Clone bootable USB sticks - so it'll work

You cannot clone bootable USB sticks with Windows board tools. It is not enough to simply copy the contents of the stick. You need to make a 1: 1 copy of the stick. We show you in our practical tip how to do it.

Clone bootable USB sticks: that's what matters

• In order to maintain the bootability of the stick when copying, the master boot record (MBR) must be transferred correctly.
• If the USB stick is copied incorrectly, only the files are adopted, the master boot record is lost. The stick is then not bootable.
• The easiest way is to first create an image file and then upload it to the new stick.
• This also has the advantage that you save an image of the USB stick on your PC.

Step 1: download USB Image Tool

With the simple, free program "USB Image Tool" you can create and upload images from USB sticks:

1. Download the USB Image Tool and open the ZIP directory.
2. Extract the files by double-clicking one of the files and choosing "Extract All". Open the folder where the extracted files are located.
3. Start the tool with administrator rights by right-clicking on "USB Image Tool.exe" and selecting "Run as administrator".

Step 2: create an image of the bootable USB stick

In the first step of the actual cloning process, you create an image of the bootable stick. All partitions and properties of the stick are adopted:

1. Switch to Device Mode in the top left. This takes the MBR into account so that bootability is preserved.
2. Connect your USB stick to the computer.
3. Mark the stick in the list on the left and click on "Backup".
4. Give the file any name and choose a location.
5. Click "Save" to start the process. This can take some time.

Step 3: Load the image onto the USB stick

When the ISO file has been created, you can disconnect the USB stick from the computer and connect the new stick. The new stick can come from any manufacturer, but must be at least as large as the original stick, since the image file is the same size as the stick or the partition on it.

1. As in the previous step, select the device mode and click on your stick in the list.
2. Now click on "Restore" and select the image you just created. Note that all files on the stick will be overwritten.
3. The tool asks again if you are sure that you want to start the process.
4. As soon as the USB stick is ready, you have created a bootable 1: 1 copy. If you want, you can create as many more sticks as you like with the image you created.