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USB Drive is Not Found or has Errors when Using Image for DOS

Problem:

Your USB drive cannot be found using Image for DOS or it is found, but has errors when an operation is started.

Cause:

This issue has a number of potential causes. Often, the system BIOS interferes with Image for DOS, which is why many of the following suggestions involve attempts at working around issues with the BIOS. Please refer to the list of potential solutions below for more information.

Solution:

You may try the following suggestions, being sure to undo each configuration change if it does not provide a successful workaround to the issue:

  • See the following KB article:
    Troubleshooting USB Drive Connection and Performance Issues
  • Boot with the drive disconnected and connect it before attempting an image or restore operation with Image for DOS. This can sometimes prevent the BIOS from interfering with Image for DOS.
  • Drives connected to USB 3 ports may only be available via the BIOS or BIOS (Direct) options on the Select Drive Interface screen(s). Drives connected to USB ports in USB 3 (xHCI) mode will be unavailable via the USB bus option. Note that, depending on the system, there may be a BIOS option to allow the ports to delay or prevent xHCI mode if support is not detected, which may allow them to function using the USB bus option.
  • Boot with the drive connected and use the BIOS option (rather than the USB option) on applicable Select Drive Interface screen(s). Please note that this will not work in all cases. Also, the BIOS USB interface may be very slow (due to the use of USB 1.x speeds) or may not be reliable (in this case, you will see either validation errors or program freezes during the imaging/restore operation).
  • Use the USB option (rather than the BIOS option) on applicable Select Drive Interface screen(s). This allows the drive to be accessed directly and may provide better stability and performance than using the BIOS.
  • Enable UHCI support in Image for DOS. This will ensure that a USB 1.x device is not holding up the USB port. There are several ways to accomplish this:
    1. Use MakeDisk to create the Image for DOS bootable media with the USB 1.1 (UHCI) option selected.
    2. Manually add UHCI=1 to IFD.INI (under the [Options] section).
    3. Use the /uhci:1 command line parameter.
  • If your device supports IEEE 1394 (FireWire) in addition to USB, you may want to try using it.
  • If none of the aforementioned workarounds provide a satisfactory solution, you may wish to try using Image for Linux rather than Image for DOS. Please note that Image for Linux has an interface that is very similar to that of Image for DOS and that creating the bootable Image for Linux media is easy, thanks to the MakeDisk utility. (MakeDisk is included in the Image for Linux download.)  Also, every purchase of Image for DOS or Image for Windows includes a license to use Image for Linux.

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