance Path select and copy ( Ctrl + C) device instance code. 
In our example, this will be:
USBSTOR \\ Disk & Ven_Linux & Prod_File-CD_Gadget & Rev_0000 \\ 0123456789ABCDEF & 0
Suppose we are planning to install a driver on 64 bit system... Using any test editor, open the file for editing cfadisk.inf... We are interested in the sections cfadisk_device and cfadisk_device.NTamd64.
% Microdrive_devdesc% \u003d cfadisk_install, IDE \\ DiskTS64GCF400 ______________________________ 20101008% Microdrive_devdesc% \u003d cfadisk_install, IDE \\ DiskTS64GCF400 ______________________________ 20101008
We change the value of DiskTS64GCF400______________________________20101008 to the code of our device.
Important! In the code of the device instance, you must discard the part after the second "\\" (in our example, discard 0123456789ABCDEF & 0).
We get:
% Microdrive_devdesc% \u003d cfadisk_install, IDE \\ USBSTOR \\ Disk & Ven_Linux & Prod_File-CD_Gadget & Rev_0000% Microdrive_devdesc% \u003d cfadisk_install, IDE \\ USBSTOR \\ Disk & Ven_Linux & Prod_File-CD_Gadget & Rev_0000
We save the file.
If the driver is installed on a 32 bit system, you need to download the advisory archive, unpack it and open the cfadisk.inf file for editing. Find the section :
% Microdrive_devdesc% \u003d cfadisk_install, USBSTOR \\ Disk & Ven_LEXAR & Prod_JD_LIGHTNING_II & Rev_1100% Microdrive_devdesc% \u003d cfadisk_install, USBSTOR \\ Disk & Ven_JetFlash & Prod_TS1GJF110 & Rev_0dev% Microd_TS1GJF110 & Rev_0dev% Microd_TS1GJF110 & Rev.
Then we will change the data in the last line, specifying the code of the instance of our flash drive, i.e. in our example, we get:
% Microdrive_devdesc% \u003d cfadisk_install, USBSTOR \\ Disk & Ven_LEXAR & Prod_JD_LIGHTNING_II & Rev_1100% Microdrive_devdesc% \u003d cfadisk_install, USBSTOR \\ Disk & Ven_JetFlash & Prod_TS1GJF110 & Rev_0dev% Microd_TS1GJF110 & Rev_0dev% Microdinstall
Advice... If you want the USB flash drive to be displayed with a specific name in the device manager, you need to edit the value of the Microdrive_devdesc variable, for example:
Microdrive_devdesc \u003d "Transcend 64GB DIY SSD"
Installing Hitachi Microdrive Driver Instead of the Native USB Drive Driver
It remains to replace the driver used by the USB flash drive.
Important! If the Hitachi Microdrive USB driver is installed on a 64-bit system, then there is no digital signature for this driver, you have to either.
Open the Drivers tab and click the button Update Drivers. 
Let's specify the folder to the directory into which the downloaded archive with the Hitachi driver is unpacked: 
Let's choose new driver. 
We ignore the warning about the missing digital signature of the driver. 
Advice... In Windows 10 and Windows 8, when installing the driver, the following error appears:
Windows detected drivers for this device, but an error occurred while trying to install these drivers.
Hitachi Microdrive
Third party inf does not contain signature information
To disable driver digital signature verification, run the commands:
bcdedit.exe / set nointegritychecks ON
bcdedit.exe / set TESTSIGNING ON
Restart your computer and try to install the driver again.
It remains to restart the computer and, opening the disk manager, make sure that your flash drive has begun to be recognized as a regular hard drive ( Type: Basic), and the driver is Hitachi.
Opening the explorer, you can also make sure that the icon of the flash drive has changed, it began to appear as a hard drive, a regular disk. 
Now you can work with this flash drive as with a regular HDD: create partitions, specify an active partition, create dynamic disks, install software that does not work from flash drives, etc.
Important... On other Windows computers without this driver, the second device partition will not be available.
To uninstall the Hitachi Microdrive driver, open the disk properties and click the Update Driver button on the driver tab - the system will install the native driver by itself.
Advice... If after installing the Hitachi driver the system stops loading with BSOD, you need to boot the computer from the installation windows disk / Live CD and manually delete the following files:
- cfadisk.sys in the% windir% \\ System32 \\ drivers directory
- Directory "cfadisk.inf_amd64_ ..." from% windir% \\ System32 \\ DriverStore \\ FileRepositoty
Reboot your computer
You need to understand that this solution will only work on the system on which the corresponding driver is installed.
You can press right click mouse on "Start" and select "Device Manager".
In "Disk devices" you need to select the connected USB flash drive and double-click on it with the left mouse button to launch "Properties".
Open the downloaded file from the archive using notepad. Right-click on it and choose "Open with ...".
Choose Notepad.
Go to the section:. Delete the first four lines from it to% attach_drv% \u003d f2d_install, USBSTORGenDisk.
Then paste the copied value from the "Device Manager" to the place of the remote. Before each line that will be inserted, add% attach_drv% \u003d f2d_install.
Save modified text Document... Next, switch to the "Device Manager" and right-click on the flash drive, and then select "Update drivers ...".
The best practice is to search for drivers on this computer.
Click on "Browse" and indicate the location of the file that has been edited.
Confirm your actions and click "Continue installation". When the installation is finished, open Explorer, where the flash drive will be displayed as "Local Disk".
For Windows x86 (32-bit)
Download and unpack the Hitachi_Microdrive.rar archive. Do everything in the same way as described above. Then select the tab "Details", and in the line "Property" insert "Path to the device instance". In the line "Value" copy the line that is displayed.
From the downloaded archive, open the cfadisk.inf file using Notepad. How to do this is also described above. Find the section and come to the line% Microdrive_devdesc% \u003d cfadisk_install, USBSTORDISK & VEN_ & PROD_USB_DISK_2.0 & REV_P.
