USB Thumb Drive Size for Windows 7 Professional Image

I have a ThinkPad X100e running Windows 7 Professional 32-bit. Can someone please tell me what the smallest size USB thumb drive I can use to create the installation/recovery image from the hidden partition using Rescue and Recovery? I cannot seem to find that information in the Help menu or in the online FAQs or Knowledgebase.
Thanks in advance for your assistance!

it makes 3 DVDs so maybe 15 GB
Thinkpad R61 7733-1GU
Thinkpad X61T 7762-54U
Thinkpad X60T 6363-4GU
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Prepare an usb thumb drive, to boot windows 7 or 8 in UEFI mode

Purpose of this post:
Prepare an usb thumb drive, to boot windows 7 in UEFI mode and install the system in pure UEFI mode.
Why am I writing this:
I had a hard time finding out how to make a custom installation of windows 7 in pure UEFI mode, and avoid using the factory restore disks. After hours of research, experiments etc I finally got the point and found a solution. And I'm happy to share my research with you. I hope this will be of help. If something is not clear, or more information is needed, I will be glad to explain things further.
History:
As most of you already know, BIOS was developed for PC in early eighties and has remained unchanged in recent years. But, since 2000, Intel started working on a new firmware interface, called Extensible Firmware Interface, abbreviated EFI. And since 2005 United EFI Forum has been handling the responsibility for development, management and promotion of UEFI specifications. Bigger companies like Intel, AMD, Microsoft and Dell have already started to bring out their products in accordance to UEFI standards which has more stable, secure and easier to use interface.
How does UEFI works (in a nutshell):
Once you power on the UEFI based PC, the Pre-EFI is executed which initializes only the CPU, memory and the chipset. This followed by Driver Execution Environment (DEX) where other hardware is initialized.
Advantages of UEFI:
    It can integrate various drivers this will not require to load during booting so saves time.
   PC can connect to network without OS.
   Also integrated drivers allow rendering GUI based control panel which out dates the old school bluish BIOS screen.
   Not all the installed hard drives are scanned as boot drive is set during the installation of OS in UFFI.
   Applications like anti-virus and diagnostic tools can be stored on virtually any non-volatile storage devices attached to a PC.
For a system to boot and install in UEFI the partition table of the HDD should be GPT (GUID Partition Table), not the old school MBR (master boot record). GPT has many advantages, can have virtually an unlimited number of partitions (windows will allow only 128) and impressively big partitions.
Since UEFI has a lot of advantages why not having a system install and boot in UEFI mode? AFAIK new Lenovo notebooks/netbooks are UEFI capable and OS’s are already installed in pure UEFI mode.
So, let’s go now to the point. Do you want to have more control over your HDD? Let say, you have a 320GB HDD and you have divided it in two partitions, one of 50GB, for your Windows 7, and the remaining for your data. If something goes wrong and you need to restore your system to factory default, with the recovery disks, it will wipe your partition scheme, set the system to default and this way your data will be lost.
You may want to make a “vanilla” installation of windows from a USB thumb drive and avoid using factory recovery disks. Now here things get complicated. A standard preparation of the USB with Microsoft’s software (Windows 7 USB/DVD Download Tool), or other tools, will give you a bios installation, not a UEFI one. So for the system to boot, you will need to change some settings in bios, and changing it from UEFI to legacy bios. The installation will prepare the HDD in MBR partition table, and you will lose all the advantages of UEFI, described above.
Now this can be avoided, by properly preparing an USB to boot and install in UEFI mode. Here are the steps:
Step by step tutorial:
1.   In a windows computer, download a legal copy (although trial) of the windows 7 os. You can do this from here: http://www.mydigitallife.info/official-windows-7-sp1-iso-from-digital-river/
Be sure to download the same version that came preinstalled in your computer. For example, if you have a Lenovo x120e, with a Windows 7 professional, 64bit, download an iso image of the Windows 7 professional 64bit.
2.   Once downloaded burn the iso to a USB thumb (at least 4GB) using Windows 7 USB/DVD Download Tool.
3.   After preparing this, create a folder on your computer, name it whatever (i.e. W7pro64bit). Go to the root of your USB
and select all the files and folders there (9 in total) copy, and paste to your folder you created, W7pro64bit.
4.   Using windows format the usb again in FAT32. Windows 7 USB/DVD Download tool, formats it in NTFS. We need a FAT32 formatted disk to achieve our goal. Formating again the USB in FAT32 will not touch the MBR of the USB thumbdrive. And after copying back the files (see step 6) the USB will still be bootable. (nice, and simple, isn't it?)
