Archive for category USB Sticks
How to create Bootable USB drives in Windos 7 or Vista
Posted by in USB Sticks on October 17, 2010
How to create Bootable USB drives in Windos 7 or Vista
As more people use USB sticks in their daily computer tasks it has been observed that it is easier to transfer files and install programs form them since their reading speed is greater than that of a CD/DVD drive. This is why some might find it more easy to have their Windows Vista or Windows 7 installation kit on a USB drive and to use that to install it instead of the DVD disc.
For this reason this Guide was created, especially since Windows Vista and Windows 7 will no longer make bootable media by simply formatting it with the system option or using the former SYS command in Command Prompt.
Here are some details that you should know about before going through the process of
creating a bootable USB drive
The computer has to support booting from a USB flash/pen/key drive.
There may be anywhere from 1-3 items to change in the BIOS to make this possible assuming your BIOS supports it.
Some BIOS’s may refer to your flash drive as a USB floppy or USB zip. Of course there may be exceptions.
The USB flash drive must support booting from it in general.
The flash drive must contain the boot/system files.
The flash drive must have bootsector area. This is done with special utilities.
The necessary steps top have your USB stick Bootable are described before and users should note to replace the drive letters seen in these commands with those from their computer.
1. Insert your USB (4GB+ preferable sot the Windows installation kit will fit on it) stick to the system and backup all the data from the USB as we are going to format the USB to make it as bootable.
2. Open elevated Command Prompt. To do this, type in CMD in Start menu search field and hit Ctrl + Shift + Enter. Alternatively, navigate to Start -> All programs ->Accessories -> right click on Command Prompt and select run as administrator.
3. When the Command Prompt opens, enter the following command:
DISKPART and press Enter.
LIST DISK and press Enter.
Once you enter the LIST DISK command, it will show the disk number of your USB drive. In the image shown below the USB drive disk number is Disk 1.
4. In this step you need to enter all the below commands one by one and hit enter. As these commands are self explanatory, you can easily guess what these commands do.
SELECT DISK 1 (Replace DISK 1 with your disk number) and press Enter.
CLEAN and press Enter.
CREATE PARTITION PRIMARY and press Enter.
SELECT PARTITION 1 and press Enter.
ACTIVE and press Enter.
FORMAT FS=NTFS and press Enter.
(Format process may take few minutes depending on the size of the disk)
ASSIGN and press Enter.
EXIT and press Enter.
Don’t close the command prompt as we need to execute one more command at the next step. Just minimize it.
5. Insert your Windows DVD in the optical drive and note down the drive letter of the optical drive and USB stick. Here I use “X” as my optical (DVD) drive letter and “E” as my USB drive letter.
6.Switch back to command prompt and execute the following commands:
X:
CD BOOT and hit enter. Where “X” is your DVD drive letter.
CD BOOT and hit enter to see the below message.
X:\boot\bootsect.exe /nt60 E: and press Enter.
(Where “E” is your USB drive letter)
7. Copy the Windows DVD contents to USB.
You are done with your bootable USB. You can now use this bootable USB as bootable DVD on any computer that comes with USB boot feature (most of the current motherboards support this feature).
Note that this bootable USB guide will not work if you are trying to make a bootable USB on XP computer.
Find More “usb Stick” Articles
Choosing Your Usb Memory Stick Supplier
Posted by in USB Sticks on October 16, 2010
Choosing Your Usb Memory Stick Supplier
There are currently many suppliers of Branded and Promotional USB Memory Sticks. This makes it a fiercely competitive market, which bodes well for the consumer as this naturally leads to lower prices. However, this also puts a lot of pressure on suppliers to reduce their costs. Some suppliers take this too far so it is important to consider factors other than price when choosing your USB Memory Stick supplier, four important considerations to take into account are:
Speed of Service Quality of USB Memory Sticks Financial Stability of Company Supplying Flash Drives Reputation.
Speed of service will largely depend on the company’s business model. Many companies claim to have fast turnaround times, but when asked to supply large amounts of branded USB Memory Sticks they fall short on initial promises and the turnaround times go up 2 or 3 times. Other companies who have more control over their supply chain will live up to their promises and these are naturally the companies you’ll want to choose.
Quality control is crucial for products that will end up representing your company. It is important to find a supplier that understands this and won’t cut corners or send you defunct goods. For instance, some USB Flash Drive suppliers cut costs by using refurbished NAND flash memory. This is generally less reliable than brand new NAND Flash. It may save you money, but do you want the product you’ve given to a client failing? This is not going leave your company in a good light, and once they’ve thrown the USB Stick away they’re no longer carrying your companies name around with them.
