How to make an exact copy of a bootable USB flash drive. Methods for creating a bootable flash drive image. How to backup a flash drive. Setting up Exiland Backup

Sometimes, users think about creating an image from a flash drive, especially a bootable one. This may be needed in many cases, but the most common is to transfer all data from one drive to another.

Creating an image is not that difficult, however, in most cases it will not be in iso format, although this is not entirely correct. This happens because iso was created for disk copying, despite the fact that the format itself can be recorded on any drive. However, you can still burn a flash drive to ISO, and this article will present several ways to do this.

Using UltraISO to create an image

This application is very popular among Russian users. It has a clear and accessible interface, allows you to create and record images. There are several ways to do this.

In the first case, you will need to click on the drive itself and drag it to the part of the window that is responsible for the list of files in the program.

In the next window you will have to agree with the transfer data. In the menu item, you need to click on the item responsible for extracting boot data from the disk and saving it to your device. Then in the same menu item you should select “ Upload download file" After that, you can go to File - Save As. Here you can select the ISO format and save all the data. This completes the creation of the copy. However, you can doima file, which will be better, because This format is designed to work with storage devices.

It's much easier to do this. You just need to click on the marked item and select the drive from which byte-by-byte copying will be performed. In this case, the carrier will copied completely, even empty data. That is, if there is only one data on a 4 GB flash drive, the image will still take up four.

Using the USB Image Tool

Creating a copy using this application will not take much time. You need to download and install it. After launch, the user sees all drives on the left side of the screen. You should select the one you need and pressbackup. This will allow you to get an img file that contains all the data from the drive.

To record the created image, you can use the same utility. You just need to press the left button. However, this is more of a data backup. It is impossible to write the received file to another drive, only back to the same one.

PassMark ImageUSB application to create a full copy

This program does not even require the user to install it on the computer. All you need is download and run.

After launch you only need select media, which will be copied. In the second step, you should select the same as in the picture. In the third paragraph, you need to specify the directory in which the final file will be saved. Then you just have to press Create and wait for the process to complete. To record a file, you need to select the first item in the second step.

ImgBurn utility

This program will allow you to create an image from a disk or folder. To get started, you need to select the item shown in the image.

After this, in the next window you will need to specify the flash drive as the source. To do this, you can click on the marked icon.

It will also be necessary to go to tabAdvanced on the right side of the screen and set the same settings as in the image. This will turn the created image into a bootable one. If this is not necessary, then this item can be skipped.

As can be seen from the article, create an image from a drive isn't that hard if it's just a file. If you need to make a boot image, then you should use specialized utilities.

Many of us use USB flash drives in our daily lives to transfer and store files. Flash is convenient for editing documents directly from it, both at work and at home, and generally wherever you are, since all the necessary work files are always with you.

A flash drive is usually used in various weather conditions: rain, dampness, frost, is subject to mechanical damage, electromagnetic waves, can be lost or stolen, etc. The only reliable way to save your data is to back up your flash drive daily to your PC or laptop's hard drive.

Flash drive backup options. Which one to choose?

If you don't use Exiland Backup yet and you've lost a file from your flash drive, here it is.

Fulfill backup flash drive files possible on various media:

computer hard drive or solid state drive (HDD, SSD)
external USB drive (replaceable HDD)
network drive, NAS server on the local network
to the cloud Yandex.Disk or Google Drive
remote server via FTP, SFTP (SSH)

Let's look at an example of how to organize automatic backup of USB disk (flash drive) to the PC hard drive every 3 hours.

To create backup flash drives, you can develop bat files or copy files manually, but this is the worst option, since you can forget to create a backup on time, and you often have to be distracted by creating backup copies.

Let’s not “reinvent the wheel”, since people have already invented and developed automatic backup programs, but let’s consider one of them, namely, the easy-to-use, reliable Exiland Backup utility, which creates backup copies of specified files and folders from one medium at a specified frequency on another and does it almost imperceptibly, without interfering with the work of other programs.

Moreover, Exiland Backup has the ability to run a task to create a backup copy of the flash drive immediately after connecting it to the USB port of your PC. This is very convenient - I plugged the flash drive into the PC, and within a few seconds a backup copy was created.

Let's see how Exiland Backup can easily and just set up a backup flash drive to the PC hard drive.

How to backup a flash drive. Setting up Exiland Backup

The Exiland Backup program has special “tricks” for working with flash drives.

