Vista Tutorial - bootable thumb drive

I have this 2.0 gb thumb drive that was given to me. How can I tell if it's bootable or not. It does not have a brand name on it.

I don't know that a drive is "automatically" bootable or not, but you can make one bootable.

Making a bootable thumb drive ~ http://www.trekstorusa.com/downloads/bootdisk.pdf

Fresh out of the box, so to speak, NO Flash Drive is bootable. It does NOT contain a boot sector or the System Files for an OS.

But like any other media, since the floppy disk, you can make it bootable if you like.
I even have a 64meg Flash Memory Card, like's used in my Kodak camera, that I've made bootable.

EDIT:
But the question comes up, "Boot to what?"
You must provide the source for the boot information. A DOS boot disk is the preferable source. If you've never had a DOS boot disk and/or you don't have a floppy drive, either internal or USB, then you may have (DO HAVE) a problem.
Once you start 'coloring outside the lines', not having a floppy drive and knowing how to use floppy disks, puts you at a serious disadvantage.

I've suggested to many a user that they buy themselves a USB External Floppy Disk Drive. They sell for somewhere in the $19 to $29 range and are indispensable for the PC tech, enthusiast, nerd, geek or weekend putzer. There are just SO many things that you absolutely CAN-NOT do without a floppy disk drive.

There is a neat little Utility from HP that makes any Flash Drive bootable.
But, it asks you for a source for the boot sector.

I just use one of my bootable floppy disks for that boot info.
You can also use a DOS bootable CD.

Check it out. Just Google for, "HP USB Disk Storage Format Tool"
and you'll have a choice of several sites where you can download the file.

Good Luck,
The Shadow

I used the hp tool to make a bootable usb flashdrive for a bios upgrade. You also need to tell your bios to boot from the usb flashdrive when it is in the computer, otherwise it will boot from the harddrive as normal.

Thanks guys, just what the doctor ordered. Much obliged.

Roy, Just as a followup, what did you use for the source for your DOS boot information to put on the Flash Drive? My last two PC motherboards were made by different companies, about five years apart, but both have the option to bring up a Boot menu during the BIOS boot sequence, if you press the F11 key. From that menu, I can boot into any drive on my computer, even my Flash Memory Card reader slots. I'm sure that other mobo's have this feature too. It would be worthwhile investigating your own PC. Tropical Storm FAY is kicking our butts this afternoon, here in Central FL. The Shadow

I used the files from an old windows 98 boot disk. It is the same as making a bootable floppy. As you are booting the disk, it does not matter what you get it to boot into. I am at work now so I will have to wait until I get home then I can tell you what files I used. I will look at F11 when I get home.