We divide flash drives into sections for Windows. Part I

At the moment, the network has a lot of information on how to divide the flash drive into partitions and so that, after all this, Windows can work properly with both partitions. For Linux users, there are no problems with this issue. They do not need anything especially in order to share and use all partitions on the flash drive. But Windows is more conservative in this matter, because at one time it decided that removable flash drives can have only one active partition. That is, even if you divide the flash drive into two partitions using Linux, and then decide to use it in Windows, only the first partition will be shown to you.

During the search for the answer to the question - how to make two active partitions visible in Windows - you may encounter specific examples that work only on certain flash drives. Some manufacturers of flash drives made sure that they have a utility for the qualitative division of flash drives into sections. But what about those owners of flash drives, whose manufacturers did not even think about the need to create such a utility.

There is another option, which will be discussed in the next part of the article. The task is to make Windows "see" the USB flash drive as a hard disk. Clearly, this method will be relevant only for the Windows, in which the appropriate actions will be done, but this is not bad. To make the flash drive appear as a hard disk in other systems, you need to reflash the controller, and as mentioned earlier in the article on restoring flash drives , you will need special utilities from flash drive manufacturers or utilities for flashing specific controllers.

Changes at flash drive level

Let's start with the option that allows you to make changes at the flash drive level, without the need to make any changes to the OS. It is clear that this option is suitable only for those flash drives for which utilities are available: from the manufacturers of the flash drives themselves, from the manufacturers of controllers or more versatile utilities for different types of controllers.
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A more or less universal utility for putting the controller into HDD mode is BootIt , since it works with different controllers, but, unfortunately, not with all. The disadvantage of the program is that it works correctly only under Windows XP, but, fortunately, in older versions of Windows there is a function that allows you to run programs in compatibility mode. This saved me when using the program in Windows 7. So, let's start ...

In fact, the BootIt utility is quite primitive, so there should be no difficulties with it. But, since I began to describe, I’ll do it in more or less detail:

1 . First you need to start the program, and if you do it from under Windows 7, like me, then to launch, use the context menu that appears after clicking on the file with the right mouse button and select the “Compatibility fix” item:



2 Next, use the recommended parameters and run the program.
3 There is nothing to set up in the utility, you just need to select the USB flash drive that we want to switch to HDD mode and click on the “Flip Removable Bit” button:



4 After a short reflection, the program will inform you that it is necessary to remove the flash drive and insert it again for the changes to take effect.
5 Here comes the moment of truth, since it is at this step that it becomes clear whether the program was able to transfer the controller of our flash drive to the mode we need. Go to the "Disk Management" choose our flash drive, click on it with the right mouse button and if you have the item "Delete volume ..." - active, then everything is not in vain. You can delete the current section and create the quantity you need:

If it did not help

If these actions were useless and the flash drive controller remained in the same mode - do not despair. It may still not be so bad, because it is far from the only utility that can help you. Manufacturers of controllers, in their utilities for flashing them, sometimes do not forget about the point that allows you to divide the flash drive into sections. In order to find a utility for flashing the controller that is used in your flash drive - I advise you to read my article on the restoration of flash drives . There is all the information that is needed.

Another option may be to search for "native" utility for a flash drive, which, too, with little effort, will allow you to split your flash drive into sections. Well, if, suddenly, you do not find anything suitable, you can always ask for help in the comments, indicating the VID and PID of your controller.

What's next?

In the next part of the article I will describe a method that will allow you to make the necessary changes at the operating system level. As practice has shown, sometimes this option is enough to achieve the desired results. Therefore, see you in the next part!