Putting Ultimate Boot CD for Windows on USB Flash Drive

If you've a netbook but don't have access to an external CD/DVD drive, you can put Ultimate Boot CD for Windows on a USB flash drive. You'll need at least a 1GB USB flash drive and it will be formatted. The files occupied for a default installation for Ultimate Boot CD for Windows 3.2.0 is 692MB.

PeToUSB allows you to make your USB flash drive bootable with Ultimate Boot CD for Windows.

Building Ultimate Boot CD for Windows

Ulimate Boot CD for Windows allows you to boot up from a CD into a Windows XP environment. This CD can be used to back up your important files from FAT, FAT32 or NTFS partitions to USB flash drive or an external USB hard disk under the following situations:

1. computer is unable to boot
2. computer is bootable but unable to use
3. unable to access safe mode using F8

You can also use the Ultimate Boot CD for Windows to remove any malware in your computer without installation.

The CD is quite similar to live Windows XP CD but with many more tools pre-installed. You can follow the steps to create the bootable CD on a Windows XP SP2/3 or Vista SP1 computer.

Checking & Testing Your Computer

1. CPU-Z - check processor core (running) speed, L1 cache, L2 cache & available memory slot
2. HWiNFO32 - check hardware information
   
3. OCCT - Overclock Checking Tool
4. ORTHOS - test CPU & memory
5. Rthdribl - test graphics
   

Checking CPU Information Without Installing Windows

If your BIOS does not provide all the information, you can use the System Information tools in UBCD 4.1.1 that consist of

1. AIDA 16 v2.14 (CPU clock speed & Processor type) Note : L2 cache is incorrect.
2. NSSI 0.59.14 (CPU L2 cache & Processor type)
3. PC-Config 9.33 (CPU clock speed & L2 cache) Note : Processor type is incorrect.
4. ASTRA 5.31 Demo Version (CPU clock speed, L2 cache & processor type)

ASTRA provides the most information without installing Windows. The above tools work with Asus Eee PC but not Acer Extensa 4620Z.

Putting Ultimate Boot CD on USB Flash Drive

If you're buying a Linux/Mac laptop without a built-in optical drive, it is impractical to bring along an external optical drive for running Ultimate Boot CD (UBCD) just to check for defective pixels on the LCD screen. The solution is to put UBCD on a USB flash drive with at least 114MB of free space .

1. Download ubcd411.iso and burn it to a CD.
2. Test booting the CD to make sure it works.
   
3. Copy all the contents of CD to the USB flash drive.
4. Download syslinux-3.36.zip and unzip the files to c:\syslinux
   
5. Click Start -> Run & type cmd.
6. Type cd c:\syslinux\win32
7. Type syslinux -ma u: (replace u with your USB flash drive letter) to make the drive bootable.
8. Restart computer and set your BIOS to boot from your USB flash drive.
9. Select Mainboard Tools, Peripherals Tools & CHZ Monitor-Test

For Windows laptop, you can run Dead Pixel Buddy or UD Pix directly from the USB flash drive without installation.

Checking SSD on Eee PC in Windows XP

HD Tune 2.54 can be run from USB flash disk without being installed. It can check the Solid State Disk (SSD) for the following:

1. Transfer rate & access time
   
2. Health status from Self-Monitoring, Analysis, and Reporting Technology (S.M.A.R.T)
3. Error scan of damaged blocks
   

Everest Corporate Edition & SiSoftware Sandra on Eee PC

I ran Everest Corporate Edition and SiSoftware Sandra on my Eee PC.

The first software checks CPU temperature whereas the second software determines what are connected to the two mini PCIe - wireless card and available but the connector may or may not be present.

HD Tune on Eee PC

I ran HD Tune 2.54 on my Eee PC. The results are as shown.

In terms of transfer rate, the internal SSD is the fastest followed by SanDisk U3 Cruzer Micro and SanDisk microSD.

In terms of access time, the internal SSD is the fastest, followed by SanDisk microSD and SanDisk U3 Cruzer Micro.

BinarySense HDDlife

I install HDDlife for notebook 2.9.110 in Windows Vista from the cover DVD of APC Magazine November 2007. After reboot, it shows it is blocked by Vista.

I have to run it manually. It indicates the current temperature of the harddisk as well as health and performance status. In addition, it shows how long the harddisk is used as work time. The enable noise/performance level and power saving features are not working in Vista. Testing the latest trial version 3.0.146 available online confirms that the problems with Vista are fixed if you don't mind to pay for upgrade.

Another alternative for Vista is the freeware gadget for Vista sidebar. But, it indicates only the temperature of the harddisk as well as read & write status. This runs without any user intervention upon startup.