New and improved ALL-IN-ONE single multi-purpose flash drive solution here: The LAST flash drive you will ever need! Ventoy FULL walk-thru and review! ua-cam.com/video/MIT3w-EPA9M/v-deo.html
You're very welcome! One W10 Home ISO will work on any W10 Home Edition PC. Same with Pro. Hirens will work on any version of Windows. Here's how to do it all with just one flash drive - even simpler! The LAST flash drive you will ever need! Ventoy FULL walk-thru and review! ua-cam.com/video/MIT3w-EPA9M/v-deo.html
I've had my laptop for a couple of months now and I've been worrying over how I go about creating these flash drives. This video made it all clear and enabled me to finally get the job done. Thank you.
If your worried about your computer crashing especially since Windows 11 is Spyware. Why not buy a sata drive 1terra byte and have Linux Mint installed.I did that and it works better then Windows does.
I had a little hiccup last week with my PC. Ran scannow /SFC. Repaired errors. Came across this UA-cam video. Have used 2 USB drives to download these boot CDs for future use. Very clear instructions. Highly recommend your video to others. Thank you!
I am the complete opposite! No "normie" as you put it, should be trying to resolve major system failures if they don't have a trusted backup of their data, which is the scenario being discussed in this video about losing all their data, etc. Their best bet is to turn the PC off and let an experienced tech handle the situation properly to insure their data remains intact. There are quite a few scenarios that can occur, if they were to make a bad decision, that can result in the entire drive being formatted and their data lost forever. It's just not worth the risk if they don't fully understand the processes they are about to attempt.
I just wanted to point out a few notes of clarity. The Windows Media Creation Tool does indeed allow you to re-install Windows onto any PC, but it is a "clean" version of Windows, meaning any bundled software from the manufacturer will not immediately be present and will need to be downloaded along with any aesthetics such as wallpapers. You will only get the core Windows programs and perhaps a few bloat programs that Microsoft likes to bundle into the stock OS these days. Now while the vast majority of people likely won't care one bit about not having that manufacerer-included software, people with gaming PC's who have used the included gaming-type software such as RGB control for their keyboards or towers might want that back and could be frustrated with trying to locate the software and drivers on the manufacterer's website. An alternative that I often suggest to people who purchase a new computer is to create a System Recovery Disk. It uses a simple USB drive just like with the Media Creation Tool, only this will create an installation disk that will restore your computer to exactly the way it was when you first powered it on after purchasing it, complete with the included software bundles and aesthetics. It's also very simple to make since you can just insert your USB, search for "Create a Recovery Drive", click on the app, and follow the instructions just like you would with the Media Creation Tool. If you want a clean installation of Windows, which most people are perfectly fine with, go with the Creation Tool, but if you for whatever reason want your computer looking exactly like when you first unboxed it, you'll want to create a Recovery Drive and use that instead. Its use is also virtually the same as the Media Tool, just boot from USB like instructed in the video and the USB will load your operating system as it was put together by the manufacturer back onto your computer. I wasn't aware of Hiren's tool though so thank you for introducing me to that.
Excellent points! I mention some of those in my latest video. Thanks for your comment and insight! The definitive guide to backing up your PC ua-cam.com/video/kDYKLzm-EMo/v-deo.html
Another option is to simply clone your drive of that special computer when you get it. You can create additional clones or snapshots shortly after you've configured it to your preference.
Exactly! Got a video coming soon about this ideal backup solution in depth. I touched on it in a recent video (The definitive guide to backing up your PC ua-cam.com/video/kDYKLzm-EMo/v-deo.html) but I want to do a full, easy to follow explainer for novices. Thx for the comment! 🍺
If you create "Recovery Drive" using the built in feature of Windows 8 ~ 11 on a system that has the original OEM preinstalled system image intact, it will restore OEM drivers and applications (third party) because the WIM images have been customized by the PC maker. But if created from an upgraded Windows install, or a clean Windows install, you get the standard MS installation bits with no added drivers or OEM customizations. It's the same thing as creating the media from an ISO obtained straight from Microsoft.
30 years in the business has taught me that you WILL have issues at some point. These discs are absolutely worth their weight in GOLD when that time comes!
@@FlyboyHelosim You've got that bass-ackwards. Evangelizing Linux is analogous to free people, trying to show Microsoft's sheep the better life without slavery of belonging to 'Massa Microsoft', along with it's inherent viruses & bloatware. "When the sheep grow blind, it is the wolves who rejoice". If you'll swallow Microsoft's "fake meat", you'll be eating crickets & Soylent Green, eventually. sad Besides, I rated a 'heart' and you didn't. 🤪 😜 🤪 😁 🤣 😂
In addition to these two boot drives, I would also recommend having a Linux USB boot drive on hand as well, either Mint or Ubuntu. I've rescued Windows files using a Linux boot USB when everything seemed hopeless.
@@AskYourComputerGuy We had a Dell PC with one of those one-disk RAID configurations that wouldn't boot and nothing we tried would allow access to the files on the disk. We booted off a Ubuntu USB drive and were able to copy off the critical files.
On my 2 year old Xeon based workstation pretty much 0 linux versions work ;( Only Unix alike os I got working was Mac OS as hackintosh and BSD and in those it was trouble with they running VESA mode on my 4k TV .... Linux Mint would crash immediately not even trying to start, same with most other linux versions.
Another variation of thi is to use a tool like Ventoy, where you install that to the USB drive, and then copy the ISO's to the folder, then you can have a multi boot disk, I currently have 19 ISO's stored on my disk, boot first to ventoy, then use scroll menu to choose which iso to load.
I also use Ventoy on a 64GB usb drive with all Windows versions and bootable tools. Saving all the switching between drives and no need to make the ISO's bootable. Any updated Windows or tool version and I just replace the files on the drive.
In the 80s as I was finishing high school I interned in a bank. They had a terminal in each floor and sometimes in each department, all connected to a mainframe running big reels of magnetic tape in an air-conditioned and humidity controlled computer room. I still remember how excited the IT guys were about the speed of the network being upgraded to 9600 baud. The only thing it ran was a custom accounting software and the only things the terminals were used for was posting vouchers at the end of each day and looking up balances with the caveat that if any transactions had taken place earlier that day, these would not be reflected until the vouchers had been posted after 5pm and the whole system had run a fresh compilation overnight. Then by the early 90s I graduated college and got a job in a different bank. We each had terminals on our desks but we still had two full-time typists with IBM "golf-ball" typewriters on each floor to handle the heavy stuff. Our terminals were dumb and ran off the mainframe but this time that also included enterprise or server versions of Microsoft Windows and Office. I remember one fun thing was that you could make a message appear in the middle of someone else's screen. No chat, just a box with a message. We were surprisingly creative and strategic in planning it's use. Crucially, our storage was also on the mainframe. The terminals had no hard drives or perhaps only very nominal ones purely to support the 256K's of RAM. So if the mainframe was ever down the thing on our desks was dead. Around this time, many homes had "a" computer that people shared. Some people had laptops although this might have been from work. Personal laptops were rare because they were expensive but also because they were still big and heavy and lasted 2 hours. Then memory got really cheap, computers' hard drives that used to be 4GB or 8GB were now 40GB or 60GB and getting bigger all the time. So everyone stored everything on their own computers and installed all sorts of software on their own computers. There was no filing discipline or hierarchy, it was clutter, disorder and duplication everywhere while people learned the law of unintended consequences that could result from the cheerful misuse of regedit and other dos commands. it became boom time for the virus industry ( we old timers believe the anti-virus industry and the virus industry to be the same) and for PC repair businesses and basically that's when all the recovery and repair protocols were developed. But now we have the cloud. We have subscription software that runs in the cloud and unlimited, fast secure storage to keep our stuff in the cloud. It's kind of a full circle to my early experiences where our personal workstations are really not important. My company has migrated most functions to the cloud and recently, when one of our critical persons' Microsoft Surface suddenly died, we got her a new one in under an hour and she kept on working like nothing ever happened. It took us an hour because for 30 mins we tried to restart the old one before deciding to replace it. Obviously there are risks to this strategy, there could be leaks and breaches, the internet could go down and so forth. But if used sensibly I think it can greatly reduce the negative impact of your computer dying on you, not least the fact that you don't have to become a PC mechanic just to keep things running.
It's worth noting that Ventoy for USB boot creation is a far better option, if you go this route, you can actually combine the x2 USB sticks into one by just dropping the ISO images onto the USB drive, you get a menu on booting asking which ISO image you want to run. I've gone this route and found it easier to just reach for the one USB drive for all. Just for clarity also, it's not just for any version of Windows OS, Linux ISO images work from it too.
I have done the same thing. Best part is, I can also store the installers and activation keys for programs on that same thumb drive. Super handy to be able to install Windows, then use that same thumb drive to install my “must have” programs.
I am a big fan of Hiren’s. Since about 2008 when I began building and servicing my partner’s pcs. Glad I found your channel I need to keep up on this stuff.
Fantastic!!! Just did it! I use to do this "back in the day" I still have a stack of CD'R's named "Windows System boot discs" from 5 laptops ago in a drawer (I think from Windows XP, that was my favorite OS) . Man have we come a long way with the Thumb drives! I'll be honest, I forgot how to do it!! Thanks brother! I just finally subscribed as I've been watching allot of your videos lately. Most new laptops don't even have optical drives built in!
As an IT professional I'd say that it's much better to have a backup computer/laptop instead of flash drives. It's much easier for me to tear out the physical storage out of a dead system and backup anything I need before wiping it with a fresh install rather than digging through windows recovery menus. That's of course IF I am to store anything essential on a system drive. Usually it's other drives or off-site. Boot drive is a cool tool though. Definitely gonna consider adding that to my arsenal
You only need one USB drive with Ventoy. With Ventoy you can boot multiple ISO with only one USB and you can still use that USB drive as a data storage for your movies, photos, documents etc.