As with any company you’re going to enter into a financial relationship with it’s always prudent to run a credit check to make sure it’s not going to go under in the next month or so, if it does you’re unlikely to get your money back. As mentioned earlier, this is a very competitive industry and insolvency is not that uncommon, if your supplier goes bankrupt you wont only lose the money you paid them you’ll also miss your deadline.Reputation speaks volumes, if a company has delivered similar sized orders of USB Memory Sticks in the time frame you want many times before, they can probably do it again.
Promotional USB Pen Drives ? Why Content Should Not Be Overlooked
Posted by in USB Sticks on October 16, 2010
Promotional USB Pen Drives ? Why Content Should Not Be Overlooked
USB flash drives can be a very effective if pricey marketing tool. But when compared to a DVD duplication run for delivering marketing or promotional presentations the emphasis is often on the medium and not the message. Marketing agencies will often spend thousands on the highest quality printed USB sticks then at the very last minute copy some hastily created Microsoft Word documents for distribution. With such a flexible and capable medium this is a great waste of its capabilities.
If your company or brand has a promotional video then why not add this to the USB stick? For example a WMV or other compatible window media file will be playable by over 90% of users. Avoid Mac specific files such as QuickTime as these will need software installed on the host machine. You can fit about one hour’s worth of good quality video on a 1GB USB pen drive.
Web links are a very useful way of not only directing the recipient of your promotional gift to your website but with some simple web programming they have the added advantage of allowing you a way of measuring the success of your promotion.
A cut down USB key with very little memory (in order to reduce the cost) and a simple web link makes a very cost effective promotion (these are sometimes known as “USB webkey”).
PowerPoint, although fairly basic in terms of multimedia possibilities, can nonetheless incorporate embedded media such as video or audio with basic transitions to keep the interest going. Data from Excel spreadsheets and web pages can be cut and pasted to create information rich presentations.
Even Acrobat these days is capable of web links, embedded media and other fancy additions like password protection.
Adobe Flash and Director are the top end of this scale and the possibilities that both these applications allow are endless. Adobe’s advanced programming languages action script makes it possible to build applications and run these from your USB pen drive. Games, fully interactive presentations, apps that integrate data from your website and utilities that can make operating system tweaks or function calls are all possible. If your company does not have the in-house capabilities then an outside agency will be needed to provide the content authoring on more ambitious projects like this.
One minor caveat with all these options is the autorun functionality that can be used to automatically load applications or documents when the USB key is inserted into the port on your PC. Due to the dangers of automatically running virus or malware applications from USB sticks most corporate anti virus systems block any such activity. If there is a chance of this happening it is better to name the application or document that links to your content in a clear manner (Start.exe is a good choice) and allow the user to manually launch.
USB flash drives can also be used to distribute highly sensitive data and in these cases it is best to encrypt and password protect data to ensure that if the USB key gets into the wrong hands the payload will not be compromised. A number of options are available here including password access USB sticks, hardware AES encryption built into the USB stick and software that wraps the data and password protects it. Some hardware password protection requires administrator access on the host PC but there are stand alone AES encryption solutions that don’t.
Even if all you have is some text documents to distribute its much better to present these as a properly formatted, paginated PDF file maybe with the addition of your company logo and web links, than a loose collection of word documents.
Booting Indiana, OpenSolaris Developer Preview from USB stick in my Thinkpad X40. Took two minutes (almost three from HDD) to boot with this method. The installed search and mount any ZFS pool available in the hard disk. Also NWAM is ready to connect to any wireless network available. ZFS, DTrace and nice desktop out of the box. This is amazing for the opensource community! Sorry for the quality, this one is recored with my Treo 680 
Promotional USB People Memory Sticks
Posted by in USB Sticks on October 15, 2010
Promotional USB People Memory Sticks
Have you heard about the latest craze in USB memory sticks, USB People? These USB memory sticks may be new to the market but they are already proving to be a hit! Just like promotional stress balls and logo bugs before them, they can be manufactured to look like a person or animal. For example, if you are trying to promote a football team, the USB sticks can be made so that they look like a footballer wearing his team’s colours and holding a football.
Each USB memory stick person has movable arms and legs. They can be colour coordinated and Pantone matched to your corporate colours. Everything can be bespoke designed right down to the colour of the trouser, shirt, shoes, hairstyle and facial features. The facial feature can be a real bonus depending on the message you are trying to promote.