5.   Now go to the folder W7pro64bit and do the following:
a.   Browse to W7pro64bit\sources\ and open install.wim file. It’s a big file, and can be opened as an archive with 7zip (free software). Do not extract it, do not modify it, just browse the file with 7zip. Just to be sure you do not mess with that file, you can copy it somewhere else in your computer, and than procede.
b.   Browse this file (install.wim) to \1\Windows\Boot\EFI\ and locate the file bootmgfw.efi. Do not move, delete it, but just drag that file to the desktop. (if you have copied the file install.wim to another place in your computer, than you are safely do whatever you want with that file ) Close the 7zip program to release the install.wim file.
c.   Rename the file you just copied to the desktop from bootmgfw.efi to bootx64.efi.
d.   Now go back to w7pro64bit folder and browse \efi\Microsoft. Form there copy the folder boot and paste it one level up, on the folder: \efi. It will look like this: \efi\boot.
e.   Now copy the file you saved on your desktop and renamed (bootx64.efi) to \efi\boot (inside the boot folder you copied on step 5d
6.   Now go to the root of the folder W7pro64bit and select all folders and files (9 in total) copy, and paste all those files back to your USB thumb drive. (see step 4 for more info)
7.   Go to the computer that you are going to reinstall, and before restarting it, use the program ABR (activation backup and restore) to backup the license of your windows os. (use google to find ABR). Advanced Tokens Manager (ATM ) is great too. This link may be of help: Backup and restore W7 activation. After the program finishes its magic, it will create a few files inside the folder where the program itself reside. Copy these files to a new folder in your usb. Rename it to ABR so you will quickly find it later. (if you decide to use ATM, the procedure may be a little different. But you are smart enough to figure out how to use it)
8.   Backup to an external storage all your data before continuing.(reminder: are you sure you saved the license as explained in step 7, to a safe place? To a external drive, to another computer? If you are sure, than go on with step 9)
9.   Now restart your laptop, and enter your bios settings. Go to the boot settings, and set the computer to boot in UEFI only. Not both, not UEFI first, or legacy, BUT UEFI only. Save and restart.
10.   Press f12 (or the corresponding key for your machine) to choose the boot device and chose to start from the USB thumb drive with your windows 7 pro 64 bit.
11.   If everything is done correctly, your computer will boot from the USB.
12.   Follow the wizard and choose a custom install, not upgrade. At the disk partition window delete all the partition you see there until you have only one unallocated space.
13.   Select it, and click next to install windows, without making partition in this point. The installer will create a GPT partition table not a MBR since the USB booted in UEFI mode.
14.   Immediately after the first restart remove your USB thumb, and the installation will continue from the HDD. Wait until installation finishes.
15.   When you will be finally on your desktop, on the installed OS plug your USB go to the ABR folder and click on restore.exe. It will restore your license and your copy of windows will be activated.
16.   Now you can go in computer management/disk management and shrink the HDD to create your partitioning scheme. Make sure to leave enough space to your windows os. (30gb or more for extra programs you will install at your choice)
17.      Download from lenovo.com thinkvantage system update and update your system. Windows update too can install all the necessary drivers, if you need only basic drivers support.
Note: if tvsu will fail to work, see this:
http://forums.lenovo.com/t5/ThinkVantage-Technologies/ThinkVantage-System-Update-Servers-down-the-wh...
It may look a looong tutorial, but once you do this for the first time, it will look a piece of cake.
Final words:
From now on, you can install windows 7 in UEFI mode with your special USB without changing your partition scheme anymore. If you have a data partition beside your os partition (see the example above), when you reinstall the system using your USB thumb drive, at the disk partition window chose the partition where windows is installed, delete it, and reinstall windows to the unformatted area. Your partition with your data will be intact and the installation will automatically mount your data partition to the system. And, all the scope of this procedure, you will always have a pure UEFI installation of the system, with all its benefits.
Have fun!
abvasili
Moderator note: changed subject to match new content. Was: Prepare an usb thumb drive, to boot windows 7 in UEFI mode
I'm just a volunteer. I like to help others where I can. Do my ideas work? I hope so. o_O
Who helped you today? Do not forget to thank him.
My hardware: TP x120e 0596-2ru. Windows 7, sp1, 64Bit, English, installed in UEFI mode.