In the "Settings for the selected folder" window, you can specify additional parameters for the folder: file masks, attributes, as well as excluding subfolders, for example, everything except the "Temp" and "_old" folders.

A great feature of this program is support for paths by volume name, for example, the source folder can be specified as :\Source\Folder, where FLESHKA is the name of the flash drive volume. This solves the problem when a USB flash drive in Windows is connected under different drive letters. Thus, if the replacement disk is connected under a different drive letter, you will not have to reconfigure anything in the program. It's very convenient.

At the 4th step (ZIP compression options) you can leave the default settings and click "Next"

Exiland Backup allows you to compress source files and folders into one ZIP archive with a specified compression ratio and selected encryption (setting a password for the ZIP archive).

In step 5, tell the program where to save backups

Click "Add - Local/Network Folder". A window will appear in which you should specify the path to the folder on the hard drive of your PC or laptop, for example “D:\Backups”.

This can be done through the folder selection dialog (from the same dialog you can create the “Backups” or “Backups” folder).

As in the case of selecting source data, here the program also supports ability to specify path by volume name. This is especially useful when saving backup copies to removable disks, because... Windows OS can assign different letters to the disk each time you connect a removable HDD or flash drive.

In step 6, specify the schedule for running the backup

The recommended backup frequency depends on how often you work with flash media. Typically, a normal backup frequency is once every 4 hours. Creating several backups during the working day is usually sufficient.

Moreover, if the data on the flash has not changed at all, Exiland Backup will not create a backup copy, but will simply write about it in the log (magazine). If, when starting the backup, the flash drive was not connected to the USB port of your PC, nothing bad will happen, Exiland Backup will simply skip the task. You can also tell the Exiland Backup program to “start backing up the flash drive when it is connected to the USB port of your PC,” which is undoubtedly another advantage of the program.

So, toggle the checkbox (*) Run according to schedule, select the "daily" schedule type, click the "Edit" button. To add a start time, click the "Add" button and select "Periodically", select "Every 4 hours" and click OK. The selected value appears in the list.

Click the "Add" button again and select "When connecting a removable device (flash drive, removable HDD, etc.)", tell the program whether to backup files every time you connect a USB device or only the first time you connect it during the current day, then Click "OK" and "OK" again to return to the "Schedule" step and click "Next".

Step 7: Notification

Here click "Done". Although, the program allows you to send notifications about backup results in various cases (in case of errors, in case of warnings, in any case), but in this case ( backup flash drive), this is not necessary.

The flash drive backup task has been created! When the launch schedule occurs or when a flash drive is connected, the backup will begin. Also, nothing prevents you from starting the task manually by clicking on the “Run” button on the top panel.

Other features of the Exiland Backup utility

Exiland Backup differs from its analogues in its clear Russian-language interface and combines good features and flexibility of settings.

Typically, the volume of flash drive data is small: 8, 16, 32, 64, 128 GB. Exiland Backup also does a great job with backup of large amounts of data 1-2 terabytes, is characterized by high copying speed, thanks to copying in several threads, it can make not only a Full backup, but also create incremental backups, differential backups, and also synchronize folders over a local network , FTP, SFTP (SSH) . Therefore, the utility can make a site backup via FTP, made on any CMS, for example, WordPress.

With the automatic Exiland Backup program, you will once and for all protect your files from damage by a virus, failure of your flash device, etc.

The backup utility Exiland Backup is quite versatile and is perfect for backing up home files - photos, videos, documents, and for use in organizations (copying documents, accounting databases, etc.). The program can be used by both novice PC users and more experienced specialists (system administrators and programmers).

A test drive of a flash drive backup showed good results.

Mikhail, Exiland Backup developer

Create an image of a flash drive, and then write the image to another flash drive? USB Image Tool is a program for creating images from flash drives and vice versa, you can upload a saved image to a flash drive. The utility creates and restores images in .img and .imz formats (compressed). USB Image Tool is a portable program that can be launched from any folder and from any media. Additionally, in the program directory there is a tool for working with images from the command line (usbitcmd.exe).

An example of creating a copy of a bootable USB flash drive

Suppose there is a bootable USB flash drive with programs, testing utilities, operating system distribution (for example, Windows, Linux), drivers, and the like. Task: make another similar bootable USB flash drive. Insert the original flash drive, launch the USB Image Tool program and save the image to disk (the "Backup" button). We insert another flash drive and restore the image created from the reference flash drive to it (the "Restore" button).

