How many usb memory sticks do you keep?

I only have one usb memory stick right now, that i use to install or reinstall windows with.

How many do you guys keep?

Cerawy said:

I only have one usb memory stick right now, that i use to install or reinstall windows with. How many do you guys keep?

My first usb stick was a whole 2GB and is still going strong. To me they are the modern equivalent of floppy disks, I buy and use them in much the same way. Nothing too large, as sizes increased and prices dropped 4GB, 8GB, 16GB then 32GB became my norm.

Over the years I've had maybe two or three die on me. I currently have just over 20, many of them 4GB or 8GB.

I have 1 USB stick with Windows 10 installation media & another containing the Macrium boot media.
I have various others but these are not used for anything so far.

Cerawy said:

Wow.
What do you use so many usb memory sticks for?

The oldest smallest ones get re-purposed as Macrium Reflect rescue drives, even 1GB would be large enough for that.

Some are Unix Live boot USBs, others are install USBs for various versions of W10 and W11. There's a bootable Partition Wizard 9.1 USB, a bootable MemTest86+, and some bootable WinPE ones with other tools on them. With some half dozen or more PCs in active use I soon find a use for all the rest.

Oh, and three of them are Recovery Drives made on the the OEM Windows that some of my PCs came with, effectively a Factory Reset USB for each machine.

Cerawy said:

Would it be possible to use the same usb memory stick, as a windows installation media as well as a macrium rescue media with a backup of windows?

I’d like to know that too. I’m sure I’ve read it’s not possible though.

I use three. 2x 16GB for things like Macrium and a Windows ISO if needed.
And a 256GB stick for moving many or large files, if necessary. Or maybe storing a Windows backup.

BUT, I also have an optical drive, which I use as an extra backup for things like various program's rescue media.

Hello @Cerawy and @Bastet,

Cerawy said:

Would it be possible to use the same usb memory stick, as a windows installation media as well as a macrium rescue media with a backup of windows?

You can put any number of ISO's on to a Ventoy created USB, the size of the USB allowing of course. I would NOT personally use it for the backup images. Backup images are recommended to be put on an external HDD, and preferably ANOTHER copy somewhere else as well.

You might find this interesting and useful . . .

 Ventoy

About Ventoy:

Ventoy is an open source tool to create a bootable USB drive for ISO/WIM/IMG/VHD(x)/EFI files.

With Ventoy, you don't need to format the disk over and over, you just need to copy the ISO/WIM/IMG/VHD(x)/EFI files to the USB drive and boot them directly. You can copy many files at a time and Ventoy will give you a boot menu to select them.

Most types of OS are supported [ Windows/WinPE/Linux/Unix/VMware/Xen... ], including, x86 Legacy BIOS, IA32 UEFI, x86_64 UEFI, ARM64 UEFI and MIPS64EL UEFI.

Basically, depending on the size of the USB, you can have ALL your Bootable ISO's on the USB. Additionally, you can also have Portable Apps, Tools, Utilities, Folders, and Files, ALL on the Non-Bootable Partition of the USB.

> Ventoy - Main Page - 1.0.80 Release
> Ventoy - Screenshots
> Ventoy - Download Page
> Ventoy - The ULTIMATE USB Boot Drive [ Video ]

Also, @EdTittel, a Windows Insider MVP member, wrote this in his blog . . .

> TOP 3 2020 WINDOWS 10 UTILITIES

I have created a USB using Ventoy and find it an invaluable resource. It is probably the best thing that has ever happened to Bootable Media!

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I hope this helps.