seanare wrote:
Thank you, as I noted here, your post was the key to my getting a Windows 8 SecureBooting setup on a W530.
In the case of Windows 8, I needed to copy the files away, reformat my USB key as FAT32 and copy the files back, and viola I was able to boot from my USB install media with the BIOS set to only boot UEFI. From there, there rest was easy (for Windows 8, the copying and renaming is not necessary, the key is having a FAT32 partition on the USB media, rather than an NTFS one; the EFI files are already in the right location).
Thank you again good sir.
You are welcome... and I'm happy that the change of the file system helps with windows 8 too. Thanks for confirming that.
abvasili
I'm just a volunteer. I like to help others where I can. Do my ideas work? I hope so. o_O
Who helped you today? Do not forget to thank him.
My hardware: TP x120e 0596-2ru. Windows 7, sp1, 64Bit, English, installed in UEFI mode.

Using USB thumb drive with Parallels and Microsoft Windows XP

I installed Parallels 3.0 because I need to use a few windows applications for work. I am currently unable to find the USB thumb drive when I plug it into the USB port. It is connected and is selected, but I can't figure out how to access it. I check in "My Computer" just like I would on a PC, but the thumb drive is not listed. Any suggestions.
Macbook with Leopard
Thanks.
Jon

You're right, it should show up under My Computer. You may want to post your question over on the Parallels forums: http://forums.parallels.com as they're more geared toward the issue since Parallels is not an Apple product.

HP 6600 Scan\Print Driver Issue for Windows 7 Professional 64 bit

Hello,
For some time now I have been unable to scan or print from my desktop (Windows 7 Professional 64bit) and I have exhausted too much effort and am now bringing it to the masses.
The problem:
Printing: Currently receiving an "Error - Offline" message in my printer queue at all times.
Scanning: Scanning has never fully worked on this desktop. I am always unable to communicate with the printer. (Though webscan works through accessing the printers IP address)
Things I have tried:
Ran HPPSDr, followed directions (Unpluged power to printer, turn back on, restart computer) brings me to this website after it cannot fix. (Note that while the HPPSDr is running it always notions that there is a driver problem)
Uninstalled Drivers from CD-ROM, re-installed, countless times
Installed "Windows 7 Pro 64 bit drivers" from the HP website and uninstalled, countless times.
Attempted to set a static IP and use "Update IP Address" to point specifically at the printers IP.
Installed Drivers and finding the printer myself through it's own static IP address.
Turned off firewall and attempted to print (after reboot), same errors
Setting up the printer on all of my laptops (3) wirelessly to attempt to find if there is a problem with the printer or static IP. (1 is Windows VISTA 32bit and the other 2 are Ubuntu 32bit). All laptops are able to use the printer wirelessly without any problems.
Read all of the forums about this issue and attempted all of the 'solutions'. Although I mostly don't see that anyone with this same problem is resolved, unless I'm missing the perfect post.
Things I have not tried:
Plugging the USB directly into the desktop. (This seems self defeating as the purpose for this printer was to be able to print wirelessly to it from across the room)
Re-installed Windows 7 Pro 64bit (Trying to avoid this, would rather just print from laptops)
You tell me
Curiosities:
I have noticed strange things that make me believe the driver is somehow incomptable with my OS. Here is a shot of the properties of the printer:
Weird that it is not recognizing the model number.
Also in the Printer Settings when I go to the port tab, there is no port selected, if I try and tab away it forces me to select a port, yet when I do and 'apply' and then re-open the Printer Settings in the ports tab; it has again unselected the previously selected port.
Theories:
I feel like my OS is just refusing to notice the IP address for the wireless printer, no matter what I have it set to, even if it's dynamic. It's like the driver for Windows 7 Pro 64bit is actually not the correct driver for my system.
Anyways, another thing to mention is that I am not currently willing to wipe my operating system and re-install Windows 7 Pro in order to resolve this just yet. I want to see if anyone else has any other avenues I can try before even beginning to consider that.
Anyways, thanks in advance for taking the time to read my ramblings and hopefully someone who has resolved this issue can help me.