There is already a very large stock of standard figures if you cannot be bothered to design your own. Doctors, nurses, business men and women, students, firemen and teachers, for example are all available. The stock figure list is long and well worth having a look at. Your promotional gift supplier should be able to show you pictures and even provide samples of the USB People that are available from stock.
If you have a bespoke requirement, it is no problem at all. Any professional business gift supplier should be able to offer you a free design service. If you do not have a picture of what it is you require, simply send a brief of what you are trying to accomplish and they should be able to provide bespoke USB People visuals. Whether you are trying to promote a cartoon figure or you want the memory stick to be dressed in your company uniform, the sky really is the limit.
USB people have are available with a memory capacity of 512Mb to 8g. They are available for corporate gifts from all major UK promotional gift supplier.
over de verloren usb stick
Pantone Matched USB Memory Sticks
Posted by in USB Sticks on October 14, 2010
Pantone Matched USB Memory Sticks
If you’re in the market for some branded USB memory sticks for your company and you want your logo printed on the sticks then one option is to get the body of the USB stick pantone matched to a primary colour from your logo.
Pantone matching is simply a way to define a particular colour and reproduce that same colour time and time again to the same level of accuracy (albeit the material the colour is printed onto can have a bearing on the finished result). It’s a technique that is commonly used across the design and print industry and the use of “pantone matched” printing is a way to ensure consistency of a company’s brand irrespective of who is producing the printed product.
Pantone matching is commonly used in two distinctly different ways when customised USB memory sticks are produced:
The colours of any logo, brand or design that is printed onto the USB sticks are typically defined by the customer(s) in terms of pantone colour. This ensures a high degree of accuracy when the sticks are printed in the factory. Where pantone colours can’t be supplied the colours are matched on a “best match” basis and the accuracy of the finished article is very much in the hands of the printer. Whilst most printers have years of experience to draw upon and will typically produced good results on a “best match” basis there is always an element of risk when working (printing) this way.
Rather than buy USB flash drives in the standard colours (typically black, white, red, blue or silver) it’s possible to get them manufactured so that the body shell of the USB drives is an exact pantone match to any colour you want. This option involves mixing inks with the plastic when the fabrication is done to achieve an exact pantone matched body shell. The end results look stunning albeit the trick is to ensure you choose the colour of the body shell well so that it contrasts or works well with the logo printed onto the USB stick. On the Twister models where the logo is printed onto the “clip” that “twists” around it’s usual to match the body of the twister to one of the primary colours from the printed logo.
Pantone matching not only ensures accurate reproduction of colours but when it is used to produce a customised body shell the results lift the finished product from a “standard” USB flash drive to something that is unique. Whilst these “pantone matched” USB sticks are not truly bespoke sticks because they use a standard factory design then do illustrate that a significant amount of effort and thought has been put into their production.
Pantone matching of the body shell is only available on a limited range of USB memory sticks. Depending on the quantity ordered the incremental cost is relatively small but the results certainly justify it.
Related “usb Stick” Articles
USB Memory Stick ? Aware Of Counterfeit Drives!
Posted by in USB Sticks on October 14, 2010
USB Memory Stick ? Aware Of Counterfeit Drives!
Read this article before buying your next USB memory stick!
First, we need to know the components of a USB memory stick. It is consists of a small printed circuit board that carrying the circuit elements, insulated electrically, a USB connector, and a leather, plastic, metal, or rubberized case to protected the inside components.
USB sticks now come with with 1GB, 2GB, 4GB and up to 258GB.
I have been in this trade for some years, and a big number of USB memory sticks are produced mainly in China. Some of the manufacturers like to use low price strategy to attract consumers and even some ignorance suppliers.
Some of these factories bosses are very short-sighted and out there to cheat on consumers and suppliers.
They are offering counterfeit USB flash drive at around USD1.50 per unit for a 1GB drive with packaging. The cost of stick (full product) is even much lower than a raw flash memory chip from USA or Korean flash memory chip manufacturers!
Counterfeit USB Memory Stick
When you plug in the FAKE USB drive, it will show you the “Fake” memory capacity.
But when you start to copy your contents, you will be shocked to realised the capacity was only half or even less! This is called “Upgrade chip” in China.
The popular saying is that if you pay peanuts, you get monkeys. How can a raw memory chip be more expensive than a “ready to use” USB flash drive?