From my experience, Ventoy ironically isn't a one-size-fits-all solution. For specific use-cases where you need maximum compatibility, a dedicated USB stick written with just one image using something like Rufus is superior. Ventoy simply adds too many points of failure such as weird partition schemes, dodgy Secure Boot support, finicky USB generation support, etc. Plus the fact that it just outright doesn't support certain OS ISO files, which is odd.
@@lunchmoneyog Yeah well this is the thing, you say you use it for Windows 10 and 11 installs. Ventoy seems to be more compatible and consistent with the newest operating system images. I don't really care for these and more often use USB sticks for legacy installations, which Ventoy isn't that good for.
@@FlyboyHelosim each to their own, I do however suspect that most are not installing unsupported legacy operating systems on a regular basis, if at all.
@@lunchmoneyog That's a pretty bold claim seeing as most PCs on the used market typically have the OS installed that they shipped with. So XP, Vista, and 7, for Windows. Linux doesn't matter so much about being era-specific as it doesn't change much. And look at the increasing number of retro tech enthusiasts.
Hiren's Boot CD looks like a modern version of the Ultimate Boot Disk. UBD was the testing and fixing CD for all your troubles. Thanks for letting us know about this modern version!
Hello Mr. Computer Guy! I just wanted to thank you so much for this video about the media creation tool. I saw it quite some time ago and something told me to follow your instruction. I had it in my computer desk drawer for quite a while and then just other day the inevitable happened as you predicted it would. After a system restore I did went bad and messed up my computer making it impossible to get back into Windows I tried booting from a "repair disc" I had for Windows 10 but it did nothing! Absolutely nothing. After much stress and frustration I remembered your bootable thumbnail I made some time ago. It worked beautifully and I can't tell you what a feeling of relief I felt when I had my computer back intact again! It repaired the damage so effortlessly and solved what could have been a very nasty problem. Thank you again, my friend. So glad I happened to come across your video that day. Much appreciated. Bless you.
Hirens keeps evolving, so many tools on it now. I would throw a third USB but this one require work as well. OSDI - Origin Snappy Driver Installer. If you got to do windows then you are going to want the absolute best drivers our community can mustard. This package gets out of date fast so worth once a month retorrent. But even an old copy can do an install if a pinch (at cost of updating the packs).
Sometimes, its best to have one or two backup SSD drives with your entire system on it, so when sometime do go wrong -- you could, physically replace it or transfer the good drive over the bad... 2 USB boot drives is a must HAVE... But, also having two hardcopies of your system is even better.
I have learned the hard way. SSD's are fast but not truly reliable. So I have a ghost image of my software on a WD Blue 2TB brick. Six years from now it's still there.
After years of doing such things, I would recommend "writing" down the drive letter because it can be quite confusing . I have used most of what you do. Today, though, I clone my drive(s) fairly often instead of backing up since all it takes is to physically swap the hard drives This gentleman is correct in what he says so take notice before it is too late. Great presentation, sir.
This has really helped me and I made a diagnostic tools USB drive last night, because in the past I can’t tell you how many times I’ve had my computer is turn on and they say they can’t start up successfully so this video has really helped me. I recently got a new refurbished gaming laptop so I know this will help immensely other programs you download on the Internet you have to pay for but this was completely free. The fact it was free I like because so many programs out there you have to pay so much money enable to get the whole program but yeah this video is help. Thank you.
Just a small suggestion. You really should free up some space in them hard drives. I use an external HD for to make sure my internal HDs have at least 30% free space in case my PC writes any new information from backups, log reports, large file(s) downloads or anything.
Agreed. Most of the time my drives stay full because youtube video takes up a LOT of space. Several of them are client data. I delete that data 6 months after job completion, so the drive "fullness" varies ;)
As a person with a pc that has gone through some issues, everytime the only and fastest way to fix is reinstalling windows, i do it by opening the program, installing and all that process, but been wanting to get a usb just for this, didn't know about the other and this is super usefull for data recovery, thank you so much 🙏
Been doing this since the days of XP service pack 1 all the way up to windows 11. Still use 2 portable self-powered USB 3.0 HDDs and a number of USB Flash Drives with special software from days working in IT that allow me to wipe and recover boot sectors and factory core firmware on both storage drives and BIOS chips. The BIOS chip is usually the root problem in an unrecoverable crash. Usually corrupted by rootkits.
lol firmware rootkits are actually quite rare. Even more rare, a firmware rootkit corrupting a BIOS to the point of a system being unbootable or constantly crashing. Not my claims, supported by telemetry and other data from all major security research firms, PC makers, even the security software product companies who have an interest in inflating those numbers. 26 years I've never seen it. I mean I guess if you live in one of those regions of the world that are just a hotbed for these things like the Middle East, Central Europe, Africa or something but I am on the other hemisphere.
I have a Home Server that my Windows PC's (4) backup to on a schedule...and a cold storage array I back THAT up to on a schedule. I know not everyone can do that, for the average user this is great advice. Of course there are a few computer repair shops that will hate this video! 😁 (25 years in the business). When I did the "Geek Squad" thing Hiren's was a core tool.
I can't do a server like that, but I have multiple USB flash drive with different OS (linux , win7, win10 mbr, win10 gpt, hirens PE) I also have backup for those iso in my backup external HDD. I also still has my old laptop (dual boot linux - win7) as backup lol So if my main PC and main laptop has problem, I can fix it immediately :D
Another useful tool is ventoy, you can have multiple iso files and boot from them or even vdi and vhd images. This way if I need Linux, windows xp, 7 or Hiren boot cd i can just select what I need from a list
I have problem with ventoy, I don't know why i tried to make a single flash drive for multiple OS like you have but I had problem that make me unable to do the fresh install. So I went back to the old way, use multiple flash drive with their own OS lol
I don't have much experience with Ventoy, although MANY of my viewers have mentioned or suggested I make a video about it. It's on the drawing board to make a definitive how-to video in the near future
My first computer's in early 2000's came with a seperate dvd disk to reinstall windows if needed as far as that goes. Last computer I bought was in 2011 a HP Pavilion desktop and believe that came with a disk as well. Todays computers should come with a separate disk as it once did whether laptop or desktop. I don't know if it does.
They don't. Manufacturers stopped doing that as a cost saving measure. Dumbest thing I've ever seen saving $.05 per PC, especially when a drive crashes. But the companies made more, so we know who wins that battle :(
@@AskYourComputerGuy not to mention that a lot of PCs today don't even include an optical drive - another cost saving measure...i purchased a USB external DVD drive to use in just such an occasion...
Wow, I'm glad I found your video. I've done everything you said and fixed my dying PC. You did a great job explaining each procedure, great video, thank you
Regular full disk clones should be a part of your weekly routine. A couple of hours a week is a small price to pay to save all your data. The OS isn't as important. You can always reinstall that. But your data, especially if you are a professional, really should be backed up safely in multiple places. I recently lost a huge chunk of a project I was working on because of my idiocy and complacency.
Thanks for the tutorial. This has to be the most easiest format and reinstall of windows I have ever gone through. Repartitioned with Genius on Hirens and reinstalled windows with the boot USB. Keep them coming!
Agreed! That's why I made this a couple months later 👍 The LAST flash drive you will ever need! Ventoy FULL walk-thru and review! ua-cam.com/video/MIT3w-EPA9M/v-deo.html
Everyone lives peacefully ...until their computer dies. Just because it hasn't happened to you (yet) doesn't change the fact that ALL hardware has a lifespan. Unfortunately, no one knows when :(
Great advice! I always have a Win10 stick to hand, not heard of the Hiren's bootcd, will download that now, thanks. Had PC's since Win95, today it really is a breeze in comparison, credit to Microsoft.
"Had PC's since Win95, today it really is a breeze in comparison, credit to Microsoft." Credit to Microsoft. . . ? I, too, go back to Windows '95, and I have a different opinion of Microsoft. It's true that Windows '95 was incredibly unstable and just a nightmare when it came to reliability. I seem to recall having to completely re-install my operating system about every two months just to keep things going. I would back up my computer to about 20 floppy disks, if I recall. That process would also fail about halfway through every third time. Today, Windows is vastly more stable and reliable, but what I find remarkable is how little changed the interface is from that of Windows '95--and that was almost 30 years ago! We still have the control panel and the device manager. In fact, I don't think that a PC owner teleported from 1995 to today would have any trouble navigating his way around Windows 10--or vice versa, for that matter. They're both still using a mouse and menus and many of those menus are remarkably similar! It seems to me that from Windows '95 to Windows 7, we all paid to be part of a massive Beta testing program. Remember when people would line up around the block overnight, eagerly anticipating the release of the next version of Windows? And paying a couple hundred bucks for the privilege? The weird thing is that once they perfected it (I agree, Windows 10 is pretty damned good) they stopped charging us anything for it! When it was super crappy and unstable, we happily paid for it. The whole history of the PC seems very odd to me.
@@AskYourComputerGuy Indeed, and having much faster hardware (particularly storage) nowadays certainly doesn't hurt, too... .. (... and I go back to my 1982 RadioShack (Tandy) original "Color Computer" (coco) plugged into a tv, which for a while didn't even have floppies; it relied upon a user plugging in a standard old audio cassette player(/recorder), which REALLY won the prize for lack of speed/reliability... ) >;]
Good video but I disagree with needing to create these before a problem. I upgrade every 2 years so haven't had a failure in past 20 years. Can always create them on laptop or desktop that's not having problems. Kind of like buying a spare water pump for the car because every mechanic will tell you it's not if, but when, your water pump will fail...
As a tech, also with 30 years experience, these tools should come with a caveat warning. As much as these tools are useful for fixing problems, they can also make problems exponentially worse. They are not for the faint of heart or for those who don't have at least a basic understanding of how computers work. I get a lot of people in my shop that tried to fix their computer problems themselves watching UA-cam videos like these, only to make the problem worse and subsequently my job harder to recover their system. Always, and I do mean always, try to understand what it is your are doing before you do it.