Hi Zerosouls,
I understand you are having an issue with HP 6600 Scan\Print Driver Issue for Windows 7 Professional 64 bit.
First try to click the Windows icon, type services in the Search box, and then click or tap View Local Services. Scroll down to the Windows Installer. Startup type should be - Automatic, and Service Status should be - started
Restart the computer after this step and try installing Hp Officejet 6600 again.
Please let me know what happens
Thanks
Please click “Accept as Solution ” if you feel my post solved your issue, it will help others find the solution.
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A USB thumb drive with data created in Windows is not showing up on my desktop. Do I need a different driver or something?

A USB thumb drive with data created in Windows is not showing up on my desktop. Do I need a different driver or something?

OK in order to read those files you will need MS Office for Mac or install MS Windows on your Mac. You can get MS Office for Mac from anyone that sells Apple products. I would suggest the Apple Store, Best Buy, Amazon etc...For help getting the data from the memory stick I'd recommend visiting your local Apple Store or AASP and they can help you move it. It should be as simple as plugging the USB drive into your USB port and then open a Finder Window where you will see the drive on the left pane. If you don't know what Finder is or how to open a new Finder window you need the sites I've noted below!!!
Because you are new to OS X I would strongly recommend you bookmark and frequently visit the following web sites:
Switch 101
Mac 101
Find Out How Video tutorials

Can I use a usb thumb drive for Time Machine?

Can I use a usb thumb drive for Time Machine backups?

Hello,
Yes you can use a (large) thumb drive. The most common format for a Time Machine backup drive is Mac OS Extended (Journaled).
Hope this will help.

Antivirus for USB thumb drive

Hi, I have a macbook at home and I need to constantly use a usb thumb drive between work and home. Work has new policy that I must have an up-to-date usb antivirus scanner in order to use the usb at work (windows). What would be the best free software to install that will run an automatic antivirus scan? Thx

Any viruses you get are going to come from your work PC, not your Mac. Honestly, I wouldn't bother - if the anti-virus software is up to scratch at work, then it should protect your work PC from a USB stick. If it isn't good enough to do that, then it isn't good enough to protect itself from the internet either.
http://youtu.be/IglUmgYGxLM?t=1m33s
Are they going to check? If you absolutely must, ClamXav gets the best reviews.
http://www.clamxav.com/

Are there any rumors that the new iPad will be able to connect to usb thumb drive for iWork or microsoft word?

Please help, I would like to know if it would be better to buy the new ipad instead of an ipad2

It will almost certainly not connect directly to USB thumb drives. There's still no USB port, and except for photos on specifically-arranged drives, there have been no indications that such support will be provided via the Camera Connection Kit.
Regards.

Can't install from USB Thumb Drive

I'm trying to install MacOs 10.7 from Apple USB Thumb Drive on a 2011 MacMini, but when I restart from the USB drive apper on the screen a "X" and then the computer shuts down.
What's wrong?
On the MacMini there was already MacOs 10.7, but now I formatted the HardDisk.
Sorry for my english,
Gregorio Pellegrino

Is the system able to boot into the recovery/installer from the Mac OS X 10.7 USB Drive? Is this error occurring after you've started the install process from the USB?
You may have to completely repartition the hard disk drive with 1 partition and a GUID partition table. I had a similar issue when I moved a hard disk from a Windows machine and forgot to change the partition type.
Note: Creating a new partition table will make all data currently on the disk inaccessible, effectively erasing the data.
Here's the steps to repartition using the Disk Utility application available after booting the mac from the USB Installer.
1) Highlight/select the Mac's internal Hard Disk Drive (not the volume) in Disk Utility. The disk will be named something like "240 GB OCZ-VERTEX3", depending on your specific size, make and model. Basically the format is "Size GB Make/Model".
2) Click the "Partition" tab on the right side.
3) From the "Partition Layout" pick box select "1 Partition"
4) Click the "Options" button below the drive space diagram. Select the option "GUID Partition Table". Click OK.
5) Click the Apply button and allow Disk Utility to complete the task.
6) Quit Disk Utility and begin the install process to the Mac's Internal Hard Disk Drive.
The above resolved this issue for me and it makes good sense why it worked since the partition scheme/table on my drive was MBR and I changed it to GUID.
Good Luck,
-Josh
Message was edited by: Joshua Kapellen

