Apr
12
2010

RMPrepUSB – Amazing USB Formatting Tool!

RMPrepUSB is similar to the HP Format utility, but much more flexible and should be better at creating a USB Flash memory drive that will boot on most systems successfully.

RMPrepUSB is a Windows utility that can be used to format any USB storage device, e.g. USB Flash drive (UFD) or USB hard disk as a bootable device. It can be used to partition, format, write a Master Boot Record,  partition table and/or Volume Boot Record (sometimes called a Partition Boot Record) and operating system boot code to any USB storage device (e.g. USB flash memory drive or USB hard disk).

RMPrepUSB makes a single user partition of any size and is primarily intended for USB Flash Drive (UFD) memory sticks although it can be used on USB hard drives to create a single partition.
The utility also places boot code on the USB device for either XP/WinPEv1 (ntldr), Vista/WinPEv2/Win7 (bootmgr), MS-DOS (io.sys) or FreeDos (kernel.sys).
RMPrepUSB does not place any files on the UFD – you must copy these over yourself or set the option in RMPrepUSB to copy over the contents of a folder of your choice.

Download RMPrepUSB

http://sites.google.com/site/rmprepusb/

http://www.mediafire.com/?y24kjj2xyyo

http://www.boot-land.net/forums/index.php?showtopic=7739

The current version of the tool is v2.0.737.Check the boot-land thread for more details.The downloaded the zip file contains a pdf file RMPrepUSB.pdfThis file contains a wealth of information about this tool.Make sure you read this pdf file.

RMPrepUSB has many different uses, including:

  1. Partition, format and make bootable a USB drive
  2. Clean (erase/wipe) a USB drive
  3. Backup a USB drive (or parts of a USB drive) to an image file
  4. Restore an image file (or part of an image file) to a USB drive
  5. Install the Grub bootloader onto a USB drive
  6. Test a USB drive (useful for testing fake USB flash memory drives
  7. Eject a USB drive (for safe removal)
  8. Display the partition structure of a USB drive (or image file)
  9. Use after PEBuilder to install your XP PE files to a bootable USB drive.

Six steps to make your USB drive bootable

  1. Select the USB drive in the listbox if more than one is present and either leavethe size as MAX or change it (e.g. type 512 for a partition size of 512MiB).
  2. Change the volume label text if you want to.
  3. Set the type boot loader that you want installed onto the new partition after ithas been formatted.
  4. Change the Filesystem and Overrides. You may need to experiment with these before you can find a combination that works. Different models of PCs or Noteboooks may require different settings.
  5. If you want to, you can copy the contents of a folder to the new empty partition after it has been formatted. Tick the COPY OS FILES box if you want this. Note: RMPrepUSB will not place any boot files on the USB drive and it will not be bootable unless you copy the boot files onto it.
  6. Click on the blue Prepare drive button.

Note: Coloured  buttons  will  write  to  you  USB  drive.  Except  for  the  Install  Grub button, all other coloured blue/red buttons will erase  the USB drive contents.

How to create a bootable pendrive to install Windows 7 using RMPrepUSB

This is one of the best ever USB Formatting Tool I have ever come across.Thanks to Steve of RM Education and Boot-land Members for making such a wonderful utility.

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About the Author: Bharat Balegere

Bharat Balegere is a 27 year old blogger from Bengaluru. He is a technology enthusiast and loves tinkering with computers and usb drives.

6 Comments + Add Comment

  • Thanks! This looks very useful

  • Maybe you would like to make a language.ini file for the new version of RMprepUSB. See Boot-Land for details. Version 802 now tests read/write speed of USB drives and records the speed in a .csv file.

    http://www.boot-land.net/forums/index.php?s=&showtopic=11418&view=findpost&p=100760

  • Hi Bharat: Many thanks for the article and the video. Just wanted to know whether grub4dos is required (while using RMprepUSB) at any stage to make the USB flash drive bootable for Windows 7 installation? If it is required, then does one install the Grub bootloader before copying Windows 7 files from the DVD drive (step 5) or after copying the Windows 7 files? Are there any precautions that one is required to take in installing grub bootloader? You must have notice that on the RMprepUSB, there an button (Install Grub Bootloader) that installs grub4dos if you want?
    Thanks a lot.
    Manu

    • Grub4dos is not necessarily required for making a USB Drive bootable for Windows 7 Installation.
      You can use Windows 7 Bootsector bootmgr to make it bootable.
      However, if you plan to include more bootable items in your USB Drive then Grub4Dos would be a better choice as it is more flexible.

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