And disengage the fan and remove the heat sink so then you can warm up pizza on your PC without stoking up the oven. Just plug the fan back when pizza's done is all. Throw the sink away, it's simply a ploy, Microsoft is only trying to get us all to purchase whole kitchens by throwing in a sink with each computer.@@alphanerd2305
All these people replying appear to be techies....I'm not, along with the majority of your viewers. Will you please do a follow-up video of ACTUALLY using these drives to restore a computer because your explanation is still Greek to me, and many others I suspect. HP Greek in my case Cheers from Canada North
Used to have these on hand always until I found about about MediCat USB. Now it's truly an all in one USB. You can even boot directly into Windows ISOs from here without creating a separate USB for each installer (7, 8, 10, 11). Have a look into that too. Been a life saver.
Good points! I usually go to Control Panel>Backup and Restore and do "Create a system image" which makes an image of the entire system. I then access it by booting to "Advanced Startup" and use system image option.
I have done this with my Macrium Reflect software so I can boot into a recovery pre boot environment that will allow me to restore directly from my external drive that contains my backup images. Having a fresh installation media and recovery USB/Hiren's disk is all very clutch! Every Windows user should do everything listed in this video! If you have a backup software like OEM Backup Software (Dell, HP, Lenovo) Acronis True Image, Windows Backup, Macruim, EaseUS ToDo or any other backup software please make those restore specific recovery disks prior to your computer taking a fat dump! 🤓
Ventoy is absolutely an option but some people inky need a Windows installer, so I decided to make a multi-disc option. Maybe in another video I'll explore this deeper! Thx 👍💪
@@AskYourComputerGuy but Ventoy can put the Windows iso you downloaded on this USB along with any other iso. As a tech, I have Windows 10&11 along with tech tools and some Linux distros on a 128GB flash. Don't need to carry multiple drives with me.
True, and worth diving into. But I also like to spread my failure points out a bit. If everything is on one disc, and something happens to that disc, you lose everything. But I don't disagree (assuming it's a quality flash drive). Maybe I'll make a Ventoy video down the road 👍💪
for some reasons not all iso are working on ventoy, even MEMTest iso. And there are cases most of the time the display will get corrupted and is unusable.
During the first 20 years of our careers, we relied on HDD's. Now with SSD, the vast majority of Physical Hardware failures are gone. SSD's failures are generally in the first couple months, the SSD in my old computer is 10 years old and still rocking. Just retired my i7 3770 as my main computer. It's now sitting int he kids room, with a 2060 GPU for when they visit. If a computer is being sold with an HDD as the only drive... run away. 3rd Party Drivers are responsible for the mass majority of Windows failures today.
Have similar exp with you. I just recently retire my i7-4790, it's now sit in my brother room to do light gaming, and I just replace the old SSD in that PC with a newer one because the old 2,5" Samsung EVO is already old and I now use it as an external drive. And I am agree, for newer os like win 10 and 11, SSD is the only acceptable option for me
Only the quality of SSDs has gone downhill due to manufacturing them outside US. People get Samsung SSD and it dies after a year... It's even worse with the fastest NVMe drives, manufactured god knows where. With that in mind, I am not sure if SSDs are more reliable than the good old HDDs.
@@ExtaTer Source Please? I have purchase 19 Samsung SSDs since 2013, 1 Failure under warranty replaced no issue, replacement still working. Every HDD purchased in the last 20 years but 1, has failed. This for computers in my home. At worked we purchased 250 HP G2 laptops. That batch had over a 50% failure rate. The 200 Dell 3380's had SSD's with less then a 10% failure rate. Now... I will say I have seen a lot more tech failure since COVID, especially Batteries. I chalk that up to the mad rush to get things back into the market. I am betting may things are being produced in Noncertified clean Rooms.
@@AskYourComputerGuy if thats the case why are you providing this out of date garbage advice? i giess views are really more important then solid advice.
Because a) it's not garbage advice. My advice may not be "ideal" for tech people, but it does work and is useful b) I personally prefer 2 separate drives because I often work on multiple machines at one time and it's handy c) this is the method I've used for years, but I've been dabbling with Ventoy and plan on making a video about it. You are entitled to your opinion, but to call my video "garbage" is offensive. I work my ass off to provide easy to use solutions for novice users, and those people appreciate my effort. Nothing in IT is "the" solution for everyone. I have Ventoy video planned as an alternative for a 1-disc solution. But thanks for your comment regardless.
Thanks for this. A few years ago I decided that the easiest way for me was to make Clone Drives of all my Windows PC’s. I clone my Desktop once a week and my lesser used Laptops about once a month. I keep restore points and keep an image iso file of each system drive C. All my data (photos), which I keep on secondary and tertiary discs, I backup to a Home Server, two secure portable drives, and finally on MyCloud (Microsoft). I do keep these two USB drives. But I only needed to spend many hours to repair my computer once several years ago to never want to go thru that again. So perhaps once every year or two I just replace the bad drive with the clone and I’m on my way again. Takes half an hour if that.
Every day I backup my files to another computer, and once a month I clone my HDD. I keep 6 identical drives in a fireproof and EMP Proof safe. I also have an identical computer to place that backup drive in. Yes you can do this! I learned a long time ago you can't have enough backups. Same with my phones, I back them up to at least 2 computers daily. I do not trust the cloud, that is just someone else's computer having your private information. Yep it cost twice as much worth EVEY dollar spent!
@@davidinchcliff4560 Sounds like maybe he's a bit traumatized by some data loss in the past... Been there... Now I make sure all (new/modified) important data is quickly backed up to external HD's. .. (... I used to backup the OS too, but with regular updates to win10 ("22H2", etc) plus the satisfaction of a new, clean, FASTER running Install, I really don't bother now, I just keep a running log/depository of the latest progs/drivers/settings/etc ready for the clean reinstall, incl latest M$ OS install ISO; like to do it regardless of issues at least once/yr anyway)
Subbed after watching this clip. 100% worth the time and effort to learn these simple tasks. I've been using Windows OS for 25 years. I can't understand how people "REFUSE" to do simple maintenance on their own devices.
This video is a 💎 of a find!! Windows bricked My win 10 forcing us to migrate to W11 😠😠😠 it's fixed and working like a champ after almost 12 months!! Thank you so much computer Guy!! 🙏🙏😀😀
I originally made USB recovery drives for my PCs but I also am going to take your advice from the video to do it your way with the two flash drives as backups. Thanks for the info.
You can also put them both on one drive, much easier! The LAST flash drive you will ever need! Ventoy FULL walk-thru and review! ua-cam.com/video/MIT3w-EPA9M/v-deo.html
Oh man. It's amazing to see a guide about "rescue sticks" and see that in "discless" era - Hiren's Boot is still a thing, 10 years since you last time used it.
Half way through I discover the video is outdated & I have to start all over again with an updated version. Please add a note to help people out at the beginning. I'm in a fight for my life with time for starting a business, in severe struggle/ trouble, recently spending days on computer issues. The last thing I needed was wasted time. Thanks for the OTHER updated videos though
Video has just been recently updated since Hirens changed their process: [2024 MEGA update!] 2 USB boot drives EVERY Windows user should make before it's too late! ua-cam.com/video/pi3haU6h1es/v-deo.html
I have had 3 computer's go down and two were because of a detective/damaged hard drive. Each time i simply removed the hard drive from the bad computer and snapped it in a hard drive case. Then i plugged it into the usb port on another computer and slid all my photos, videos, documents, and every other file i wanted onto the new computer. Those were the only files that were important to me. Of course now i keep them updated on several external hard drive.
Absolutely, you are absolutely correct. For a multitude of reasons your PC can out of the blue refuse to boot, and the repair tools offered by Microsoft are useless crap. Over the years, having tried these other "recovery?" tool methods, the way that I do it now is by using a full disk copy tool. I always have two USB 2TB drives, (2 copies of the HD) that can be back-copied onto the HD. I mostly use Paragon and EaseUS to do this, using their WinPE boot from USB. (the Samsung Magician is supposed to also do diskcopy, but I have never tried it) Gets everything back to a previous time: W11 OS, all the installed programs, and all the data files except the most recent. It is a long process, takes over 2 hours to copy over 700GB of files, but so far it has never failed to get up and running again, without much mess around aggravation. I am thinking of a slight modification to this method, by getting a second SSD HD and keeping all data on that, and only have the OS and installed Programs on the C drive, for the diskcopy. Less chance of time gap data loss.
When you run the media creation software, it automatically does that for you. You just have to plug in the drive and tell the program which drive letter to write to. Everything else is done by the software
It seems like a recommendation that everyone who has a PC should know, as someone who studies Computer Systems, these types of tools became an essential part, when owning a PC and providing technical maintenance to others As an additional addition, I have always recommended having bootable Linux USBs, since it can be very useful for quick recovery of files or making backups, even Linux distributions dedicated to unlocking computers or system recovery.
OMG you saved me tonight: HOLY COW so I have just started watching you. I am a nurse for a living but am trying to become more and more technical. Oddly just three days ago I created these two usb boot drives. Tonight my system crashed. While I can't figure out why it won't reboot (especially since Hiram's tools show all partitions as healthy) thanks to your USBs video I was able to use Hiram's to at least get my data back. I had not backed up for a week and lost critical work. PLEASE PLEASE CAN YOU TELL ME WHERE YOUR VIDEO IS THAT SHOWS ME HOW TO CHANGE THE LOCATION OF MY DOCUMENTS FOLDER TO A SEPARATE VOLUME SO MY DATA IS NO ON THE SYSTEM PARTITION. I know you have such a video but I am looking and looking and can't find it.
Thanks for the support! Here's the video you're asking about 👍 How to guarantee ZERO data loss if Windows crashes ua-cam.com/video/DCQh7thkYvI/v-deo.html
I got the media creation tool for at least 6 years because I build and fix my own desktop computers since I was a kid. I didn't hear about the Hirens boot cd, I'll check that out, thanks!