Using a usb thumb drive with a mac

So, I'm a recent windows user and when using a USB thumb drive, if you erased something, it would automatically update the thumb drive and show the right amount of free space.
I've noticed with the mac, if you delete an item, it doesn't update, and you need to go into disk utility and format in order to show the appropriate amount of free space.
Is there an easier way to do this?
I searched for a few minutes on this topic, but couldn't seem to find anything. All apologies if I missed it.

Choose Empty Trash from the Finder menu, or from the menu which appears when you control-click or click and hold on the Trash icon in the Dock.
(38516)

POSSIBLE? Copy USB thumb drive image to file and rebuild it to use the USB drive ?

I bought an 8GB USB thumb drive and used it to create an install boot disk to boot for install or use disk utility to clone my system drive for failsafe. In other words it is called "Install OS X Mavericks" and I can boot from it.
SO, it just sits there and does nothing while I am not using it, and in the meantime I have some documents I need to get printed at Kinkos and class notes to carry around, and this drive could really be useful to do that, rather than waste time and money to buy a new one and keep track of them all. You know how these things always get lost of broken and you end up with a few of them and never know what's on them?
So ... in UNIX style I tried to do a dd of the drive "dd if=/dev/disk2 of=$HOME/usbdrive.dmg bs=4096" - assuming a 4K block size would work.
The system does not seem to recognize it, so I'm doubting if that was the correct way to do this, or if this can be done at all.
What I want to do in short is to not bother with formating or anything like that, and just create a disk image that I can store around until I need to put it in my USB drive to boot for an install, rebuilt, clone system drive, etc.
Can this be done, and does anyone know how to do it?
I do have Mavericks Server, but I'm not sure how or if the System Image Utility will do this? It sees the drive, but it just give me options to make a Net Boot Image, NetInstall Image, or a NetRestore Image ... and I do not know if any of those options will allow me to put it back on the drive when and if I need to?

The command you want is
sudo /Applications/Install\ OS\ X\ Mavericks.app/Contents/Resources/createinstallmedia --volume /Volumes/Untitled --applicationpath /Applications/Install\ OS\ X\ Mavericks.app --nointeraction
This command only works if "Install OS X Mavericks" is in the Applications folder and a 8GB usb is erased and named "Untitled". Change the command as you see fit.

OS X Lion USB Thumb Drive

If I buy an OS X Lion USB Thumb Drive can I use it to erase the OSX Lion hidden partition on the internal hard drive and install Snow Leopard? I have more problems with Lion than with any other OSX that I've used since 1986 and want to return to the last of the non-BigBrother OSXs.

Downgrade Lion to Snow Leopard
1. Boot from your Snow Leopard Installer Disc. After the installer loads select your language and click on the Continue button. When the menu bar appears select Disk Utility from the Utilities menu.
2. After DU loads select your hard drive (this is the entry with the mfgr.'s ID and size) from the left side list. Note the SMART status of the drive in DU's status area. If it does not say "Verified" then the drive is failing or has failed and will need replacing. SMART info will not be reported on external drives. Otherwise, click on the Partition tab in the DU main window.
3. Under the Volume Scheme heading set the number of partitions from the drop down menu to one. Set the format type to Mac OS Extended (Journaled.) Click on the Options button, set the partition scheme to GUID then click on the OK button. Click on the Partition button and wait until the process has completed.
4. Quit DU and return to the installer. Install Snow Leopard.
This will erase the whole drive so be sure to backup your files if you don't have a backup already. If you have performed a TM backup using Lion be aware that you cannot restore from that backup in Snow Leopard (see below.) I suggest you make a separate backup using Carbon Copy Cloner 3.4.1.
If you have Snow Leopard Time Machine backups, do a full system restore per #14 in Time Machine - Frequently Asked Questions. If you have subsequent backups from Lion, you can restore newer items selectively, via the "Star Wars" display, per #15 there, but be careful; some Snow Leopard apps may not work with the Lion files.

