USB booting :: USB boot compatability list

i would like to point out that some pen drives don't boot at all even with motherboards that boot others.
i have had sucesss with pqi, kingston and sandisk.
no success with less known brands like eagletec.
and surprisingly even corsair doesn't boot.

(EPIA-CN10000EG)

I've been using five or six sony microvault and sandisk cruzer usb sticks with dsl since 2005 - even to the extent of using them for temporary file space to compile large applications (although I would not recommend this). Not one of them has failed or refused to boot so far.

VIA EPIA ML6000

- usb stick of 256MB, created with USB-HDD install script in DSL 4.4.10
- set bios to boot from USB-FDD
- disable LAN BOOT ROM in bios (in the section "Integrated Peripherals")

Note: USB-ZIP and USB-HDD boot options will *not* work, you will get the following message:

Verifying DMI Pool Data...
DISK BOOT FAILURE, INSERT SYSTEM DISK AND PRESS ENTER

original here.