In today was an interesting design for the South Florida Super Bowl Committee printed on AE style custom USB drives.

Looks great, huh? Read more details on these AE custom flash drives and start thinking about your own custom USB drives today!

Just take a peek at our beautiful and exquisite WDR7 square shaped wood custom USB drives with the earth-friendly Anvil logo print.

These unique wooden drives are magnetic and will drive your campaign into a new level of awareness. Knock on wood!

Available in shades of light and dark, these sharp looking drives are perfect for environmentally friendly organizations and companies that want to Go Green in style!

Go ahead and read more about WDR7 style wooden custom USB drives to get the full scoop on this hot device!

We just completed these awesome executive business card custom USB drives for Asian Gang Investigators law enforcement unit in California.

Our business card style custom flash drives are made of durable plastic, with a USB extension in the back that easily snaps out of place for utilizing the flash drive, and can be quickly retracted back into the thin business card design.

If you want custom USB flash drives that reflect your daily activity in a hectic world, these are a perfect match, because they are both lightweight and portable devices that fit in a practical fashion.

Check out all the specs on these amazing card style custom flash drives.

A handsome custom shape USB flash drive has just been completed for Winn Technology Group.

This unique custom drive features a tailored water design on the front, with the company logo print on the second side.

This long oval custom flash drive is made from a rubber material that is both soft to the touch and able to withstand the test of time, also featuring an easy removable cap.

As you can tell, we are very passionate about getting quality custom USB drives off the assembly line for our customers. Let us know your thoughts on this brand new design!

If you’re like most flash drive enthusiasts, the topic of the notorious ‘Autorun.inf’ is bound to come up at some point when working with data customization. The purpose of this file is a mystery to most computer users, however it is the cornerstone of any automated task(s) that should occur once the drive is inserted, hence the file name ‘Autorun’.

Autorun is able to change these (and I will show you how in a minute):

• Which file or executable should be opened once the USB drive is plugged in.
• Your custom icon of choice whenever a user sees the USB drive listed within Windows Explorer.
• A custom name for your USB drive as shown in Explorer, only up to 12 characters.
• Options for the menu shown whenever you right-click the USB drive icon.

One thing to remember with this drive feature is that it works only on machines with the versions of Windows after 98 but before Vista, such as 2000 and XP. This is because previous versions of Windows did not include the drivers for USB. Newer versions of Windows like XP SP3 and Vista began disabling autorun as a security precaution against malware. Obviously, in these scenarios any features using autorun with a flash drive would fail massively.

When you plug in a flash drive on a Windows system that recognizes it, if there is no custom autorun by default you will see a lame pop up window such as one of these:

Windows 2000/XP -

Windows Vista/7 - (cannot be changed unfortunately)

For 2000/XP you can customize your drive’s behavior by creating an ‘Autorun.inf’ file. Do this by simply right clicking in your flash drive directory, choose ‘New’ and then ‘Text Document’. Rename the file by hitting ‘F2′ or right clicking the new text file and choosing ‘rename’, then change the name to ‘Autorun.inf’. Yes, it has to be called this exact name or your custom autorun commands will not work. Windows will check the root of your flash drive for this exact file and follow its commands if it is there.

Now you must enter your commands for this file. It is still technically a text file, so you can open in notepad and it should do this automatically on most systems if you just double click the file.

The Ropes:

All ‘Autorun.inf’ files must start with:

The command to run a file is:

The command for a custom icon is:

The command for a custom drive name is:

The command for adding your own context menu item is:

The second line tells the computer what to open on clicking that menu item. In this case, it is example.exe.

Also don’t forget to include the name of your command from the first line (example) in the second line right after shell\. Doesn’t have to be example, it can be whatever you want, within reason. The really cool thing is that this pair of lines can be repeated for as many menu items you wish to add! Just be sure to name your items differently so they aren’t repeated twice, which would likely cause menu item failure.

So an example of a custom autorun would all go together like this:
[autorun]
open=example.exe
icon=example.ico
label=example drive
shell\example1=What is this product?
shell\example1\command=what.exe
shell\example2=How to Order
shell\example2\command=order.exe

Wrap Up:
That’s all there really is to it! Easy, right? Just remember to save in notepad and copy the file to the root of your USB flash drive if you haven’t already and test it out on a compatible operating system. Hope you found this little article helpful and amusing. Have fun with your own custom autorun!

We just completed this order for Mechtronics using both the white color SWM style printable metal swivel flash drive along with our clear plastic case packaging option. You can choose from a variety of color choices (including custom colors) for this popular flash drive. As well, you also have several choices for a packaging option should you need one.

We think that they turned out pretty spectacular. What do you think?

