How to use recovery CD from thumbdrive

Trying to boot my recovery CDs from a thumbdrive on my AAO 150.

I have the Recovery Disc and the System Disc from Acer.

I have an 8GB thumbdrive.

I'm trying to avoid buying an external DVD ROM drive, as I already have one, just not in my immediate reach.

Which disc do I use to re-install windows? XP busted on my months ago, and have been using Unbutu in the meantime, but my Wi-fi is down completely at the moment with that (no idea why that is either).

Would just be nice to be able to get on the internet with my Acer again.

 

I am in the same boat. Seems like no body knows the answer.

 

you probably cant cos its illegal or summin, but can you upload your recovery cds on to rapid share or summin like that

 

You have to build the USB on a Vista or later Windows computer.
1. Insert your USB flash drive and enter the following Cmd prompt commands:
(please note this list assumes that your USB flash drive will be seen as disk X. To confirm that it is type "list disk" after you've entered the DISKPART command) Otherwise you may wipe a different drive (such as your hard disk drive!)
2. Type:

diskpart
list disk
select disk X [X = disk number of USB from list disk, for example "select disk 1", WARNING do not select OS disk]
clean
create partition primary
select partition 1
active
format fs=fat32
assign
exit

At this point your USB drive is formatted.

The final preparation step is to copy the installation files to your flash drive, this can be done by running the following command:
(Please note D: is the drive letter for the source files and E: is the drive letter for your flash drive, if they are different on your system you need to change them accordingly).
Exit DISKPART. Type:

xcopy d:\*.* /s/e/f e:\

Thats it, configure usb device as primary boot device in your bios and install.

 

Okay. But I have 2 discs.

1. System 206mb
2. Recovery 3.03GB

Now when Acer sent me the instructions with recovery discs. It says to put in System disc first. But, it also says I might not have to. Then it says put in the Recovery disk. Should I try the recovery disc? Also. My only other machine has Windows 7. You said this works with Vista and later machines to put it on a usb stick. Am I screwed and need to purchase a usb cd drive?

 

Windows 7 is later then Vista and should work fine with Diskpart.

You would make two USB drives. Boot with the system disk (USB) and then insert the second recovery disk (USB) when asked...

 

Thank you so much dude. I formatted the first stick and booted it. It is asking for the other disk. Very good sign. But. When I put it in. Do I just let it boot or hit F12 again and select the usb stick? Which would be the other stick I am putting in to replace the first stick. Or just put it in and hit a key like it says?

**EDIT**

Okay. I tried both methods in my post before editing. It keeps on booting into Windows 7. I don't know what the problem is? I noticed you replied in another thread of mine.

1) Repair the D2D MBR.

Could that be the problem and what I need to do? viewtopic.php?f=61&t=20399 The factory image is in fact gone.

 

I would insert both USB's before booting and then select (F12) the system USB.

If that does not work, boot from system USB and then remove and replace with the recovery USB when asked.

Repairing the D2D MBR is harder then all the other options. I located the files for someone here, but I have never done the repair.

 

This sounds really bad. I tried what you suggested. It does not work. If I buy a usb external cd/dvd drive. Am I not able to do a system recovery using the Acer restore discs, since the MBR has been lost?

 

The D2D MBR is only needed to restore the computer from the recovery partition by way of the D2D bios menu. No CD's, No USB.

Recovery disks can recovery a brand new hard drive without a MBR. Two different types of recovery...

Here are the files to repair the D2D MBR
viewtopic.php?f=61&t=13696&p=86523&hilit=d2d#p86523
You can find the instructions in the first post.

 

Please bare with me. I am so confused. I have dl the files in that link. But what exactly do I do with them? Just throw them on the System usb stick I made earlier? I wish it was that easy. But I have a feeling it is not?

**EDIT**

I seen the first post you are talking about. Wow. I really got myself in a pickle. It seems really involved and above my head? I should probably just get a external cd/dvd drive and do the recovery that way huh? It would be much easier?

 

@ FattysGoneWild, Check your PM.