[finnix] usb thumbdrive without formatting / partitioning?

[Ferenc Wagner]

"Ryan Finnie" <ryan at finnie.org> writes:

> On Fri, Aug 22, 2008 at 9:55 AM, Geoffrey Lane <freeballer at gmail.com> wrote:
>
>> I'm looking to replace another distro, want debian based cause of ease of
>> update/installing. I always keep a 4gb drive on me, for emergencies, backup,
>> and general use.. This is where my last distro was housed.
>> I realize there is a cheatcode/command to install on thumbdrive.... but I DO
>> NOT want to haveto backup->restore this drive to install the distro. My
>> first question of course is will it boot from vfat32 drive? If so, anybody
>> made a howto on how to accomplish this without backup/erasure/hair
>> pulling/cursing?
>
> There's a reason why finnix-thumbdrive wants to format, and it's not
> just because I'm a jerk.  The partition has to be in a very specific
> format to get BIOSes to boot from it, and just copying the files on
> won't do it.  See http://syslinux.zytor.com/usbkey.php for an
> explanation; finnix-thumbdrive just does all of the hard work for you.

Maybe it's worth pointing out that the above only applies to broken
BIOSes which can't boot from the pendrive in HDD mode.  Most of them
actually can.  I haven't yet encountered a machine which couldn't boot
my 2G pendrive as a regular HDD.  YMMV, of course.
-- 
Cheers,
Feri.