Hello again,

After a long time we are back to talk about some more cool tech stuff you can do with a USB flash drive. Todays topic will focus on booting the linux OS from a USB stick. The purpose for booting linux from a USB drive, at least the purpose of this guide, is to recover files from a broken install of the windows OS or any other OS for that matter. We can also run virus scans from the linux distro securely without infecting other pc’s or having to boot the infected pc.

What you will need:

• A USB stick anywhere from 512mb to 2GB (Depending on the distro)
• A main board capable of booting from a usb device.
• and about 15 minutes plus download time.

Software to be used:

• Latest stable version of UNetbootin Located Here.

Step #1: Prepare the USB Drive

Once you have all your materials together go ahead and plug the USB drive in and backup all files you may have on the disk.

Step #2: Installing to The USB

Start up UNetbootin and select the following:

1. Use the first radio button “Distribution”. This will download and install, automatically, the distro we want.
2. Pick SystemRescueCD. We are going with this because it is easy the ntfs file system driver comes prepackaged so no additional customization is required.
3. Next select your flash drive.
   NOTE: Be sure to select your flash drive and not your windows partition or primary partition, ’cause if you do then you will destroy the currently installed OS.
4. Finally click “Ok”.

UNetbootin options to select

Step #3: Configuring Bios

We will need to setup your computer to boot from the usb stick. To do so first you mother board will need to support this feature and second you will need to do some configuration.

1. Reboot your computer and hit “F2″ or “del” depending on your mother board to enter BIOS config.
2. Search for the section labeled boot sequence, or named similarly. This will sometimes be filed under a separate section like advanced BIOS features, or similar.
3. Move removable or usb to the top of the list. If you do not see these options listed your mother board most likely does not support USB boot. Consult google for more info on this.
4. Reboot the computer with the drive plugged in.

Step #4: Booting linux

We are going to boot into command line for this guide. There are options to load a GUI for those of you who tremble in the face of CLI. I must warm you though Command Line is by far easier and faster.

1. Once your computer passes post you will see the boot loader screen. Navigate to “VMLinuz64″ and hit enter.

After a bunch of OK’s on the screen and most likely 1 red FAIL you will be at the prompt “root@sysresccd /root %”. This would indicate a success.

Step #5: Copying files from a windows partition onto an external hard disk.

For this you will need an external medium on which to move your files have this ready to receive your data. You can also use the usb stick which you booted from, if of course there is enough space on it.

1. First we will need to identify our drives. I will assume you have two storage devices plugged in one being the flash drive and the other your windows hard drive. Execute the command below:

   fdisk -l | less

   NOTE: If you choose another distro of linux less may not be available, you may omit ” | less” in such case.

   This command will show you all the storage devices on your system. Use the down and up arrows to navigate the output as it may be larger than your screen. My output for this command is shown below:

   Disk /dev/sda: 160.0 GB, 160000000000 bytes
   255 heads, 63 sectors/track, 19452 cylinders
   Units = cylinders of 16065 * 512 = 8225280 bytes
   Disk identifier: 0xd0f4738c
   
    Device      Boot      Start      End      Blocks       Id   System
   /dev/sda1    *         1          19451    156240126    7    HPFS/NTFS
   
   Disk /dev/sdb: 2085 MB, 2085617664 bytes
   2 heads, 63 sectors/track, 32329 cylinders
   Units = cylinders of 126 * 512 = 64512 bytes
   Disk identifier: 0x00502bcd
   
   Device       Boot      Start      End      Blocks     Id   System
   /dev/sdb1    *         1          32330    2036720    6    FAT16

   My device is 160GB NTFS partition.  Knowing those two bits of info we can take an educated guess and say /dev/sda1 is our partition on the windows hard disk that we want to mount, the whole disk can be referenced by /dev/sda. Using /dev/sda in a mount command will most likely fail, you will need to use /dev/sda1.

   NOTE: To exit this output screen press “q”.
   

2. Mount the windows drive so that we can access the files on it. Run the mount command below:

   mount /dev/sda1 /mnt/windows

   NOTE: you will need to replace “/dev/sda” with your device found from the output of fdisk -l. It is likely though that they will be the same. Also note that mount will fail if you attempt to mount to a folder that doesn’t exist.

   If you want full read write capability for the windows hard disk and are using SystemRescueCD distro run the following command:

   ntfs-3g /dev/sda1 /mnt/windows

   This command will also work on other distros if you have ntf-3g included/installed.

3. Lets find out if we mounted the right device now. Run:

   ls /mnt/windows

   This command will list the files and folders in a directory. If you see the tell tale Program Files and WINDOWS directories it was successfully mounted.

4. Time to get our backup device out. Plug it in and wait a few seconds then run the fdisk command again:

   fdisk -l

   or

   cat /proc/partitions

   NOTE: Running “cat /proc/partitions” will list all partitions. Be sure to mount the correct partition on the device. Usually these are /dev/sdc1 or /dev/sde1 and not /dev/sdc or /dev/sde.

