The drive also serves as a “clean” reinstallation of the operating system if it’s become too slow as a result of accumulated garbage.Įxperienced computer experts and IT professionals also like to use a bootable USB as a “ portable operating system” (the concept is known as “Windows2Go” for Microsoft). You can also use a bootable USB to upgrade Windows 7 or 8 to Windows 10 if a previously automatic upgrade doesn’t function correctly. So what if you don’t have a CD/DVD drive, or the computer simply won’t boot from CD? Well, the following instructions will step you through how to make a DBAN USB flash drive to boot from, instead of from the CD.Even if no such PC emergency is present, it’s a good idea to have a Windows image for data backup on a USB-capable storage medium (could also be an external hard drive) on hand. DBAN can be downloaded from and is simple to use, but the download is a bootable CD image. This is a good thing to ensure no personal data can be recovered from the drive after disposal. You may have heard of a utility called DBAN (Darik’s Boot and Nuke) that will permanently wipe all the data from a hard drive before you recycle or dispose of it. At the DBAN menu, type “autonuke” and let it run!.Once the USB conversion is complete, restart the computer, and from the boot menu (see computer manufacturer’s instructions for how to select a boot device), boot from the USB device.Run Universal USB Installer, select “DBAN” from the drop down list, and follow the onscreen instructions.

Download the Universal USB-Installer, which converts the *.iso image to USB flash.

Insert a USB flash drive with 32MB+ available space.

To use a USB to wipe an old hard drive on a Windows PC:

Make a bootable USB flash drive to wipe an old hard drive

Creating a bootable usb drive