Memory Stick Format

I would suggest that you format it with FAT32.  That is just my personal opinion.  I format it that way so that it is compatible with just about every PC out there.  I also have it set up as a bootable device because I use it to flash my BIOS.  I never want to flash the BIOS using the Windows/Hard drive method.

 

I own a floppy drive but the memory stick is so much easier to take with you that I generally do not carry the floppy drive unless I know that who I am dealing with wants to use floppies - which is seldom anymore.

 

If you want an easy way to format the memory key, visit HERE.

 

Hello I was wondering if you make it bootable does it boot up like a floppy to an a: prompt and are you able to access the hard drives connected or is it just for updating a bios, and is there a way to write protect it once it is made bootable. I saw a utility for making it bootable on the dell inspiron drivers downloads site is that the same one you have on your site.

thanks again.

The utility that is on Dell's web site is not exactly like the one that I linked you to.  Dell's utility will not handle the larger memory keys and gives you less options.

 

If you boot from a memory key, it will read it as if it was the A:\ drive. 

 

Can you access your hard drives?  Well that depends on your system and/or what OS you use to boot your memory key.  If you use Win98/WinME or earlier MSDOS versions, you can only access your hard drive if it is FAT16 or FAT32, depending on what version of DOS you use.  If your Hard drive is NTFS, these versions can not recognize it.

 

If you use PCDOS as the OS for the memory key, then it can see the NTFS partitions.  There are other utilities that will allow you to see the NTFS partitions. NTFS Reader for DOS is freeware.  It can be run from MSDOS and it will allow you to read and copy files from an NTFS partition.  NTFS DOS is another freeware program that will allow you to see and read the NTFS partitions.

 

Another program that I have not used is NTFS4DOS.  It is freeware and it claims to give you full access (read/write) to NTFS partitions from DOS.