   Partitions not followed by numbers are usually the device itself and therefor cannot be mounted. Bellow is the output of “cat /proc/partitions” our backup device is /dev/sdc1. All devices are stored in /dev/ therefor we know that the location of the ones in the list below are /dev/xxx.

   major minor  #blocks  name
   
    8     0  168234527  sda
    8     1  156240126  sda1
    8    16    2086584  sdb
    8    32    2036720  sdb1
    8    48  244198584  sdc
    8    49  238155561  sdc1

   You should see both devices you saw last time and now a new one should be there. Match the size of the device to yours and note the device location most likely /dev/sdc.
   Mount this device to the pre-made backup folder using the mount command again:

   mount /dev/sdc1 /mnt/backup

5. Now it is time to copy things from the old windows drive to the backup disk.
   If you want to copy your entire windows drive to your back up drive run this command:

   cp -R /mnt/windows/* /mnt/backup/YOUR_FOLDER_NAME

   If you plan on copy single files type the full file path and then the full destination path.

Additional Useful Commands:

• Sometimes a virus can infected the very first bit of code that is executed on your system the MBR (Master Boot Record). Luckily we can clean this up with relative ease in linux. Execute:

  dd if=/dev/zero of=/dev/sdb bs=512 count=1

  Remember to replace “/dev/sdb” with your device cause if you miss and clean the wrong one you may have some issues. In this case we want the actual device and not a partition on the device so we are selecting /dev/sdb and not /dev/sdb1 since writing to /dev/sdb1 wouldn’t start at block #0.

• Maybe you do not have an external device to back stuff up but you have another computer with a network share. Well lets mount that network share so we can copy files to it. Create a mount point:

  mkdir /mnt/network

  Mount the share:

  mount -t smbfs //computername/folder /mnt/network -o username=user1,password=mypasshere

  Now you can copy and move files to the network share just like any other directory.
  To mount a share without a password use:

  mount -t smbfs //computername/folder /mnt/network

• For now this little section is finish although I am sure there will be additional things added as people leave comments.

Until Next Time

-Nick

Every once and a while, you’ll still encounter an ancient computer that has an archaic version of Windows (yes, even more archaic than windows xp). If you’ve ever tried to use your USB flash drive in one of these old systems, you know that it will not work by default. Below, I will describe how to install USB support for your system.

If you have Windows 98, and don’t have drivers for the storage device, there are generic USB mass storage device drivers available for Windows 98 that accept most of these devices. These generic drivers will work with many different brands and models like the following:

• USB Flash Drives (also known as Thumb Drives, or USB Pens)
• Digital Cameras (Still and Video devices with USB connections)
• Hard Drives
• MP3 Devices (iPod’s from version 2.4)
• Sony PlayStation Portable System (PSP)

How to install the generic drivers

Before you install, be aware of the fact that there are 2 main versions of Windows 98 which both handle USB differently. You absolutely must install the correct version of the generic USB driver for your specific version of Windows 98. To isolate which version of Windows you have, follow these steps:

• Right click My Computer then choose Properties
• From the System Properties window that opens, click the General tab.
• Beneath the System heading, look for version number (example image shown below)
  • Version 4.10.1998 means the first version of Windows 98 (98FE)
  • Version 4.10.2222 means Windows 98 Second Edition (98SE)

  

Driver Download

Choose the correct link for your edition of Windows 98 per the instruction above:

• Windows 98 First Edition (4.10.1998) (if you haven’t already this driver also requires that you first install the Windows 98 Service Pack – 35.5Mb)
• Windows 98 Second Edition (4.10.2222)

Disclaimer

Please note that these drivers are generic and may not work with some devices. They are also only to be installed onto the English version of Windows 98. Installing these drivers onto the incorrect version of Windows could cause irreversible problems with the performance of your operating system until it is reinstalled again. There can be no guarantee they will work for your device, but it has been shown that they generally work with most standard devices.

Please also recognize and accept that the drivers offered are under no warranty. No support other than this article will be offered for them; use them at your own risk. Whenever you make a change to your operating system, it is advised to do a full system backup beforehand.

Further information can be obtained here – Support for USB on Windows 98 from Microsoft site

We got yet another large order from Wells Fargo in today. This time they went with our DH style drive.  This sleek, compact little drive is extremely durable and portable.  They have also opted to use our data pre-loading service to save some much needed capital.  By distributing most of their written materials for office staff on the drives rather than printing large amounts of paper booklets, they are saving approximately 30% over the cost of printing.

