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Hello,
I'm a long time user of memtest86 (started around v3.0). I haven't built any systems needing memory testing recently, so I haven't made a bootable USB for the utility (a bootable floppy with v4.3.7 kept me going).
Today, I tried to create a v8.4 bootable USB image on an old 512MB USB stick I wasn't using (documentation indicates 512MB or greater is OK). I was quickly reminded that for storage/memory manufacturers, 512MB isn't quite 512MB (1024 != 1000...I'm looking at you, Lexar) and the stick only has 495.5MB usable after formatting. The image in the USB is 512,000 KB (500MB), so its not fitting. Its so close... Looking into the .img file with a hex editor, it looks like roughly half the file is zeros, so it appears there could be room to shrink the image a little.
I was wondering if it would expand compatibility if the image could be reduced to be compatible with Lexar math. The USB writer utility complained, and there is a little bit of non-zero data towards the end of the .img file, so I didn't try writing the image not knowing what an incomplete image would do.
If the image size is arbitrary, a 475MB image size should still fit on a theoretical 500,000,000 byte USB stick (476.8MB). 512,000,000 bytes is 488.3MB, this work in my case. Is the larger size image size intended for storing result logs? I previously had downloaded Memtest86 v7.x versions and they had a smaller image size. Would this be a better option for my poor little 494MB stick?
I realize I am probably having a problem that will be going away soon since I don't think I've seen a 512MB USB drive for sale recently... but MemTest86 is the perfect use for a smaller drive like this
Thanks!
I'm a long time user of memtest86 (started around v3.0). I haven't built any systems needing memory testing recently, so I haven't made a bootable USB for the utility (a bootable floppy with v4.3.7 kept me going).
Today, I tried to create a v8.4 bootable USB image on an old 512MB USB stick I wasn't using (documentation indicates 512MB or greater is OK). I was quickly reminded that for storage/memory manufacturers, 512MB isn't quite 512MB (1024 != 1000...I'm looking at you, Lexar) and the stick only has 495.5MB usable after formatting. The image in the USB is 512,000 KB (500MB), so its not fitting. Its so close... Looking into the .img file with a hex editor, it looks like roughly half the file is zeros, so it appears there could be room to shrink the image a little.
I was wondering if it would expand compatibility if the image could be reduced to be compatible with Lexar math. The USB writer utility complained, and there is a little bit of non-zero data towards the end of the .img file, so I didn't try writing the image not knowing what an incomplete image would do.
If the image size is arbitrary, a 475MB image size should still fit on a theoretical 500,000,000 byte USB stick (476.8MB). 512,000,000 bytes is 488.3MB, this work in my case. Is the larger size image size intended for storing result logs? I previously had downloaded Memtest86 v7.x versions and they had a smaller image size. Would this be a better option for my poor little 494MB stick?
I realize I am probably having a problem that will be going away soon since I don't think I've seen a 512MB USB drive for sale recently... but MemTest86 is the perfect use for a smaller drive like this
Thanks!
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