How to Make a USB Flash Drive Appear As a HDD

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Converting your USB flash drive from removable media to HDD (fixed hard drive) is particularly useful if you want to add extra partitions to the drive or if you want to make the drive bootable. To force a computer to recognize your USB flash drive as a fixed hard drive, you must flip the USB device's removable media bit. To flip the removable bit on your USB flash drive, you must use a special USB configuration software that will alter the USB's firmware.

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Step 1

Download and extract Lexar BootIt. Lexar BootIt is a USB configuration software designed to create bootable USB drives.

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Step 2

Insert your USB flash drive into a free USB slot. If necessary, connect a USB hub if you need additional USB slots.

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Step 3

Run Lexar BootIt. Click the "Active" button next to "Partition," then click "Flip Removable Bit" to convert your USB drive into an HDD.

Step 4

Right-click "Start," then click "Explore." Remove your USB drive from your computer once the process is complete, then reinsert it. Your USB drive will appear in the list of drives.

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Step 5

Right-click your USB drive, then click "Properties." Next to "Type," the USB drive should now read "Fixed Disk" or "Local Disk," rather than "Removable Disk."

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