I agree totally with this video but i would like to point out if someone has bought a pc with windows 11 and it didnt originally meet the specs to run you would have to download the iso , and use rufus to remove the requirements. I would recommend doing this anyway just to be sure. Other than that, keep up the good work
Thanks for sharing this knowledge. I used to use the HBCD long time ago, I forgot about it when it got discontinued, but is good to know about this new PE version. Thanks again
I recently signed up for the windows insider and this just happened to me. Thankfully I didn't have much on the computer, but it was unbootable, until I finally got it to do so by restoring it to factory. I'm going to take your advice on this, thank you.
Always store files to an external drive, have that drive set to backup to an encrypted private drive in the cloud. only use the main C drive for OS and other software. If you do store files on the main C drive have that folder backup to an encrypted private drive in the cloud.
That’s been my practice since I had a drive failure that cost me 2 weeks of productivity many years ago. Now, my C drive is only used for Windows OS and apps, while all files & documents are stored on D drive and mirrored to E drive. I also mirror the D drive to NAS #1, and backup to an encrypted file on NAS #2. D drive is synced to OneDrive and SharePoint, and also backs up to an encrypted third party cloud service. All hard drives are SSD’s.
I had a suggestion I think for Windows 10 fresh install, we don't need to connect to the internet but for Windows 11 fresh install we need to connect to the internet. During the fresh install there are no drivers present, so it would be great to download your wifi driver on the flash drive as you will need wifi to complete the Windows 11 installation.
Very good info for everyone. I been doing the Windows Media Creation tool for a while. Not heard about the Hiren program. Had issue on brand new pc build for my kid and on windows update this error popped up on bootup and I could not get around it to save my life. "C:\WINDOWS\System32\Logfiles\Srt\SrtTrail.txt". I tried every Windows tips and nothing fixed it except a straight-up install again. Never seen this before but seem common on my internet searches. But really good stuff you put out.
Thanks my friend! Glad you figured out the install error. FYI I took this two drive approach and found an even better way...ONE drive. Drag and drop an ISO and it's ready to boot! The LAST flash drive you will ever need! Ventoy FULL walk-thru and review! ua-cam.com/video/MIT3w-EPA9M/v-deo.html
Thank you and UA-cam for recommending this video. Just yesterday, I changed win11 file and folder default installation path, but accidently modified the WOW key also in the registry. And suddenly windows would not run programs, would not reopen regedit again, and all sorts of problems immerged. After a couple of hours, I figured I should go into safe mode and access Regedit to fix what I did. But before that I couldn't reinstall win 11 because I had no bootable usb. Thanks again for all the info.
I would recommend only one thing in your USB, Ventoy. And then just iso files. Ventoy can boot into any saved Iso files be it Linux or Windows. Ventoy doesn't even takes space and once you create Ventoy usb , you will never ever need anything else, except for isos
Great info, thanks for the tutorial. Does each computer in my office need its own set of drives or do they work on any computer and, I'm assuming, can be used any number of times?
No, you only need a Windows flash drive for each OS, so if they are all W10 for example, one flash will work for all. If you have W10 and W11 mixes, you'll need one for each. Hirens is just one flash drive, will work on any OS. And yes, as many times as you want. There's no limits on either 👍
You're welcome! Before you create them, you should watch this. You might find it even more helpful! The LAST flash drive you will ever need! Ventoy FULL walk-thru and review! ua-cam.com/video/MIT3w-EPA9M/v-deo.html
Great video ❤. Thanks so much. I’ve been trying to backup all my pc stuff and Mac because I have too many computers and yes I’m an addict ❤. I’m fascinated with all this technology. It’s mind blowing. Thank you for sharing your experience with knowledge.
Exactly. That's why I later made this video: The LAST flash drive you will ever need! Ventoy FULL walk-thru and review! ua-cam.com/video/MIT3w-EPA9M/v-deo.html
Another very handy tool that is good for large capacity flash drives in called Ventoy. You use to tool to prepare the flash media and you can drag and drop .iso images of any kind you like. You boot from the drive and the Ventoy menu comes up allowing you to boot from any of the iso's you drop in the drive. I keep one with Hiren's on it along with the current Windows and Linux distros I use. It's a great utility. Another is using Rufus Tool for writing individual iso's to a flash drive. Both have served me well.
If you only have one USB or want to put even more isos to use, there is a tool called "ventoy" that allows you to setup a USB to be bootable, and when booted asks which iso you want to use
Agreed. That's why I made this follow up video about Ventoy 👍 The LAST flash drive you will ever need! Ventoy FULL walk-thru and review! ua-cam.com/video/MIT3w-EPA9M/v-deo.html
![[2024 MEGA update] EVERY Windows user needs THESE 2 USB drives!](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/pi3haU6h1es/mqdefault.jpg)
![[2024 MEGA update] EVERY Windows user needs THESE 2 USB drives!](/img/tr.png)
New and improved ALL-IN-ONE single multi-purpose flash drive solution here: The LAST flash drive you will ever need! Ventoy FULL walk-thru and review!
ua-cam.com/video/MIT3w-EPA9M/v-deo.html
Will the same one work on all my Windows 10 laptops and PC or do I need to make a set for each one? Thank you for making this video, by the way.
You're very welcome! One W10 Home ISO will work on any W10 Home Edition PC. Same with Pro. Hirens will work on any version of Windows. Here's how to do it all with just one flash drive - even simpler!
The LAST flash drive you will ever need! Ventoy FULL walk-thru and review!
ua-cam.com/video/MIT3w-EPA9M/v-deo.html
Even an old dog can learn new tricks, right? 💪
Do you know how to recover data and files from a hard drive that has already crashed (blue screen)?
I was just about to add a reply mentioning that it be better to add ISO’s like these to a Ventoy disc
I've had my laptop for a couple of months now and I've been worrying over how I go about creating these flash drives. This video made it all clear and enabled me to finally get the job done. Thank you.
👍
If your worried about your computer crashing especially since Windows 11 is Spyware.
Why not buy a sata drive 1terra byte and have Linux Mint installed.I did that and it works better then Windows does.
I had a little hiccup last week with my PC. Ran scannow /SFC. Repaired errors. Came across this UA-cam video. Have used 2 USB drives to download these boot CDs for future use. Very clear instructions. Highly recommend your video to others. Thank you!
Thank you so much! If you liked this one, you are absolutely going to love my next video. It's taking this concept to an entirely new level 💪
As an IT professional who has worked in the industry for over a decade, I whole-heartedly approve of this wonderful video to help the normies.
Thank you! Your professional validation matters, and I appreciate you saying that ;)
I am the complete opposite! No "normie" as you put it, should be trying to resolve major system failures if they don't have a trusted backup of their data, which is the scenario being discussed in this video about losing all their data, etc. Their best bet is to turn the PC off and let an experienced tech handle the situation properly to insure their data remains intact. There are quite a few scenarios that can occur, if they were to make a bad decision, that can result in the entire drive being formatted and their data lost forever. It's just not worth the risk if they don't fully understand the processes they are about to attempt.
Excellent points 💪
Nice.... validation from another tech is awesome!
Yeah but which option do you choose after making USB recovery so that all your drivers are installed is this even possible?
I just wanted to point out a few notes of clarity. The Windows Media Creation Tool does indeed allow you to re-install Windows onto any PC, but it is a "clean" version of Windows, meaning any bundled software from the manufacturer will not immediately be present and will need to be downloaded along with any aesthetics such as wallpapers. You will only get the core Windows programs and perhaps a few bloat programs that Microsoft likes to bundle into the stock OS these days. Now while the vast majority of people likely won't care one bit about not having that manufacerer-included software, people with gaming PC's who have used the included gaming-type software such as RGB control for their keyboards or towers might want that back and could be frustrated with trying to locate the software and drivers on the manufacterer's website.
An alternative that I often suggest to people who purchase a new computer is to create a System Recovery Disk. It uses a simple USB drive just like with the Media Creation Tool, only this will create an installation disk that will restore your computer to exactly the way it was when you first powered it on after purchasing it, complete with the included software bundles and aesthetics. It's also very simple to make since you can just insert your USB, search for "Create a Recovery Drive", click on the app, and follow the instructions just like you would with the Media Creation Tool. If you want a clean installation of Windows, which most people are perfectly fine with, go with the Creation Tool, but if you for whatever reason want your computer looking exactly like when you first unboxed it, you'll want to create a Recovery Drive and use that instead. Its use is also virtually the same as the Media Tool, just boot from USB like instructed in the video and the USB will load your operating system as it was put together by the manufacturer back onto your computer.
I wasn't aware of Hiren's tool though so thank you for introducing me to that.
Excellent points! I mention some of those in my latest video. Thanks for your comment and insight!
The definitive guide to backing up your PC
ua-cam.com/video/kDYKLzm-EMo/v-deo.html
Another option is to simply clone your drive of that special computer when you get it. You can create additional clones or snapshots shortly after you've configured it to your preference.
Exactly! Got a video coming soon about this ideal backup solution in depth. I touched on it in a recent video (The definitive guide to backing up your PC
ua-cam.com/video/kDYKLzm-EMo/v-deo.html) but I want to do a full, easy to follow explainer for novices. Thx for the comment! 🍺
If you create "Recovery Drive" using the built in feature of Windows 8 ~ 11 on a system that has the original OEM preinstalled system image intact, it will restore OEM drivers and applications (third party) because the WIM images have been customized by the PC maker. But if created from an upgraded Windows install, or a clean Windows install, you get the standard MS installation bits with no added drivers or OEM customizations. It's the same thing as creating the media from an ISO obtained straight from Microsoft.
True
30 years in the business has taught me that you WILL have issues at some point. These discs are absolutely worth their weight in GOLD when that time comes!
