dual USB Flash drive as backup for passwords?

Bob1212 said:

This seems as if there is a simple "yes" answer, but please let me know if I've missed anything.

If the repair-install on my Win10 goes very bad* and I can't reboot, I'd like to at least be able to get online for banking/bill-pay and for email by using a phone as a last resort.

Would it work fine to just put a password text file on a dual USB stick, and then if necessary put that stick into an OTG ready Android? No hidden pitfalls?

E.g., such as SanDisk 32GB Ultra Dual Drive USB 3.0 Flash Drive, which has both type A and micro USB plugs.

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*bad = my 19041.1 upgrade already can't do any updates, UAC wrongly blocks things like Device Manager, troubleshooters won't work, etc etc etc.

Sounds reasonable. You could go a step further and print out a paper copy of your username/passwords and keep it in a safe place. You could also have a second PC, laptop, or notebook that’s internet ready.

One thing to be aware of in the boot process is that most BIOSes have built in support for USB 2 ports but have to wait for the OS to be loaded before getting support for USB 3 ports and devices. Some new BIOSes may support USB 3 but I've not had to deal with one yet. Be sure to check if that's the situation as the process may depend upon having access to the drive/s and data. As said about love and war, timing is everything.

Anibor said:

-I have a 7-year old low-end Dell laptop that has 4 USB 3.0 ports (no USB 2.0 port), and all of them work at boot, enabled by the UEFI firmware.

Those would be the combination ports, backward compatible, hadn't seen them on computers of that age yet. What color are they?

Bob,

My phone can only read USB sticks that are formatted FAT32 or exFAT. Test yours to make sure what you need to do.
- FAT32 can only be used up to 32GB.
- ExFAT can be used for bigger memory sticks / SD cards.

I also arrange for my key files to be readable on my phone in case of emergency.
- I've found that the most useful Android app for this on my phone is Total commander. Some other Android file managers cannot see any external drives at all.
- I read my password-protected Excel list of passwords etc using Mobi OfficeSuite. It's not the best but it works - an earlier phone had [built-in] Polaris Office and that was much better on such a small screen.
- I find that I use Simple Text Editor quite a bit as well for odds & sods that I transfer across.

My 'transfer' devices are:
- A 16GB FAT32-formatted USB memory stick that holds my password-protected Excel list of passwords etc. I never plug this in to anything while it is connected to the internet. I just slip a USBA-USBC adapter onto it to connect it to the phone.
- a 128GB exFAT-formatted MicroSD card that lives in an SD card adapter that lives in the otherwise unused SD card slot of my computer. This is a routine repository for backups of everything in my Documents folder [no audio or video files]. This fits into a MicroSD card - USBA adapter when I want to connect it to my phone [again, I slip on a USBA-USBC adapter]

I also connect my phone over WiFi hotpot or directly to sync files & my MS Office Outlook calendar-contacts-notes. I use FJ Software Development's unsurpassed MyPhoneExplorer for this.
- I also waxed lyrical about MPE in MyPhoneExplorer links Windows computers and Android phones reliably - TenForums

Best of luck,
Denis