Hi everyone,
I recently started using WinToUSB to create a portable Windows setup for gaming and testing software on different PCs. One thing I noticed is that PS2 emulators like PCSX2 sometimes behave differently when running from a Windows USB environment compared to a normal installation.
On one system the emulator works perfectly, but on another I get slowdowns and BIOS detection issues. I wanted to ask if anyone here has experience optimizing portable Windows setups specifically for older game emulators.
I have been testing different BIOS files and settings from this resource ps2biosonline.
So far it helped me understand compatibility better, but I still want to improve stability and loading speed when booting Windows from USB.
Does anyone recommend specific WinToUSB settings, drive formats, or performance tweaks for gaming/emulation use?
Would really appreciate suggestions from experienced users here. Thanks!
Issue:
After restoring a previously working full system image (including EFI), the system entered a BIOS/boot loop.
Important details:
BIOS still detected the NVMe SSD and rescue USB correctly.
Selecting either Windows Boot Manager or the USB device returned directly back to BIOS with no error message.
Rescue USB also could not boot.
Windows only booted again after:
BIOS factory reset
disabling Secure Boot
Additional observation:
After Windows successfully booted again, Windows requested a new PIN login, similar to what happens after BIOS/TPM/Secure Boot changes.
Current state:
System now fully stable
SFC/DISM clean
EFI OK
WinRE OK
Secure Boot can now be enabled again successfully
Possible cause:
UEFI Secure Boot / TPM / EFI trust-chain mismatch after restoring the EFI partition from image backup. Best regards. yastil
I have an external WTG drive that is USB connected and would like to make a System Backup.
System Backup states that it is for backing up the currently running Windows system. If a Disk/Partition backup is made of all three partitions will it be possible to restore the image allowing the drive to be booted?
The obvious alternative is to install HBS in the WTG when it is running and do a System Backup, but I would prefer the WTB to have no network connection/exposure.
Hello, I've just done my first proper backup to a USB WD Elements drive with Hasleo but after a few minutes it stops on error. I've never had issues backing up my drives the USB WD Elements with Macrium Reflect. Any ideas please?
I'm new to Hasleo Backup Suite - but just started using V5.8.2.0 and would like to know where to find the log files please. If I've selected Power Plan = Shutdown, how do I know that the backup completed successfully?
Recently, a vulnerability was discovered in the driver used for mounting system/disk/partition backup images. Specifically, sending a particular driver control command can trigger a BSOD (Blue Screen of Death). We have created a temporary patched version that replaces the driver file.
Since this driver involves low-level operating system operations, the fix needs to be validated in various environments. We sincerely ask for your help in testing, with a focus on whether the "mount image" functionality works correctly.
Test Items:
Download and install the patched version. During installation, check whether Windows gives any driver signature warning.
Check whether you can successfully mount an existing backup image (system/disk/partition backup).
After mounting, is reading and browsing files within the image normal?
Is unmounting the image normal?
Do you encounter any BSOD, freeze, or other anomalies?
Casual statement:
This issue is completely unrelated to the backup failures caused by recent Windows updates (KB5083769/KB5083631) or the Macrium psmounterex.sys driver vulnerability.
Thank you to everyone willing to help test! Your feedback directly affects the quality of the final release.
Hello! New user here with a perplexing question. My PC has a speedy Samsung 9100 4TB nvme SSD C: drive and I cloned it to nice new Micron Crucial X10 external USB SSD drive. I did a disk to disk clone and pretty much kept all the defaults when stepping through the process. The drive has just under 1 TB of data on it and the first time I cloned the drive it took about 20 mins which was basically what I was expecting based on how much data was on the drive and the fact it was going from SSD to SSD.
But the second time and now the third time I cloned the drive, which is running right now, it is taking just over 5 hours, which I definitely was NOT expecting! And it is actually slightly less data being cloned now because the first time there was a Windows.old folder on the c: drive but I removed it after the first clone and nothing big has been installed since then. There were never any errors encountered and the resulting cloned drive after examination looked perfectly normal every time.
So the question remains why the heck is it taking so long now compared to that first clone? Before I start the clone process I make sure to shut off all the components of my anti-virius software so that it doesn't interfere and that's about it, I just let it do its thing. As I said I basically leave the defaults so I don't select sector by sector or any other options that would slow down the process. And check me if I'm wrong but shouldn't it be closer to 20 mins for a clone this size and SSD to SSD as opposed to 5 hours?
Any insight on what might be causing the slowdown or options I might be missing, etc. would be appreciated. It's not the end of the world because I do end up with a valid clone but it sure would be nice to figure out what is happening here.
Thought I'd document my experiences and journey with Hasleo products to upgrade the SSD on my Asus Zenbook A16 Snapdragon X2 device running Windows 11 ARM Pro 26H1.
When trying to create an Emergency Disk using Hasleo Backup Suite for Windows ARM (v5.8.2.0) using the "Enable support for 'WINDOWS UEFI CA 2023'" option I kept getting an error at the 5% mark that said "Failed to run system API. (0x02F4001500000003)".
Using the "Download WinPE components" option successfully created the ISO but I couldn't get the system to boot off it, it boot looped after trying to load. Tried turning off Secure Boot and a bunch of other things, nothing worked. Think the WinPE build needs updates to work with Windows ARM 26H1.
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Next, I bought Hasleo Windows To Go (because I have Windows 11 Pro, I think with Home it's free): https://www.easyuefi.com/wintousb/ And I was able to clone and boot a clone of the entire Windows 11 ARM 26H1 OS on my Asus Zenbook A16 off an external USB drive.
To get it to boot off the external USB SSD I had to:
1.) Turn off Secure Boot in the BIOS
2.) Get USB driver in Windows on the USB drive to init on boot, otherwise I got a 0x7b blue screen (attached screenshots with details of fix)
This is much nicer than a WinPE environment since it's a literal clone of the entire OS. I'm booting off the 2TB version of this external SSD I bought a year or so ago: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0D47DZB1G connected to the USB3 USB-A port.
Sometimes the BIOS boot drive selector (hold down esc during boot process) wouldn't see the USB drive as an available option to boot from. I had to do a complete shut down/power off and start from a clean boot to get it to see it, or go into the bios, toggle something like fast boot, and force a complete restart.
Used the new USB drive to restore to a new SSD using the free version of Hasleo Backup Suite. First time I restored it froze/bluescreened at the 95% restore mark with a USB driver error. I ran the restore again and it succeeded on my second attempt. Just upgraded the SSD in the A16, just in time, was starting to delete things.
Also bought/used this thermal pad on the new SSD, seems to be running cool: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B09V53W559. Since the Zenbook is a thin light I thought safest to go with thinnest 0.5mm available on the single sided SSD.
Note: I also have Bitlocker disabled since first setting up this system, in case that has an effect.