I want to know what is your opinion on Sergi's Strelec vs Hiren's
Never used it, don't have an opinion :(
You're right! I've happily been running Ubuntu for 8yrs...🇺🇸 😎👍☕
@@lilblackduc7312 Why is it that Linux users will always find a way to let you know they use Linux? You're like vegans, nobody cares. 😂
@@FlyboyHelosim You've got that bass-ackwards. Evangelizing Linux is analogous to free people, trying to show Microsoft's sheep the better life without slavery of belonging to 'Massa Microsoft', along with it's inherent viruses & bloatware. "When the sheep grow blind, it is the wolves who rejoice". If you'll swallow Microsoft's "fake meat", you'll be eating crickets & Soylent Green, eventually. sad Besides, I rated a 'heart' and you didn't. 🤪 😜 🤪 😁 🤣 😂
In addition to these two boot drives, I would also recommend having a Linux USB boot drive on hand as well, either Mint or Ubuntu. I've rescued Windows files using a Linux boot USB when everything seemed hopeless.
Working on a video showing exactly how to do this as we speak! ;)
@@AskYourComputerGuy We had a Dell PC with one of those one-disk RAID configurations that wouldn't boot and nothing we tried would allow access to the files on the disk. We booted off a Ubuntu USB drive and were able to copy off the critical files.
There's no doubt that having a Linux boot disc is a great tool for everyone's tool belt. Glad it worked out for you!💪
On my 2 year old Xeon based workstation pretty much 0 linux versions work ;( Only Unix alike os I got working was Mac OS as hackintosh and BSD and in those it was trouble with they running VESA mode on my 4k TV .... Linux Mint would crash immediately not even trying to start, same with most other linux versions.
@a64738 odd. Everyone says Linux is the easiest OS to install...interesting.
Another variation of thi is to use a tool like Ventoy, where you install that to the USB drive, and then copy the ISO's to the folder, then you can have a multi boot disk, I currently have 19 ISO's stored on my disk, boot first to ventoy, then use scroll menu to choose which iso to load.
Due to hundreds of comments from users, I decided to make a Ventoy video. I wasn't even aware of it. It's on the drawing board! 👍
I also use Ventoy on a 64GB usb drive with all Windows versions and bootable tools. Saving all the switching between drives and no need to make the ISO's bootable. Any updated Windows or tool version and I just replace the files on the drive.
*Isos (no apostrophe) plurals do not require apostrophe. (Ie: computer's)
@@SirStarGazer00 Please stick around for more typing mistakes
Same! LOL 😂
In the 80s as I was finishing high school I interned in a bank. They had a terminal in each floor and sometimes in each department, all connected to a mainframe running big reels of magnetic tape in an air-conditioned and humidity controlled computer room. I still remember how excited the IT guys were about the speed of the network being upgraded to 9600 baud. The only thing it ran was a custom accounting software and the only things the terminals were used for was posting vouchers at the end of each day and looking up balances with the caveat that if any transactions had taken place earlier that day, these would not be reflected until the vouchers had been posted after 5pm and the whole system had run a fresh compilation overnight.
Then by the early 90s I graduated college and got a job in a different bank. We each had terminals on our desks but we still had two full-time typists with IBM "golf-ball" typewriters on each floor to handle the heavy stuff. Our terminals were dumb and ran off the mainframe but this time that also included enterprise or server versions of Microsoft Windows and Office. I remember one fun thing was that you could make a message appear in the middle of someone else's screen. No chat, just a box with a message. We were surprisingly creative and strategic in planning it's use. Crucially, our storage was also on the mainframe. The terminals had no hard drives or perhaps only very nominal ones purely to support the 256K's of RAM. So if the mainframe was ever down the thing on our desks was dead. Around this time, many homes had "a" computer that people shared. Some people had laptops although this might have been from work. Personal laptops were rare because they were expensive but also because they were still big and heavy and lasted 2 hours.
Then memory got really cheap, computers' hard drives that used to be 4GB or 8GB were now 40GB or 60GB and getting bigger all the time. So everyone stored everything on their own computers and installed all sorts of software on their own computers. There was no filing discipline or hierarchy, it was clutter, disorder and duplication everywhere while people learned the law of unintended consequences that could result from the cheerful misuse of regedit and other dos commands. it became boom time for the virus industry ( we old timers believe the anti-virus industry and the virus industry to be the same) and for PC repair businesses and basically that's when all the recovery and repair protocols were developed.
But now we have the cloud. We have subscription software that runs in the cloud and unlimited, fast secure storage to keep our stuff in the cloud. It's kind of a full circle to my early experiences where our personal workstations are really not important. My company has migrated most functions to the cloud and recently, when one of our critical persons' Microsoft Surface suddenly died, we got her a new one in under an hour and she kept on working like nothing ever happened. It took us an hour because for 30 mins we tried to restart the old one before deciding to replace it.
Obviously there are risks to this strategy, there could be leaks and breaches, the internet could go down and so forth. But if used sensibly I think it can greatly reduce the negative impact of your computer dying on you, not least the fact that you don't have to become a PC mechanic just to keep things running.
Great story! And yes, it is rather ironic how we are almost full-circle back to dummy terminal style computing. Much faster and cheaper though 😂
It's worth noting that Ventoy for USB boot creation is a far better option, if you go this route, you can actually combine the x2 USB sticks into one by just dropping the ISO images onto the USB drive, you get a menu on booting asking which ISO image you want to run. I've gone this route and found it easier to just reach for the one USB drive for all.
Just for clarity also, it's not just for any version of Windows OS, Linux ISO images work from it too.
Agreed. That's why I made this follow-up video: ua-cam.com/video/MIT3w-EPA9M/v-deo.html
I have done the same thing. Best part is, I can also store the installers and activation keys for programs on that same thumb drive.
Super handy to be able to install Windows, then use that same thumb drive to install my “must have” programs.
I am a big fan of Hiren’s. Since about 2008 when I began building and servicing my partner’s pcs. Glad I found your channel I need to keep up on this stuff.
Welcome aboard!
Fantastic!!! Just did it! I use to do this "back in the day" I still have a stack of CD'R's named "Windows System boot discs" from 5 laptops ago in a drawer (I think from Windows XP, that was my favorite OS) . Man have we come a long way with the Thumb drives! I'll be honest, I forgot how to do it!! Thanks brother! I just finally subscribed as I've been watching allot of your videos lately. Most new laptops don't even have optical drives built in!
Good deal, thx for the share 👍
@edyoung6573, I also have the cdr’s plus the square disks prior to cds. Good to know we can now use USB’s to replace them.
As an IT professional I'd say that it's much better to have a backup computer/laptop instead of flash drives. It's much easier for me to tear out the physical storage out of a dead system and backup anything I need before wiping it with a fresh install rather than digging through windows recovery menus. That's of course IF I am to store anything essential on a system drive. Usually it's other drives or off-site. Boot drive is a cool tool though. Definitely gonna consider adding that to my arsenal
You only need one USB drive with Ventoy. With Ventoy you can boot multiple ISO with only one USB and you can still use that USB drive as a data storage for your movies, photos, documents etc.
True. Unless you're like me and working on multiple machines at once. A Ventoy video IS in the works though, because it is a good idea!
From my experience, Ventoy ironically isn't a one-size-fits-all solution. For specific use-cases where you need maximum compatibility, a dedicated USB stick written with just one image using something like Rufus is superior. Ventoy simply adds too many points of failure such as weird partition schemes, dodgy Secure Boot support, finicky USB generation support, etc. Plus the fact that it just outright doesn't support certain OS ISO files, which is odd.
@@lunchmoneyog Yeah well this is the thing, you say you use it for Windows 10 and 11 installs. Ventoy seems to be more compatible and consistent with the newest operating system images. I don't really care for these and more often use USB sticks for legacy installations, which Ventoy isn't that good for.
@@FlyboyHelosim each to their own, I do however suspect that most are not installing unsupported legacy operating systems on a regular basis, if at all.
@@lunchmoneyog That's a pretty bold claim seeing as most PCs on the used market typically have the OS installed that they shipped with. So XP, Vista, and 7, for Windows. Linux doesn't matter so much about being era-specific as it doesn't change much. And look at the increasing number of retro tech enthusiasts.
Hiren's Boot CD looks like a modern version of the Ultimate Boot Disk. UBD was the testing and fixing CD for all your troubles. Thanks for letting us know about this modern version!
👍
Hiren's modern? That's got to be at least 20 years old. Damn handy tho.
@GregNickoloff yep. I still use it. Medicat I've heard is probably better, haven't played with it.
@@AskYourComputerGuy Medicat is full of stuff.. and Hiren is even included in medicat
Hello Mr. Computer Guy! I just wanted to thank you so much for this video about the media creation tool. I saw it quite some time ago and something told me to follow your instruction. I had it in my computer desk drawer for quite a while and then just other day the inevitable happened as you predicted it would. After a system restore I did went bad and messed up my computer making it impossible to get back into Windows I tried booting from a "repair disc" I had for Windows 10 but it did nothing! Absolutely nothing. After much stress and frustration I remembered your bootable thumbnail I made some time ago. It worked beautifully and I can't tell you what a feeling of relief I felt when I had my computer back intact again! It repaired the damage so effortlessly and solved what could have been a very nasty problem. Thank you again, my friend. So glad I happened to come across your video that day. Much appreciated. Bless you.
Don't forget to label the keys and keep them someplace you can find them. Perform regular backups Hirens looks like a useful tool :-)
It is. I've used it thousands of times over the years
Hirens keeps evolving, so many tools on it now. I would throw a third USB but this one require work as well. OSDI - Origin Snappy Driver Installer. If you got to do windows then you are going to want the absolute best drivers our community can mustard. This package gets out of date fast so worth once a month retorrent. But even an old copy can do an install if a pinch (at cost of updating the packs).
You could write the hash on the dvd label if using those but would need to copy if a new one was burned. If it was lost, that is also a problem.
could put in a fire proof safe...