So when you are going to purchase your new USB memory stick from retail shops or online stores next time, remember to use a genuine software to test your drive. Good Luck!
Find More “usb Stick” Articles
USB Memory Stick ? The 8 Benefits of A USB Memory Stick that Help Your Business Grow!
Posted by in USB Sticks on October 13, 2010
USB Memory Stick ? The 8 Benefits of A USB Memory Stick that Help Your Business Grow!
For a 1GB USB memory stick with full colour printing, duplication and packed into a well designed box, the unit cost and goes as high as USD7.50 or AUD8.90 based on 500 sets. And for a DVD-5 and a DVD case with a paper insert, the unit cost per set is only USD0.77 or AUD0.90.
But there are still many corporations using it for their business and marketing. Why is that so and do you think they are crazy? First, you need to ask yourself a question, would you bother to keep the printed brochures or a CD-ROM given to you during an overseas trade shows? I think most people like me; I rather just keep their name cards to make my luggage lighter.
Let me list out the 8 benefits of using USB Memory Sticks for your business.
1) You can store your corporate profile, video clips about your organisation, latest products catalogue, flash animation with a link to your website etc.
2) With the new technology, some USB flash drive manufacturers can help to burn your contents “permanently” onto the memory chips. This will prohibit any user to delete your valuable contents.
3) You can leave some space on the USB memory for the user to save their personal files. This is the Selling Point why users will keep your USB sticks!
4) It is portable and light. It can put in pocket or handbags.
5) USB memory stick comes with many different design, colours, materials and capacity. Talk to the nearest USB supplier, they will be glad to help you if you need any customisation on your drive.
6) Print your company logo, name, contact details and website address on the USB case; it will help your customers to remember you.
7) Set up a partition with a login/password, you can store important information, products pricelist etc. The user will need to call or email you for the login/password before they can access to the secure partition.
8) In the market, you can find USB drive in credit card size. Instead of giving out your standard paper name card, you might consider using USB credit card drive during your next trade shows. It will definitely impress your clients.
I think by now you should get some ideas what you can do with USB memory sticks for your business. You and I know, USB drive is Expensive but I truly believe the” investment“will help to bring in more business for you.
Leave a lasting impression with designer heart shaped USB flash drives
Posted by in USB Sticks on October 12, 2010
Leave a lasting impression with designer heart shaped USB flash drives
Most of us are already aware about the use and importance of USB flash drives. These mini storage devices can be used for many purposes. Flash drives are very handy while travelling or when you want to carry your important data with you for a presentation or for business meetings. They are also very handy when you want to transfer some data from one device to other device as these drives are generally re-readable and can be used over and over again. USBs are also very light weight and small in size making it easier to carry with you wherever you go. USB flash drives are available in various designs such as Designer series, Metal Series, Plastic series, Diamond series, Eco series etc. and in different shapes such as Dog tags USB stick, pen shaped USB stick, car shaped USB stick, heart shaped USB stick, football shaped USB stick etc. You can also personalize these USB flash drives by adding your own prints on it as per your liking.
In designer USB drives the most stylish one is the heart shaped USB flash drive due to its very unique and attractive design. It comes in a heart shape and to make it more realistic primarily it has been given red color, but it is also available in various custom colors. This heart shaped USB stick is made of plastic shell which makes it really light weight making it easier to carry and its heart shape design altogether gives it a totally different feeling.
As we all know that heart is symbol of love and with its red coloring it makes it even more realistic. It has a very smooth and silky finishing on its outer body which allows you to personalize it by adding your own logo on it. You can even add a key chain or keyring to it as it is designed in such a way which makes it even easier to carry it with you. Heart shaped USB flash drive can also be presented as a symbol of love due to its styling and appearance, or it can also be carried as a style statement and for leaving a lasting impression in your business meetings and presentations. Heart shaped USB flash drive is available in various storage capacities starting between 512MB to a maximum of 8GB. This is quite an impressive state for such a small piece of machine.
Heart shaped USB stick generally supports all the operating systems and is compatible with both PCs and Laptops of all the brands. It has a very unique shock resistance capacity which makes it a lot safer compared to the other USB flash drives. You can save your data in it, and can be assured of not damaging it for many years. The thing that is most impressive about this heart shaped USB flash drive is its quality and its durability. These USB flash drives last really long and are very durable.