Official website: http://www.alexpage.de
Operating systems: Windows All
Supported languages: English
Version: 1.58
License:freeware (for free)

Backup to USB device, as well as backup of data from flash drives (USB drives) with Handy Backup are done easily and quickly using the Computer plugin. Using the program, you can configure automatic copying to USB devices.

Basic functions of automatic backup to USB device

Backing up data to USB

The main function of a flash drive is data storage, so it is convenient to use a flash drive as a USB backup drive. Handy Backup allows you to use any USB storage device for backup as an external drive.

Backing up a USB device

On the contrary, sometimes you need to transfer a backup copy of data on a USB device to another location (for example, back up a flash drive to a computer). In this case, Handy Backup allows you to backup a USB device as a regular local data source.

A USB backup copy of your data only makes sense if it can be restored at any time. Handy Backup offers tools to automatically restore and even clone USB from backup, as well as manually copy unencrypted USB backups.

Backing up Windows 10 data to a USB flash drive

A problem different from all previous ones is solved by all professional versions of Handy Backup or the included HBDR utility, which allows you to create a backup of Windows 10 (Windows 8.1, Windows 7, Linux...) onto a flash drive as a VHD boot disk image.

To solve the problems described above, Handy Backup provides the user with a number of effective tools that allow you to conveniently and quickly organize automatic backup to a USB flash drive and data recovery. Such tools include:

Video tutorial: How to create an automatic backup when connecting a USB device

This video tutorial provides step-by-step instructions for creating an automatic backup to a flash drive when connecting this USB device to a computer.

Attention: This video assumes that your machine already has Handy Backup installed. Otherwise, please download Handy Backup and install it on your computer.

Automatic copying to a USB flash drive with Handy Backup is a convenient and simple data storage tool. Try it now by downloading and installing a 30-day free, fully functional trial!

Unlike regular data stored on USB drives, bootable USB drive data cannot be placed on another USB drive by simply copying or cutting and pasting files. If, for example, you have a bootable USB flash drive with an operating system installation disk, but the original ISO file is lost, you won’t be able to release the flash drive temporarily by temporarily moving the data to your computer. After moving back to the flash drive, it will not become bootable. Using the same principle, you cannot copy the contents of one bootable flash drive to another. If there is no source ISO file, so that you can use it to create anytime and as many bootable flash drives as you want, you need to resort to the help of special software. It’s easier, of course, to store the original ISO file somewhere and burn it, if necessary, to any USB media. But if with installation disks of operating systems and Live disks for their resuscitation it is only a matter of free space on the hard drive, then with multiboot flash drives for installing several systems it is both a question of free space and a question of the process of their creation.

Below we will look at the simplest way to clone a bootable USB flash drive on a Windows system to another empty flash drive if there is no original ISO file. This method is also suitable for the case when there is only one flash drive available, and it needs to be freed from data for a while and then returned to its original state.

For these purposes, you can use the capabilities of backup programs or disk space managers for Windows. In particular, software assemblies from the developers of Acronis, Paragon, AOMEI Technology provide functionality for backing up and restoring partitions and disks, which can be used to create a backup copy of a bootable flash drive. The created backup copy can later be restored either to the same flash drive or to another. The mentioned programs also provide functionality for directly transferring the contents of a bootable flash drive to another USB drive - this is functionality. Just as a partition or an entire hard drive with an operating system installed can be cloned, a bootable USB flash drive will be cloned in the same way.

In our case, as mentioned, the simplest way to solve the problem will be considered. To transfer the contents of a bootable flash drive, we will use a small free utility, USB Image Tool. It can be downloaded from the developer's website.

USB Image Tool is a portable program that does not require installation on the system. Simply unpack the downloaded archive and run the application file.

The utility is intended only for working with USB media. It works on the principle of creating a backup image of a bootable USB flash drive. The created image in IMG format is subsequently used to restore the contents of the bootable flash drive, either on the original or on any other USB drive.

After launching the USB Image Tool, on the left side of the window we will see a list of all connected USB drives. If there are several devices, select the one you need and click on it. In the right part of the window at the bottom, click the “Backup” button.

We indicate the location on the computer where the bootable flash drive image will be stored. Click “Save”.

We are waiting for the backup process to complete.

Once the image is created, we can restore it to another flash drive. Click on the desired flash drive in the utility window on the left, and at the bottom of the window click the “Restore” button.