Sometimes, its best to have one or two backup SSD drives with your entire system on it, so when sometime do go wrong -- you could, physically replace it or transfer the good drive over the bad... 2 USB boot drives is a must HAVE... But, also having two hardcopies of your system is even better.
Funny you say that! I actually have a clone of my existing OS on a 2.5" laptop drive that I keep in my safe...cuz you never know ;)
@@AskYourComputerGuy You forgot to mention -- its encrypted! 😂
Exactly 😂
Yes, Hirens is useful. More then 20 years in "bussines" .
I have learned the hard way. SSD's are fast but not truly reliable. So I have a ghost image of my software on a WD Blue 2TB brick. Six years from now it's still there.
After years of doing such things, I would recommend "writing" down the drive letter because it can be quite confusing . I have used most of what you do. Today, though, I clone my drive(s) fairly often instead of backing up since all it takes is to physically swap the hard drives
This gentleman is correct in what he says so take notice before it is too late.
Great presentation, sir.
Thank you, I agree 👍
This has really helped me and I made a diagnostic tools USB drive last night, because in the past I can’t tell you how many times I’ve had my computer is turn on and they say they can’t start up successfully so this video has really helped me. I recently got a new refurbished gaming laptop so I know this will help immensely other programs you download on the Internet you have to pay for but this was completely free. The fact it was free I like because so many programs out there you have to pay so much money enable to get the whole program but yeah this video is help. Thank you.
You're so very welcome! I'm glad I was able to help you :)
Just a small suggestion.
You really should free up some space in them hard drives.
I use an external HD for to make sure my internal HDs have at least 30% free space in case my PC writes any new information from backups, log reports, large file(s) downloads or anything.
Agreed. Most of the time my drives stay full because youtube video takes up a LOT of space. Several of them are client data. I delete that data 6 months after job completion, so the drive "fullness" varies ;)
As a person with a pc that has gone through some issues, everytime the only and fastest way to fix is reinstalling windows, i do it by opening the program, installing and all that process, but been wanting to get a usb just for this, didn't know about the other and this is super usefull for data recovery, thank you so much 🙏
Been doing this since the days of XP service pack 1 all the way up to windows 11. Still use 2 portable self-powered USB 3.0 HDDs and a number of USB Flash Drives with special software from days working in IT that allow me to wipe and recover boot sectors and factory core firmware on both storage drives and BIOS chips. The BIOS chip is usually the root problem in an unrecoverable crash. Usually corrupted by rootkits.
💪💪💪
lol firmware rootkits are actually quite rare. Even more rare, a firmware rootkit corrupting a BIOS to the point of a system being unbootable or constantly crashing. Not my claims, supported by telemetry and other data from all major security research firms, PC makers, even the security software product companies who have an interest in inflating those numbers. 26 years I've never seen it. I mean I guess if you live in one of those regions of the world that are just a hotbed for these things like the Middle East, Central Europe, Africa or something but I am on the other hemisphere.
Agreed, very rare
I have a Home Server that my Windows PC's (4) backup to on a schedule...and a cold storage array I back THAT up to on a schedule. I know not everyone can do that, for the average user this is great advice. Of course there are a few computer repair shops that will hate this video! 😁 (25 years in the business). When I did the "Geek Squad" thing Hiren's was a core tool.
LOL absolutely. Let em hate 👍
Sergei USB iz my favorite
Haven't heard of it, will check it out 👍
I can't do a server like that, but I have multiple USB flash drive with different OS (linux , win7, win10 mbr, win10 gpt, hirens PE)
I also have backup for those iso in my backup external HDD. I also still has my old laptop (dual boot linux - win7) as backup lol
So if my main PC and main laptop has problem, I can fix it immediately :D
And this is why you NEVER need a computer guy! 😂👍💪
Good advice, been doing the same for years !
Another useful tool is ventoy, you can have multiple iso files and boot from them or even vdi and vhd images. This way if I need Linux, windows xp, 7 or Hiren boot cd i can just select what I need from a list
It's on my list for upcoming videos 👍
I have problem with ventoy, I don't know why i tried to make a single flash drive for multiple OS like you have but I had problem that make me unable to do the fresh install. So I went back to the old way, use multiple flash drive with their own OS lol
I don't have much experience with Ventoy, although MANY of my viewers have mentioned or suggested I make a video about it. It's on the drawing board to make a definitive how-to video in the near future
Good video I'm actually a Ventoy fan but new tools are always appreciated 👍🏼
Actually I'm old school so I use 2 drives, but everyone has sung Ventoy's praises in the comments, so I'm going to make a video about it soon! ;)
My first computer's in early 2000's came with a seperate dvd disk to reinstall windows if needed as far as that goes. Last computer I bought was in 2011 a HP Pavilion desktop and believe that came with a disk as well. Todays computers should come with a separate disk as it once did whether laptop or desktop. I don't know if it does.
They don't. Manufacturers stopped doing that as a cost saving measure. Dumbest thing I've ever seen saving $.05 per PC, especially when a drive crashes. But the companies made more, so we know who wins that battle :(
@@AskYourComputerGuy not to mention that a lot of PCs today don't even include an optical drive - another cost saving measure...i purchased a USB external DVD drive to use in just such an occasion...
Very true! It's becoming less and less popular
@@AskYourComputerGuy Thank you. I'm disappointed/saddened by that.
Agreed
Wow, I'm glad I found your video. I've done everything you said and fixed my dying PC. You did a great job explaining each procedure, great video, thank you
Thank you so much! I appreciate that! 💪
Regular full disk clones should be a part of your weekly routine. A couple of hours a week is a small price to pay to save all your data. The OS isn't as important. You can always reinstall that. But your data, especially if you are a professional, really should be backed up safely in multiple places. I recently lost a huge chunk of a project I was working on because of my idiocy and complacency.
Thanks for the tutorial. This has to be the most easiest format and reinstall of windows I have ever gone through. Repartitioned with Genius on Hirens and reinstalled windows with the boot USB. Keep them coming!
Good deal!
If you want to avoid having a massive library of individual USB sticks for various ISO's I highly recommend Ventoy
Agreed! That's why I made this a couple months later 👍
The LAST flash drive you will ever need! Ventoy FULL walk-thru and review!
ua-cam.com/video/MIT3w-EPA9M/v-deo.html
Me: lives peacefully
UA-cam: YOUR COMPUTER IS GOING TO DIE
Everyone lives peacefully ...until their computer dies. Just because it hasn't happened to you (yet) doesn't change the fact that ALL hardware has a lifespan. Unfortunately, no one knows when :(
I have made the usb's and hope I never need them. Thanks for sharing your knowledge.
Awesome!
Great advice! I always have a Win10 stick to hand, not heard of the Hiren's bootcd, will download that now, thanks. Had PC's since Win95, today it really is a breeze in comparison, credit to Microsoft.
😁
master/slave configurations were a nightmare.
"Had PC's since Win95, today it really is a breeze in comparison, credit to Microsoft."
Credit to Microsoft. . . ? I, too, go back to Windows '95, and I have a different opinion of Microsoft. It's true that Windows '95 was incredibly unstable and just a nightmare when it came to reliability. I seem to recall having to completely re-install my operating system about every two months just to keep things going. I would back up my computer to about 20 floppy disks, if I recall. That process would also fail about halfway through every third time.
Today, Windows is vastly more stable and reliable, but what I find remarkable is how little changed the interface is from that of Windows '95--and that was almost 30 years ago! We still have the control panel and the device manager. In fact, I don't think that a PC owner teleported from 1995 to today would have any trouble navigating his way around Windows 10--or vice versa, for that matter. They're both still using a mouse and menus and many of those menus are remarkably similar!
It seems to me that from Windows '95 to Windows 7, we all paid to be part of a massive Beta testing program. Remember when people would line up around the block overnight, eagerly anticipating the release of the next version of Windows? And paying a couple hundred bucks for the privilege?
The weird thing is that once they perfected it (I agree, Windows 10 is pretty damned good) they stopped charging us anything for it! When it was super crappy and unstable, we happily paid for it.
The whole history of the PC seems very odd to me.
Same! The evolution has been quite a ride and I agree...fully wiping a Windows PC now is a much less frequent occurance compared to W95/W98 days
@@AskYourComputerGuy Indeed, and having much faster hardware (particularly storage) nowadays certainly doesn't hurt, too...
..
(... and I go back to my 1982 RadioShack (Tandy) original "Color Computer" (coco) plugged into a tv, which for a while didn't even have floppies; it relied upon a user plugging in a standard old audio cassette player(/recorder), which REALLY won the prize for lack of speed/reliability... )
>;]
Yes it's good to also have an OS on a USB
Always good to have the ability to reinstall if necessary! 💪
Thanks!
Thank you SO MUCH for supporting my work and the channel! I appreciate you beyond measure! :)
Good video but I disagree with needing to create these before a problem. I upgrade every 2 years so haven't had a failure in past 20 years. Can always create them on laptop or desktop that's not having problems. Kind of like buying a spare water pump for the car because every mechanic will tell you it's not if, but when, your water pump will fail...
Such a great video, very well done, clear and up to the point!
One job I keep saying I will do, and never do. Well thanks to you I have just done it. Great tutorial Sir. Many thanks
Awesome! Better late than never!
As a tech, also with 30 years experience, these tools should come with a caveat warning. As much as these tools are useful for fixing problems, they can also make problems exponentially worse. They are not for the faint of heart or for those who don't have at least a basic understanding of how computers work. I get a lot of people in my shop that tried to fix their computer problems themselves watching UA-cam videos like these, only to make the problem worse and subsequently my job harder to recover their system. Always, and I do mean always, try to understand what it is your are doing before you do it.
Can't argue that. Excellent points
I always delete system32 folder every month to keep my windows running fast and for free!
@@Loki- You need to up your game and delete the Windows folder for ultimate performance.
