RMPrepUSB calls RMPartUSB.exe to format or alter a drive.

Tip: Set the options in RMPrepUSB, untick the ‘No user prompts’ box and click ‘6 Prepare Drive’ – the RMPartUSB parameters will be displayed before they are executed and you can see the parameters that will be used. RMPrepUSB also has an ‘Info box’ – just hover over an option to see what it does.

To understand the RMPartUSB options better, read the RMPrepUSB User Guide.

Here is the help text output by the Windows command line driven utility RMPartUSB:

COMMAND LINE:

RMPARTUSB v2.1.700 (c)2013 RM Education plc [SSi]

=================================================

Syntax:

RMPARTUSB [DRIVE=n | FIND | LIST | FILEINFO] [CLEAN | QUICKTEST | SPEEDTEST | ERASE | GETDRV | (copy command)] [SURE][DEBUG]

Special:

[ZIP][CHS][2PTN][FORCELBA][WRITEMBRONLY] [USBFDD]{[NTFS]|[FAT32]|[EXFAT]}[NOACT][SIZE=x][ALLDRIVES][FIRSTPART=n][VOLUME=volname]

Volume boot code options:

[DOSZIP | FREEDOS | MSDOS | XP/NTLDR | VISTA/WINP/BOOTMGR/WIN7]

————————— COPY COMMAND USAGE —————————————-

Copy commands:

RMPARTUSB USBTOFILE | FILETOUSB | FILEINFO | USBINFO

Copy parameters:

DRIVE=n FILE=”path\fname” USBSTART=s FILESTART=b LENGTH=b

Where:

b=bytes, s=sectors or use nSEC,nKB,nMB,nGB,MBR,MBR+,P1,P2,P3,PEXT,PALL or DALL

MBR first sector of disk or 512 bytes of file

MBR+ up to but not including start of first partition

Pn start or end of partition (P1-P4)

PEXT start or end of extended partition (inc all logical ptns)

PALL up to end of last partition (default)

DALL all sectors on USB drive (default if no partition table)

If no partition in source then default is LENGTH=DALL or file length.

————————- EXAMPLE FILE PARAMETERS ————————————-

FILEINFO FILE=”x.bin” FileStart=P1 (display 512 bytes)

USBINFO DRIVE=1 USBSTART=MBR LENGTH=40SEC (displays max. of 20 sectors)

DRIVE=1 USBTOFILE FILE=”x.bin” USBSTART=32 FILESTART=32SEC LENGTH=1024

DRIVE=1 USBTOFILE FILE=”x.bin” (create file if not already exist)

DRIVE=1 FILETOUSB FILE=”etherboot.bin” SURE

DRIVE=1 FILETOUSB FILE=”x.bin” FILESTART=32 USBSTART=P1 LENGTH=4MB

DRIVE=1 FILETOUSB FILE=”x.bin” FILESTART=P1 USBSTART=P1 LENGTH=P1

————————— NOTES —————————————————–

Notes: 2PTN, CHS, NTFS, FORCELBA, FAT32, EXFAT, USBFDD and ZIP are override keywords.

XP and NTLDR options have same function (used for XP/WinPE v1/BartPE).

WINPE/BOOOTMGR/WIN7/VISTA use for VistaPE/WinPEv2/Vista/Win7 (all same!).

VOLUME= must always be at very end of command line, if used.

CHS for max. BIOS compatibility, uses Type 6 if FAT16, 64hds/32secs if poss.

ZIP uses CHS and sets volume boot record parameters to floppy disk type.

Use ZIP if boot problems or to boot as A: drive.

DOSZIP uses a FAT16 MSWIN4.1 BPB, MSDOS uses a FAT16 MSDOS5.0 BPB.

NOACT Set partition as non-bootable (not active)

2PTN For maximum HDD compatibility, try adding ‘2PTN’ which adds

a small 2nd ptn to ensure a BIOS recognises the UFD as a hard disk.

FORCELBA Sets CHS params in ptn table to max., even if ptn under 8GB.

ZIP + CHS – Use for maximum ZIP compatibility.

ZIP + USBFDD – Use for maximum Floppy compatibility.

2PTN + FORCELBA – Use for maximum HDD compatibility.

