USB booting :: USB Partitions sda1 vs sda2 and free space

If your computer will boot USB-HDD then try the USB-HDD install opton. It has a single partition. It is the USB-ZIP that has the limitation that requires two partitions on large drives. Otherwise try a poorman's. It is not a DSL issue, with any other version of Windows it can see multiple partitions on a pendrive.

Why does the USBZIP require two partitions? I've done a manual install to a pen drive with one partition.

Because it does not work reliably on most larger drives.
You can read all about geometry and USB-ZIP in the wiki.
It is much too long to report here.

Shart answer:

Because the ZIP drive standard format is 250MB or less.

Long answer, read the wiki or google.com search

Hi,
I may be wrong but I think you have to have the USB booter use the zip method.

Because it creates two partitions, one for the OS and one for the configuration files(tar.gz backups).

XP should be able to see both partitions, sda1,sda2. Just don't mess with the OS partition. In the other partition you should see your tar.gz file.

You can save files to the second partition and use it for all your regular stuff.

You will have to manage the size of your configuration file though, if you download a lot of extra stuff for your DSL your .tar.gz file will get big fast. Without trying hard mine was over 100mgs.

I hope I helped.

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