Memtest86 v7.1 - how to change usb partition or edit IMG for the same purpose?

[Pumbaa]

Hi All.

Creating USB-stick via IMG file converts it to a very small sized.
I've tried to change partitions with Windows Disk Management, with Acronis Disk Director, but failed. Non of them could enlarge partitions size with unused space.
I've tried to edit IMG file with WinImage and UltraISO, but non of them recognized image format.

Any ideas?

[David (PassMark)]

If the drive is NTFS, then ImageUSB can extend the partition.

Edit #1 (Aug 2016): This won't work due to complex partitioning scheme in V7 (see below).

Edit #2 (Sept 2020): This will work in V8, as partitioning scheme is simpler in V8 because we dropped the dual booting function in V8. With V8 an additional NTFS partition is created at the end of the drive so the full capacity can be used.

[Pumbaa]

After deploying IMG file on 8Gb stick with ImageUSB there are 3 parts.
Windows disk management says: 1 - 49Mb - FAT, 2 - encrypted (EFI) system partition - 99Mb, 3 - unallocated - 7.35Gb.
Acronis says: 1 - 'local volume' - 49Mb - FAT16 of base GPT type, 2 - 'EFI system partition' - 98.98Mb - FAT16 of base GPT type, 3 - Free - 7.354Gb.
But in both applications any actions with 1 & 2 partitions are disabled with comment 'not availiable'.

If somehow I convert existing file systems stick will become unbootable.

[David (PassMark)]

What is your goal?
To recover a USB stick after having MemTest86 on it. You can just zero it and format it, if this is what you need.
OR
To have MemTest86 installed on the USB stick and then modify the partitioning. While it is probably possible we haven't bothered to investigate what tools would do this.

[Pumbaa]

Goal is to have as much availiable space on stick as possible.
Few versions ago (don't remember exact version number) I usually installed Memtest and after that had enough space for some more test utilities or user files. So one stick was complex instrument.

[David (PassMark)]

In MemTest86 V5, V6 and V7 the partitioning scheme became more complex. This was required to support simultaneous BIOS and UEFI booting.
Add to this the fact that Windows doesn't really deal with even standard partitioning tasks on USB drives and the whole thing becomes a complex mess.

Again there is surely a tool out there that can deal with a complex partitioning scheme on a USB drive. But we haven't tested them. So don't have a solution.
(except the obvious solution of carrying a small USB drive for MemTest86 and a larger one for other non-bootable tools).

[Pumbaa]

Ok. May be anyone of forum members will advise anything.
By the way, my old "small USB drive" is already too small, cause 128Mb is not enough

[mcmakuc]

Ok. May be anyone of forum members will advise anything.
By the way, my old "small USB drive" is already too small, cause 128Mb is not enough

I tried a few tools (including Acronis Disk Director 12.5) and only EaseUS Partition Master 13.5 (free) worked for me. I managed to reduce both partitions to merely 2 x 16 MB (one visible 16 MB and one hidden 16 MB UEFI system partition) for a total of 32 MB. If this helps anyone in the future.

[David (PassMark)]

Picking the "Extend/Add partition" option in ImageUSB with Memtest86 V8 will create an additional empty partition. This allows the full capacity of the USB drive to be used.
There shouldn't be much incentive to minimise the size of the partitions as the cost per GB for Flash drives is around $0.60 per GB at the moment and dropping every year.

Before imaging.





After imaging