@@Loki- 😈🤪🤣
And disengage the fan and remove the heat sink so then you can warm up pizza on your PC without stoking up the oven. Just plug the fan back when pizza's done is all. Throw the sink away, it's simply a ploy, Microsoft is only trying to get us all to purchase whole kitchens by throwing in a sink with each computer.@@alphanerd2305
All these people replying appear to be techies....I'm not, along with the majority of your viewers. Will you please do a follow-up video of ACTUALLY using these drives to restore a computer because your explanation is still Greek to me, and many others I suspect. HP Greek in my case
Cheers from Canada North
That’s actually an excellent idea for a video. Next machine I get that needs that treatment. I will definitely make that for you.
Wow great info. I've never heard of Hiren's boot CD. I'm gonna make my usb drives right now. Subbed!
Thank you!
Used to have these on hand always until I found about about MediCat USB. Now it's truly an all in one USB. You can even boot directly into Windows ISOs from here without creating a separate USB for each installer (7, 8, 10, 11). Have a look into that too. Been a life saver.
Ventoy can make it easy too!
Can't i do these two process in same pendrive in 2 folders ?
Good points! I usually go to Control Panel>Backup and Restore and do "Create a system image" which makes an image of the entire system. I then access it by booting to "Advanced Startup" and use system image option.
Thanks for sharing!
I have done this with my Macrium Reflect software so I can boot into a recovery pre boot environment that will allow me to restore directly from my external drive that contains my backup images. Having a fresh installation media and recovery USB/Hiren's disk is all very clutch! Every Windows user should do everything listed in this video!
If you have a backup software like OEM Backup Software (Dell, HP, Lenovo) Acronis True Image, Windows Backup, Macruim, EaseUS ToDo or any other backup software please make those restore specific recovery disks prior to your computer taking a fat dump! 🤓
Absolutely!
Hi and good morning, why win 10 and not 11?
Either is fine. Just depends on what OS you have :)
I am doing computer repairing and restoration as my hobby. One of the great guidance I have ever found
Thanks, I appreciate that! 💪
Why not just use ventoy and put both iso's on one USB?
Ventoy is absolutely an option but some people inky need a Windows installer, so I decided to make a multi-disc option. Maybe in another video I'll explore this deeper! Thx 👍💪
@@AskYourComputerGuy but Ventoy can put the Windows iso you downloaded on this USB along with any other iso. As a tech, I have Windows 10&11 along with tech tools and some Linux distros on a 128GB flash. Don't need to carry multiple drives with me.
True, and worth diving into. But I also like to spread my failure points out a bit. If everything is on one disc, and something happens to that disc, you lose everything. But I don't disagree (assuming it's a quality flash drive). Maybe I'll make a Ventoy video down the road 👍💪
for some reasons not all iso are working on ventoy, even MEMTest iso. And there are cases most of the time the display will get corrupted and is unusable.
Haven't heard that before. Interesting. Still worth checking out I suppose
During the first 20 years of our careers, we relied on HDD's. Now with SSD, the vast majority of Physical Hardware failures are gone. SSD's failures are generally in the first couple months, the SSD in my old computer is 10 years old and still rocking. Just retired my i7 3770 as my main computer. It's now sitting int he kids room, with a 2060 GPU for when they visit.
If a computer is being sold with an HDD as the only drive... run away.
3rd Party Drivers are responsible for the mass majority of Windows failures today.
Have similar exp with you. I just recently retire my i7-4790, it's now sit in my brother room to do light gaming, and I just replace the old SSD in that PC with a newer one because the old 2,5" Samsung EVO is already old and I now use it as an external drive.
And I am agree, for newer os like win 10 and 11, SSD is the only acceptable option for me
Only the quality of SSDs has gone downhill due to manufacturing them outside US. People get Samsung SSD and it dies after a year... It's even worse with the fastest NVMe drives, manufactured god knows where. With that in mind, I am not sure if SSDs are more reliable than the good old HDDs.
Absolutely
Time will tell. But I don't disagree!
@@ExtaTer Source Please? I have purchase 19 Samsung SSDs since 2013, 1 Failure under warranty replaced no issue, replacement still working. Every HDD purchased in the last 20 years but 1, has failed. This for computers in my home. At worked we purchased 250 HP G2 laptops. That batch had over a 50% failure rate. The 200 Dell 3380's had SSD's with less then a 10% failure rate.
Now... I will say I have seen a lot more tech failure since COVID, especially Batteries. I chalk that up to the mad rush to get things back into the market. I am betting may things are being produced in Noncertified clean Rooms.
Thanks!
Wow, thank you!!! ❤️
I would probably select ISO and use it with ventoy.
Got a Ventoy video planned soon 👍
@@AskYourComputerGuy if thats the case why are you providing this out of date garbage advice?
i giess views are really more important then solid advice.
Because a) it's not garbage advice. My advice may not be "ideal" for tech people, but it does work and is useful b) I personally prefer 2
separate drives because I often work on multiple machines at one time and it's handy c) this is the method I've used for years, but I've been dabbling with Ventoy and plan on making a video about it. You are entitled to your opinion, but to call my video "garbage" is offensive. I work my ass off to provide easy to use solutions for novice users, and those people appreciate my effort. Nothing in IT is "the" solution for everyone. I have Ventoy video planned as an alternative for a 1-disc solution. But thanks for your comment regardless.
Thanks for this. A few years ago I decided that the easiest way for me was to make Clone Drives of all my Windows PC’s. I clone my Desktop once a week and my lesser used Laptops about once a month. I keep restore points and keep an image iso file of each system drive C. All my data (photos), which I keep on secondary and tertiary discs, I backup to a Home Server, two secure portable drives, and finally on MyCloud (Microsoft). I do keep these two USB drives. But I only needed to spend many hours to repair my computer once several years ago to never want to go thru that again. So perhaps once every year or two I just replace the bad drive with the clone and I’m on my way again. Takes half an hour if that.
Ladies and gentlemen...read ^^^ this. Then read it again. 💪👍🍺
Maybe you can probably help us out on this by putting out a video out there. It did be a precious asset to everyone. Thanks sir
Finishing up my "how to clone your drive" video as we speak. Stay tuned! 👍
If your windows install ends up being unusable then it will be a good oportunity to switch to LINUX!
Every day I backup my files to another computer, and once a month I clone my HDD. I keep 6 identical drives in a fireproof and EMP Proof safe. I also have an identical computer to place that backup drive in. Yes you can do this! I learned a long time ago you can't have enough backups. Same with my phones, I back them up to at least 2 computers daily. I do not trust the cloud, that is just someone else's computer having your private information. Yep it cost twice as much worth EVEY dollar spent!
Over kill jim
😂
@@davidinchcliff4560 Sounds like maybe he's a bit traumatized by some data loss in the past... Been there... Now I make sure all (new/modified) important data is quickly backed up to external HD's.
..
(... I used to backup the OS too, but with regular updates to win10 ("22H2", etc) plus the satisfaction of a new, clean, FASTER running Install, I really don't bother now, I just keep a running log/depository of the latest progs/drivers/settings/etc ready for the clean reinstall, incl latest M$ OS install ISO; like to do it regardless of issues at least once/yr anyway)
But despite that, someone has corrupted your real adult name!
Thank You, I followed your walk through and now my computer is up and running like new. 😁😁😁😁
Excellent! Thx for sharing! 👍👍💪
Linux for life
Especially after last week's Microsoft presentation
But those issues is talking about at the begining could happened on Linux so.
That's why you have a Bootable USB or Cd as there are still a few old computers around that can't boot to USB but can to cd rom drive.
I use Linux far more than windows. I currently use bazzite and it is wonderful
Subbed after watching this clip.
100% worth the time and effort to learn these simple tasks.
I've been using Windows OS for 25 years. I can't understand how people "REFUSE" to do simple maintenance on their own devices.
Glad it helped!
This video is a 💎 of a find!! Windows bricked My win 10 forcing us to migrate to W11 😠😠😠
it's fixed and working like a champ after almost 12 months!! Thank you so much computer Guy!! 🙏🙏😀😀
You are SO welcome!
I originally made USB recovery drives for my PCs but I also am going to take your advice from the video to do it your way with the two flash drives as backups. Thanks for the info.
You can also put them both on one drive, much easier!
The LAST flash drive you will ever need! Ventoy FULL walk-thru and review!
ua-cam.com/video/MIT3w-EPA9M/v-deo.html
Bravo dude!! I'm a retired IT guy, and I do this once every never, thanks for the steps!!
You could frankly open a local repair shop with these skill.
Thanks for the tips :) and merry Christmas 🎄
I did...15 years ago. Thanks, Merry Christmas to you as well 👍
Oh man. It's amazing to see a guide about "rescue sticks" and see that in "discless" era - Hiren's Boot is still a thing, 10 years since you last time used it.
I know this Hiren's tools since the time they only had CD as media... It saved me through many situations with my PC...
Agreed, 1000x over the years
I always have a usb stick with the latest windows flashed to it, it comes in handy every now and again.
I've made these two flash drivers years ago. I do agree, it's a must.
Thanks for sharing!
Half way through I discover the video is outdated & I have to start all over again with an updated version. Please add a note to help people out at the beginning. I'm in a fight for my life with time for starting a business, in severe struggle/ trouble, recently spending days on computer issues. The last thing I needed was wasted time. Thanks for the OTHER updated videos though
Video has just been recently updated since Hirens changed their process:
[2024 MEGA update!] 2 USB boot drives EVERY Windows user should make before it's too late!
ua-cam.com/video/pi3haU6h1es/v-deo.html
I have had 3 computer's go down and two were because of a detective/damaged hard drive. Each time i simply removed the hard drive from the bad computer and snapped it in a hard drive case. Then i plugged it into the usb port on another computer and slid all my photos, videos, documents, and every other file i wanted onto the new computer. Those were the only files that were important to me. Of course now i keep them updated on several external hard drive.