In the quest for a greener work environment you too can end up saving capital by using Flash Drives and being a player in the ever-growing, eco-friendly business environment.    Using flash drives to distribute data, whether inter-office, or to potential customers, is an excellent way to both save money AND help the environment.  Less trees need to be cut down, less strain on our recycling companies, and the best part is: All of our drives are ROHS compliant, free of Lead, Cadium, and other harmful chemicals.  If you have any experience in printed materials, then you know how much printing a 100-page training manual can become.   It gets me fuming when I think of how disposable these become because the only value it has is the value that employee places upon the company it represents.  I know this seems a little harsh, but this is the real world and most people hate their jobs.  So, why not give your employee an added incentive, a bonus if you will, to reading that manual and placing more value to it by offering them a “gift” along with it?  Plus, flash drives are more likely to get lost than thrown away, unlike printed materials that have to be tossed or recycled at the end of each quarter.  But, what about the data on the drive?  What if someone decides that they don’t need it anymore and want to delete it?  Well, there is a solution for that, too!

Our Permanent Content service can secure any data from deletion or manipulation.  By creating a partition on the flash drive, we essentially split the drive into to parts.  the first part, which acts as a CD or DVD will contain data that is to be protected, and the remaining part of the drive still acts as a storage device.  For example:  If you had an employee training manual you wanted on a customized flash drive and still allow your employees to save pertinent paperwork, spreadsheets, etc. onto that same drive, you would choose the Permanent Content service.  Say you decide to go with a 1Gb drive imprinted with your company logo and you want to upload a manual of approx. 50Mb.   The 50Mb document will be safely paritioned to one side of the drive while you would still have 995Mb worth of storage space.   When you plug in the drive, the computer will actually recognize it as two devices, another way to guarantee that important material is seen properly.

Any way you slice it, customized, pre-loaded USB drives are a cost-effective and just-plain-effective way to distribute data of any kind.   Folks, don’t just look at the inital investment you would have to make.  Unlike the vast majority of people, you need to LOOK TO THE FUTURE.  Long-term.  The $5, or $7, or even $15 you may spend on a customized flash drive today could end up costing you pennies in the long run!

Welcome again. Today I am going to provide a helpful guide to recover broken USB drives, ghost drives, and drives unable to be formatted. If you are asking questions like “I can’t format my usb drive! Whats wrong?”, you may want to read on.

This guide will also aid in the recover of ghost drives and return the flash drive to it’s actual capacity.

Check to see if your drive exhibits any of these behaviors:

• Windows says “Unrecognized USB device”
• You cannot format your USB drive. The format utility also displays a capacity of 8mb no matter the size of your drive.
• Your drive status light flashes but nothing happens on the OS.
• Your drive shows up, but when you try to write, it crashes and disappears.
• Generally, your drive is not functioning correctly.

WARNING: Before you continue with this guide, be aware that, although highly unlikely, using some of the programs in this guide could possibly destroy the physical controller unit on your drive. Only proceed if this is a last resort. I TAKE NO RESPONSIBILITY FOR IRREPARABLE DAMAGE OR LOST DATA.

First of all, a USB flash drive is comprised of two main parts – the Controller and the NAND Flash Chip. This guide is going to explain the use of a program which accesses the controller unit directly to complete formats and recoveries.

NOTE: Since this program accesses the controller unit on your flash chip, I have included 2 programs that do the same thing. Each program has a list of controller access codes. Depending on your controller, one of these access codes may or may not work.

Lets get started!

Step 1

Download the program package and extract it. You will see the programs labeled prog1 and prog2.

Step 2

Remove all your USB Flash Drives. Once you have your drives out, start up ONLY ONE program. Don’t open both! This will cause some serious system related issues.

For prog1, click the lightbulb icon. For prog2, click umptool2090.exe. Once open, both of these programs should look extremely similar.

Step 3

Plug your broken flash drive in. If you do not see the flash drive appear on the program screen or you see “UNKNOWN FLASH”, try the other program.

NOTE: If both fail to recognize your flash, unfortunately you will have to continue your search for an answer.

Step 4

When you have your drive plugged in and it is recognized by our program, click start. No other setup is required. I have preset everything to return your device to it’s original state.

WARNING: If you continuously format your drives, THEY WILL BREAK! Prog2 is notorious for breaking drives. Expect a 15%-20% fail rate. Again, I have set prog2 to minimize this as beast I could, down to ~5%.

If you would like to poke around in the settings panel, there are a lot of interesting features. One that I would suggest is “Information Tab” for prog1, and “Vendor Settings” for prog2. This controls the vendor name information which shows up on the taskbar info bubble, a cool feature to show off to your friends. Other than that, I leave it up to you to figure out the settings AT YOUR OWN RISK. Remember, the more you run the drives through the program, the greater the chance they will break.

NOTE: In program 1, you will be prompted with a password box when you click settings. Leave it blank and hit OK. If it does not allow you access, you can check the .INI file in the root directory for the password if it got changed for some reason.

If you have any questions or would like additional controller codes for prog2, leave a comment and I will respond to you. You may also leave your email addy if you would like me to respond directly to you as well as in the comment thread.