USB Flash Drive Maximum Capacity for MoBo Bios Update via USB

eyesky

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Aug 30, 2012
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Hi everyone,

I read somewhere that the maximum USB flash drive capacity to use for ASUS Z77 MoBo bios updating via USB is 8 Mb, however, I could not find info with this regard in ASUS P8Z77-V manual. Is there actually a maximum size for your FAT32 USB Flash drive to be used for bios update via USB on ASUS MoBos? Can I use a 32 Gb or 16 Gb USB 3.0 flash drive for this purpose?
 
Solution
I see no mention of a limitation. I wouldnt use anything over 16GB.

A 2GB drive or less will give you maximum support. No NTFS!

Why are you flashing the BIOS? 99% of the time a BIOS flash is the wrong answer.

EVEN WHEN DONE PROPERLY YOU RUN A RISK OF DESTROYING YOUR COMPUTER! DO NOT ATTEMPT! (Unless you know exactly what you are doing, why you are doing it, and what your expected end result will be.)

Dr_JRE

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Aug 12, 2012
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I see no mention of a limitation. I wouldnt use anything over 16GB.

A 2GB drive or less will give you maximum support. No NTFS!

Why are you flashing the BIOS? 99% of the time a BIOS flash is the wrong answer.

EVEN WHEN DONE PROPERLY YOU RUN A RISK OF DESTROYING YOUR COMPUTER! DO NOT ATTEMPT! (Unless you know exactly what you are doing, why you are doing it, and what your expected end result will be.)
 
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eyesky

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Aug 30, 2012
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Thanks for your info.

Why wouldn't you use anything over 16Gb?

ASUS has released bios update every 1 or 2 months for Z77 boards. I think because of new chipset and architecture they needed fine tuning. I have updated my BIOS two times so far via ASUS software though Windows. The last update imporved my some issue I was experiencing with rebooting and also reduced the boot time.
I am going to buy a USB 3.0 flash drive for general use. So, I wanted to know if I bought a 32 Gb could I still use it to update the bios, just in case.
 
it has to be a fat formatted usb stick. also on the z77 mb from asus you have to rename the bios file per asus. some of the mb have a usb flash back port that is the safeest way to update the bios. the next way is to use the bios updater inside the bios.
 

eyesky

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Aug 30, 2012
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The problem is not solved yet. I accidenally hit the "solved problem" button. So, why is it advisable to not use a USB drive larger that 16 Gb or 8 Gb (I am not sure which one!) for this purpose, as the other user has suggested?

(To a moderator: please, remove the "solved problem" icon if possible. Thanks.)
 

Dr_JRE

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Aug 12, 2012
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Because your BIOS flash utility may not be able to understand a drive that large.

This is 2012 so it likely won't be an issue but it is with older boards. i do not personally own that board so I do not know for sure it will work with drives larger than 8GB.

The safest thing to use is a FAT formatted 2GB drive as it is 100% compatible with pretty much any computer that has USB.