👍
Absolutely, you are absolutely correct. For a multitude of reasons your PC can out of the blue refuse to boot, and the repair tools offered by Microsoft are useless crap. Over the years, having tried these other "recovery?" tool methods, the way that I do it now is by using a full disk copy tool. I always have two USB 2TB drives, (2 copies of the HD) that can be back-copied onto the HD. I mostly use Paragon and EaseUS to do this, using their WinPE boot from USB. (the Samsung Magician is supposed to also do diskcopy, but I have never tried it) Gets everything back to a previous time: W11 OS, all the installed programs, and all the data files except the most recent. It is a long process, takes over 2 hours to copy over 700GB of files, but so far it has never failed to get up and running again, without much mess around aggravation. I am thinking of a slight modification to this method, by getting a second SSD HD and keeping all data on that, and only have the OS and installed Programs on the C drive, for the diskcopy. Less chance of time gap data loss.
Regardless, you are definitely on the RIGHT track, my friend! Good job :)
Hirens is awesome. I use it all the time. I don't know what I would do without it. 😎
Agreed B used it for MANY years and it has saved my tail MANY times! 💪🎉🍺
I'm so glad that I found your channel! Thank you
Thank you, that means a TON! ❤️
I've seen video about using the window reinstall but no one explains how to properly load in on to the USB to create the drive. Thanks.👏🏿👏🏿👍🏿👍🏿
When you run the media creation software, it automatically does that for you. You just have to plug in the drive and tell the program which drive letter to write to. Everything else is done by the software
It seems like a recommendation that everyone who has a PC should know, as someone who studies Computer Systems, these types of tools became an essential part, when owning a PC and providing technical maintenance to others
As an additional addition, I have always recommended having bootable Linux USBs, since it can be very useful for quick recovery of files or making backups, even Linux distributions dedicated to unlocking computers or system recovery.
OMG you saved me tonight: HOLY COW so I have just started watching you. I am a nurse for a living but am trying to become more and more technical. Oddly just three days ago I created these two usb boot drives. Tonight my system crashed. While I can't figure out why it won't reboot (especially since Hiram's tools show all partitions as healthy) thanks to your USBs video I was able to use Hiram's to at least get my data back. I had not backed up for a week and lost critical work. PLEASE PLEASE CAN YOU TELL ME WHERE YOUR VIDEO IS THAT SHOWS ME HOW TO CHANGE THE LOCATION OF MY DOCUMENTS FOLDER TO A SEPARATE VOLUME SO MY DATA IS NO ON THE SYSTEM PARTITION. I know you have such a video but I am looking and looking and can't find it.
Thanks for the support! Here's the video you're asking about 👍
How to guarantee ZERO data loss if Windows crashes
ua-cam.com/video/DCQh7thkYvI/v-deo.html
I got the media creation tool for at least 6 years because I build and fix my own desktop computers since I was a kid. I didn't hear about the Hirens boot cd, I'll check that out, thanks!
Awesome!
I agree totally with this video but i would like to point out if someone has bought a pc with windows 11 and it didnt originally meet the specs to run you would have to download the iso , and use rufus to remove the requirements.
I would recommend doing this anyway just to be sure.
Other than that, keep up the good work
True, but this would only apply to a previously-owned machine. Anything new off the shelf would meet the requirements :)
Thanks for sharing this knowledge. I used to use the HBCD long time ago, I forgot about it when it got discontinued, but is good to know about this new PE version. Thanks again
Glad you enjoyed it!
Useful stuff! The Hiren CD seems awesome
Wish it was clearer that he visited into the Hiren CD.
Thank you. Video has been updated for 2024: [2024 MEGA update] EVERY Windows user needs THESE 2 USB drives!
ua-cam.com/video/pi3haU6h1es/v-deo.html
I recently signed up for the windows insider and this just happened to me. Thankfully I didn't have much on the computer, but it was unbootable, until I finally got it to do so by restoring it to factory. I'm going to take your advice on this, thank you.
Good deal! Thankfully you didn't have anything to lose 👍
Thank you for this video. I'm going to set up these flash drives.
Glad I could help
@@AskYourComputerGuy Do these flash drives take care of the Bitlocker key?
Always store files to an external drive, have that drive set to backup to an encrypted private drive in the cloud. only use the main C drive for OS and other software. If you do store files on the main C drive have that folder backup to an encrypted private drive in the cloud.
That’s been my practice since I had a drive failure that cost me 2 weeks of productivity many years ago. Now, my C drive is only used for Windows OS and apps, while all files & documents are stored on D drive and mirrored to E drive. I also mirror the D drive to NAS #1, and backup to an encrypted file on NAS #2. D drive is synced to OneDrive and SharePoint, and also backs up to an encrypted third party cloud service. All hard drives are SSD’s.
@@davidrobertson797 you only have to have a major failure once to learn the value of proper storage and backups
You the man, sweet setup David!
I had a suggestion
I think for Windows 10 fresh install, we don't need to connect to the internet but for Windows 11 fresh install we need to connect to the internet.
During the fresh install there are no drivers present, so it would be great to download your wifi driver on the flash drive as you will need wifi to complete the Windows 11 installation.
Agreed
Today I learnt something real. I already feel like an expert!
Love it! 💪
Very good info for everyone. I been doing the Windows Media Creation tool for a while. Not heard about the Hiren program. Had issue on brand new pc build for my kid and on windows update this error popped up on bootup and I could not get around it to save my life. "C:\WINDOWS\System32\Logfiles\Srt\SrtTrail.txt". I tried every Windows tips and nothing fixed it except a straight-up install again. Never seen this before but seem common on my internet searches. But really good stuff you put out.
Thanks my friend! Glad you figured out the install error. FYI I took this two drive approach and found an even better way...ONE drive. Drag and drop an ISO and it's ready to boot!
The LAST flash drive you will ever need! Ventoy FULL walk-thru and review!
ua-cam.com/video/MIT3w-EPA9M/v-deo.html
Thank you and UA-cam for recommending this video. Just yesterday, I changed win11 file and folder default installation path, but accidently modified the WOW key also in the registry. And suddenly windows would not run programs, would not reopen regedit again, and all sorts of problems immerged.
After a couple of hours, I figured I should go into safe mode and access Regedit to fix what I did. But before that I couldn't reinstall win 11 because I had no bootable usb.
Thanks again for all the info.
👍💪
I would recommend only one thing in your USB, Ventoy. And then just iso files. Ventoy can boot into any saved Iso files be it Linux or Windows. Ventoy doesn't even takes space and once you create Ventoy usb , you will never ever need anything else, except for isos
Agreed!
The LAST flash drive you will ever need! Ventoy FULL walk-thru and review!
ua-cam.com/video/MIT3w-EPA9M/v-deo.html
I remember using hirens on win xp back on 2000's begining... Thank you so much for making me remember about this...
I've loved it for 20 years!
Great info, thanks for the tutorial. Does each computer in my office need its own set of drives or do they work on any computer and, I'm assuming, can be used any number of times?
No, you only need a Windows flash drive for each OS, so if they are all W10 for example, one flash will work for all. If you have W10 and W11 mixes, you'll need one for each. Hirens is just one flash drive, will work on any OS. And yes, as many times as you want. There's no limits on either 👍
@@AskYourComputerGuy Thanks!!
Anytime! Thx for your comment and questions ;)
Thank you so much Scott! You are a life saver with your knowledge and I'm so grateful that you share it openly. God Bless
Thanks, Jenn! I appreciate that 👍
Wow! Man What a Great tool to have ! Thank you soooo Much!
You're welcome! Before you create them, you should watch this. You might find it even more helpful!
The LAST flash drive you will ever need! Ventoy FULL walk-thru and review!
ua-cam.com/video/MIT3w-EPA9M/v-deo.html
easy to understand and simplified tutorial for basic to average pc users… ty
Thank you! Much appreciated 👍
Been a fan of Hiren's Boot Disk/CD for the longest time now lol
It's such a great go-to, IMO 👍
@@AskYourComputerGuy Definitely!!! There were a few other's notable, but Hiren's is thee best!
And this video goes on flash drive number three so we can use it for future reference. Thanks for the upload.
Awesome!
Great video ❤. Thanks so much. I’ve been trying to backup all my pc stuff and Mac because I have too many computers and yes I’m an addict ❤. I’m fascinated with all this technology. It’s mind blowing. Thank you for sharing your experience with knowledge.
You're so welcome!
You don’t need two usb’s, use ventoy, and put the ISO’s on the usb. Then you can boot from them, via a beautiful boot menu that pops up on boot.
Exactly. That's why I later made this video:
The LAST flash drive you will ever need! Ventoy FULL walk-thru and review!
ua-cam.com/video/MIT3w-EPA9M/v-deo.html
I've had at least a dozen of windows pc since the late eighties, never had 1 die on me, but I do back up and reinstall when needed
Another very handy tool that is good for large capacity flash drives in called Ventoy. You use to tool to prepare the flash media and you can drag and drop .iso images of any kind you like. You boot from the drive and the Ventoy menu comes up allowing you to boot from any of the iso's you drop in the drive. I keep one with Hiren's on it along with the current Windows and Linux distros I use. It's a great utility.
Another is using Rufus Tool for writing individual iso's to a flash drive.
Both have served me well.
I'm actually working on a Ventoy video as we speak, due to overwhelming popularity and comments from viewers 💪
@@AskYourComputerGuy Great choice!
Well when hundreds of viewers say "use Ventoy!", I listen LOL - hadn't even heard of it before but after checking it out, I'm impressed ;)
If you only have one USB or want to put even more isos to use, there is a tool called "ventoy" that allows you to setup a USB to be bootable, and when booted asks which iso you want to use
Agreed. That's why I made this follow up video about Ventoy 👍
The LAST flash drive you will ever need! Ventoy FULL walk-thru and review!
ua-cam.com/video/MIT3w-EPA9M/v-deo.html
Invaluable information!!!! So easy explained. Thank you so much!!!!!
Thank you so much! Welcome to the channel ;)