Format a New USB Thumb Drive

I have a new USB thumb drive I just picked up and I was able to mount in to my Linux machine fine:
dmesg | grep -i "OCZ"
scsi 10:0:0:1: Direct-Access OCZ SD0StorageDevice 0.00 PQ: 0 ANSI: 2
sd 10:0:0:0: [sdd] 15794176 512-byte logical blocks: (8.08 GB/7.53 GiB)
It mounts fine on my system:
[carlos@tuna ~]$ sudo mount /dev/sdd usb/
Password:
[carlos@tuna ~]$ cd usb/
[carlos@tuna usb]$ ls -l
total 80
drwxr-xr-x 3 root root 16384 Mar 30 10:12 cisco
drwxr-xr-x 2 root root 16384 Apr 19 08:50 files
drwxr-xr-x 2 root root 16384 Apr 23 15:46 mail
drwxr-xr-x 3 root root 16384 Apr 23 15:49 pics
Now I would like to wipe and reformat the entire drive since I backed up the data. However before I reformat the drive, how can I set the label name into the format command while formatting as fat32? I don't need to use FDISK since I am not changing anything in regards to the partition table / chunk size. I just want to format as fat32 however I don't have mkfs.msdos or mkfs.fat32 on my Arch Linux system. I checked the Wiki and didn't find anything nor did any search thread results.
Anyone know what package I need to format fat32 & how I can set a label name so when it's mounted, I can see a specific name for the drive?

Carlwill wrote:
sudo mount /dev/sdd usb/
mkfs.vfat -F 32 -i ocz_usb /dev/sdd1
me spots some inconsistencies. i'd bet if you used gparted instead, it'd warn you and say something like "create DOS Partition table first" or somesuch.
i dunno, this is the one area i like the wipe-my-ass-for-me bloat , could be worth a try.

When I plug in my USB Thumb drive (PNY 8Gb) the MacBook Pro does not see it, nothing happens. Is there something else I need to do?

When I plug a PNY 8Gb USB thumb drive, nothing happens and the MacBook Pro can't see it. Is there something I need to do?

If you are looking for it in Desktop, it's normal that you feel like your Mac doesn't detect it. By default, OS X doesn't show external drives in Desktop, so you have to access to them from Finder. To do it, open a Finder window and choose your external drive in the Finder sidebar, under "Devices".
If you want to show the external disk in Desktop, open a Finder window, go to the Finder menu (on the menu bar) > Preferences > General, and mark "External drives"

How to make OSX boot disk using a USB thumb drive? The final answer?

Well guys I am getting really conflicting information about possibility to use USB thumb drive for boot up drive for OSX! Some people say yes, some say no, some - not sure.
Here is the question formulated as straight as possible:
A Mac user wants to create OSX 10.6 boot-up disk on a USB thumb drive, so it can be used to start the Mac instead of using manufacturer’s CD. Also, (thumb drive’s size permitting) the Mac user must be able to install software on it, as it is done on the internal HD.
The computer is MacBookPro , Intel based , OSX 10.6
The USB thumb drive is 16 Gb brand new .
So,
what the EXACT steps will be, to properly Mac format the thumb drive with OSX disk utility and then install on it the OSX 10.6 from the manufacturer's grey CD that comes with the Mac?
Could someone, who has practical experience and is absolutely sure about the exact steps provide the final answer, please?
Thanks in advance to old hands & pro Mac Users willing to clarify this topic !

Hi
The instructions to make a bootable USB are [here|http://macs.about.com/od/diyguidesprojects/ss/usbflash.htm]
I have made a bootable USB following the above instruction and also had enough space to install a few utilities. It works fine for me.
I usually like to check disk health of my MBpro intel via disk utilities off the USB after booting from it. Not that this is a recommended way or anything, just that I like to do it that way.

USB Thumb Drive Size for Windows 7 Profession​al Image

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USB Thumb Drive Size for Windows 7 Professional Image