How I got my flash drive to work


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My hardware will only boot from a fllash drive as a USB-ZIP drive; I got my first clue when the flash drive would only show "boot error" when I selected USB-ZIP as the boot device in BIOS.  See here for further information -  http://syslinux.zytor.com/usbkey.php

 

I found the following site that gives excellent instructions on how to set up the geometry of my flash to mimic a ZIP drive (thanks to Joe L for the tip).  First you will need to create a live Knoppix disc (I used Knoppix because it has the MKDISKIMAGE utility as part of it's release).  If this is something you are not familiar or comfortable with, proceed at your own risk.

 

When  you get Knoppix up and running, then go to this site for setup instructions (preferably on a different computer to make it easier to reference).  You will need internet access on the Knoppix computer as well.

 

http://www.knoppix.net/wiki/Bootable_USB_Key

 

Follow all the instructions carefully - except you should skip these steps; they are for loading Knoppix onto the flash.

 

cp -av /cdrom/boot/isolinux/* .

mv isolinux.cfg syslinux.cfg

rm -f isolinux.bin

  and

cp -av /cdrom/* .

rm -rf ./boot

 

While still in Knoppix, open the Iceweasel browser, navigate to the Lime Technology site and download the latest version of UNRAID to the desktop.  Extract it with ARK to the flash drive.

 

Now take the flash and attach it to your Windows computer.  Find the drive in explorer; right click, select properties and rename it to UNRAID.  DO NOT FORMAT -  just change the name.

 

Attach the flash drive back on the UNRAID computer,  reset the bios to boot from USB-ZIP and see what happens.

 

Good luck - I would be glad to answer any questions, but I am a total newbie to this stuff and really don't know much.

 

industrialarts

 

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  • 3 years later...

I found these instructions very helpful when I was struggling to get my flash drive to work.  I followed them to the letter and was able to make my flash drive bootable. 

 

I recently re-did my system and was able to format the flash from Windows.  My unRAID server now boots much, much faster than when the same flash was formatted as a zip under Linux.  Boot times have gone from approximately 35-40 minutes down to 3-4 minutes.  I have seen reference elsewhere to the file structure being laboriously slow, and my experience seems to bear that out.  There may have been some other factor affecting boot time, but I can't figure out what it would be.  So use the above instructions when all else fails, but be aware that you may be in for a long wait when you switch your power on.

 

Dave

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