USB-ZIP drives are recognised as ‘Removable Storage device’ by Windows.

USB-HDD drives are recognised as either ‘Removable’ or ‘Hard Disk’ by Windows.

To change between a Removable and Hard Disk (e.g. on Netac or Lexar UFDs),

try BootIt.exe v1.07 ‘Flip Removable Bit’ from http://www.filefront.com.

BootIt.exe can change some ‘Removable’ UFDs into a ‘Fixed Disk’.

—————————- ABOUT —————————————————-

Use RMPREPUSB for a user-friendly front-end GUI interface for RMPARTUSB.

For private use only. For commercial use please contact [email protected].

Unauthorised distribution is strictly prohibited.

TAKE CARE! RMPARTUSB destroys all data on a drive and creates a

bootable partition on storage devices under Windows.

Note: RMPartUSB must be run with Administrator rights.

————————- OTHER EXAMPLE PARAMETERS (default = FAT16) —————–

LIST ALLDRIVES (list all drives, * indicates first drive)

FIND > RUNDRV.cmd (find number and letter of first USB drive)

DRIVE=1 GETDRV > RUNDRV.cmd (report drive letter+size+description)

DRIVE=1 SURE ALLDRIVES (ptn as FAT16 unformatted – no prompt – even if non-USB)

DRIVE=1 QUICKTEST (Quick test of whole drive for bad 128K pages)

DRIVE=1 ZIP SIZE=900 (900MB unformatted partition ZIP compatible)

DRIVE=1 WINPE (ptn and format as FAT16 WinPE v2 bootable HDD)

DRIVE=1 MSDOS ZIP FAT32 (ptn and format as FAT32 MSDOS bootable ZIP)

DRIVE=1 FREEDOS ZIP USBFDD (format as FAT16 FreeDos large floppy – no MBR)

DRIVE=1 XP NTFS VOLUME=MYXP (ptn/format as NTFS XP bootable HDD)

DRIVE=1 WIN7 2PTN FAT32 (ptn and format as FAT32 WINPE bootable HDD)

DRIVE=1 VISTA 2PTN FORCELBA FAT32 (for most compatible bootable HDD)

DRIVE=1 WRITEMBRONLY (writes MBR boot code but leaves disk sig. and ptn table)

DRIVE=1 FIRSTPART=3 SURE (swaps the 3rd partition table entry with the 1st entry)

————————– INSTRUCTIONS ———————————————–

To make a WinPE, WIN7 or VISTA <2GB bootable FAT32 USB-HDD UFD

————————————————————–

1. RMPARTUSB LIST to find USB drive number, e.g. 3

2. RMPARTUSB DRIVE=3 WINPE FAT32 2PTN where 3 was the number returned above

3. Use Windows Explorer to all copy files to the new drive.

To make a DOS bootable USB-ZIP UFD

———————————-

1. RMPARTUSB LIST find USB drives numbers, e.g. 3

2. RMPARTUSB DRIVE=3 DOSZIP format as 512MB MSDOS ZIP bootable

3. Use Explorer to copy DOS boot files (IO.SYS, COMMAND.COM and MSDOS.SYS).

To make a DOS bootable USB-FDD UFD (A:)

—————————————

1. RMPARTUSB LIST find USB drives numbers, e.g. 3

2. RMPARTUSB DRIVE=3 DOSZIP USBFDD format as MSDOS large floppy

3. Use Explorer to copy DOS boot files (IO.SYS, COMMAND.COM and MSDOS.SYS).

Errorlevels: 0=OK, 1=Bad param, 2=User abort, 3=Not found, 4=Not a USB device,

5=Unknown error, 6=Disk or operational error, 7=Write error.

Maybe need a DRIVE=n, FIND, LIST or FILEINFO parameter?

=========

CMD file to get Capacity in Sectors

GetSZLBA.cmd

DD = drive number

set DD=4
for /f "tokens=8" %%s in ('rmpartusb "DRIVE=%DD% USBINFO LENGTH=1 SURE" ^| find /i "Reported"') do set SZ=%%s
set SZ=%SZ:,=%
echo SZ=%SZ%

See the FAQ for more help on how to use RMPARTUSB in scripts/batch files.