Find More “usb Stick” Articles
USB People Are a Fun New Promotional Gift
Posted by in USB Sticks on October 12, 2010
USB People Are a Fun New Promotional Gift
USB People are already proving to be a very popular promotional gift in 2009. It fact, it is not very often that a promotional gift like this comes along that is fun, attractive and also very useful. There is a man/woman shaped memory stick in stock and ready for your next promotion. What is more, they are available in three different sizes.
The most popular size is the 80mm tall figure because it was the original size. Smaller 51mm and 65mm models have recently been added to the range. The smaller versions have mobile phone attachments so they can be used as mobile phone charms.
For those of you that have not yet seen one of these nifty promotional tools, it is time you did! USB memory sticks are big selling business gifts but these USB People go one step further. Each USB figure has moving arms hands and legs. They are available with memory of 1G to 8G.
The great thing about these memory stick people is that they are so eye catching. Popular designs are of business people, doctors, nurses, rock stars, nerds, teachers and even Santa Clause. It is not known yet how popular the Santa figure will be as it is still such a new product but it is predicted that the Santa USB People figure will be a tremendous seller this Christmas.
Now, picture your laptop. No, really, close your eyes and think of your laptop at work. Now think about a little man with two dangling arms and two wobbly legs sticking out the side. This is what your customer could have sticking out the side of their computer. Can you imagine the conversations that will start around his office and in meetings? These USB characters can be printed with your logo and contact details. They can also be clothed in your company colours. All of his colleagues and business associates will want one. USB people do appear to be the perfect promoter.
In order to use of these memorable memory sticks, you remove the head and then plug the USB into your computer just like a normal USB memory stick. It is that easy but much more fun than the bulk standard USB sticks on the marker. Give USB People a try in your next promotion. You will be glad you did.
Why Choose a Custom USB Memory Stick
Posted by in USB Sticks on October 11, 2010
Why Choose a Custom USB Memory Stick
Branded USB Memory sticks are everywhere these days. Given the benefits they offer its no real surprise. But as more and more companies use branded USB memory sticks to promote their products or support their marketing and advertising activities its all the more important to stand out in a crowded marketplace.
Printed or engraved memory sticks that reflect your brand/logo, ideally in a complimentary colour and style can look fantastic and they do make a real impact. But, creating a custom shaped USB memory stick takes you into another league.
Custom USB memory sticks that take their design influence and styling from your logo, products or the market you
operate in never fail to have an impact way beyond standard USB products. Done well they become real talking points and can be a fundamental part of any advertising or promotional campaign. This novelty factor and appeal can be important in ensuring your hard spent marketing cash is not simply thrown away or tossed into a drawer.
Up until recently custom USB memory sticks were only financially viable if you were looking to order them in huge quantities and even then the initial set up and tooling costs were high and prohibitive for most. But with increased competition, few customers and improvements in the manufacturing process all this has changed.
Today, its possible to provide an economic alternative to the standard USB memory sticks for orders of 100 pieces or more. Custom USB shapes can be manufactured from a variety of recycled and recyclable materials such as PVC, ABS, Silicon and PET. By using these materials the factories have been able to drive down the set-up and production costs without any compromise on quality.
In particular, PVC offers a great feel as well as fantastic detail and makes production of 2D and 3D custom shaped USB sticks cost effective. The challenge is really down to the customer to come up with the idea and concept.
The lead-time for a custom USB stick is a little longer than for standard USB sticks that are just going to be printed or engraved so be sure to allow for this. The extra few days (and it should add no more than 1 week to the whole process) will be worth it in terms of impact and “wow” factor.
Recent examples of custom USB memory sticks done well include:
USB Brides – to promote a bridal wear catalogue USB Tyres – used at a press launch to promote a new tyre design USB Fork Lift Trucks – to distribute information at a trade show USB Football Crest – for an English Premiership Clubs sponsors USB Guitar – promoted the launch of a Disney game
So, if you are considering a USB memory stick as part of any communication or marketing activity why not go that one little step extra and get some quotes for custom USB sticks.
More “usb Stick” Articles
-
You are currently browsing the archives for the USB Sticks category.
-
USB News
- Survive with Sony's hand-crank USB charger - CNET
- $74 Android PC on a Stick Sells Out, Stock to Return in June - Hot Hardware
- MacBook Pro 2012 to come with Retina Display, USB 3.0: Thunderbolt remains - Northern Voices Online
- Genesys tapped to supply USB 3.0 chips for Apple's MacBook Air - Apple Insider
- USB adapter - CNET