4GB Flash Memory

Phil Meyer pmeyer at themeyerfarm.com
Sat Jun 23 00:33:18 UTC 2007


Karl Larsen wrote:
>    Google tells me the little 4 GB flash memory is available from 
> Amazon for $36.00 plus shipping. They are a good outfit. I might order 
> one but I still have a question I have not answered.
>
>    The memory is format in VFAT. This is not a problem since I have 
> used it to transfer Linux files. My question is how do I put a .iso 
> file on the memory so it can be used to upgrade.
>
>    I have by accident put a .iso file on a cd-rom and it is worthless. 
> All you see is the file name. Then I learn how to get the software to 
> put the .iso on the cd-rom properly and it works fine. Not sure what 
> the difference  is....
>
> Karl
>
>

Simple answer -- you don't.

Thumb drives, and all flash memory types, have a 'controller' on them, 
and all computers will see them as disk drives as a result.  They are 
not and cannot be the same as a CD ROM or DVD.  So no go on an ISO.

They can certainly be made bootable, but as a disk drive, not a CD ROM.

With pungi and revisor, you can certainly make a bootable thumb drive.  
The jury is still debating whether its best to configure them like a 
regular drive, or use compressed/read-only file systems like a 'live' CD 
does.

This is an area that needs attention, so y advice is jump into the 
pungi/revisor discussions and lend a hand!

Many of us are dealing more and more with embedded systems now days.  It 
will be wonderful if and when pungi and revisor will make it easy to 
build an image suitable for booting from compact flash and/or USB for 
embedded systems.

For my own uses, I cut off a small (13MB) partition of my thumb drive to 
put the boot.img on.  I use the rest of the drive to hold a custom DVD 
image and misc stuff.  It is then possibf to boot and install from the 
single thumb drive, but this is not like a live DVD.

Good Luck!




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