Windows 10: Windows 10 to Launch on USB Sticks Too

Seems to me that your thumb drive would be just as easy to accidentally erase as one provided by Microsoft? Assuming its not read only. Plus, all the work of creating it is already done for you. I don't get the "having hoards of external media storage" comment? What's the difference if you create the thumb drive or Microsoft does it for you? It's still only one more thumb drive for your collection. This one is likely going to have a Windows Logo on it too so it should be easy to keep track of what its for.

 

I was going to nuke the factory install anyway, but had no choice when I swapped out my hard drive for an SSD. The drastic size difference meant cloning wouldn't work. I couldn't get it to work anyway, and wasn't long in giving up for a clean install. I wasn't an MVP then so finding an ISO was a pain. No such issues now though. I do all my installs from USB thumb drives. Its much faster than from optical media. It lets me easily customize my install media too. I have a custom dedicated thumb drive for each PC I own with its product code added along with custom OEM info for that PC. Plus, when the Windows 8.1 ISO is updated I just redo my thumb drives. No having to burn another DVD.

 

That's something I would like to do soon
Upgrade to an SSD, I have data on external drive and on onedrive so not much of an issue, but with 10 coming out in a month it would be an ideal time to do this

 

My laptop having a big screen, 17.3 inch, also gives me the bonus of dual drive bays. I have a 128 GB SSD for windows and a 256 GB SSD for my Data. Clean installs are a breeze as I only nuke the Windows drive and leave my data drive untouched. When I bought my SSD drives they weren't cheap. Buying the two I did was cheaper than one bigger 500 GB drive so that's the way I went.

 

Thanks for info, its something for me to ponder on during the summer

Need to upgrade the RAM also to 8GB, so an SSD at the same time makes sense

 

You know what would be better? SD flash cards. Then you could make them read only with the flick of a switch. And they would still be modifiable/updateable if you need to. If only my laptop would boot from them though. I have to put them in a USB adapter to boot from them.

 

I don't think USB will influence the cost one way or the other.

I've seen Newegg offer media only, without a key, but it remains to be seen whether that will happen with Windows 10. And, of course, since the report isn't from an official Microsoft source, we can't check its validity; however, if I were to make an educated guess, I'd say the USB sticks would likely have keys embedded (or maybe a sticker somewhere on the outside like DVDs).

 

Sounds logical to me, Alpha. I have one Lexar flash drive that I use for clean installs of all my new Windows 10 builds. I just create the media over and over and over . . .

 

I was contemplating an SSD drive too, but this desktop seems to boot so fast that I don't see any reason to go for SSD. The only thing I have on this computer so far that takes time to open is Outlook in Office 365. So I just run for my next cuppa and when I get back, I have all my emails ready to read. *Smile

 

They make a big difference on a laptop. In many ways. Your typical laptop hard drive is only a slow 5400 RPM drive. Switching from one of those to an SSD is an eye opener. Plus SSD drives draw less power and generate less heat. Both of those add up to better battery life. Your cooling fan runs less. They are lighter and take the occasional bump in stride. No moving parts to get moved in the bump. No head crash etc. On a desktop it's just the speed increase you notice.

 

I'm glad this is happening, USB stick installation is so much faster than cd.

 

~
*Ditto

 

I still use the "Windows 7 USB/DVD Download Tool". It still does a good job of burning Windows 7, 8 and 10 ISO's to flash drives.

http://www.sevenforums.com/tutorials...load-tool.html

 

I prefer Rufus v2.2. It always saves the day !

*Smile

 

Doesn't the Windows 7 DVD Download tool format in NTFS? Many PC's wont let you do a UEFI install from an NTFS formatted thumb drive.