rufus/README.txt

Rufus: The Reliable USB Formatting Utility

Features:
- Formats USB flash drives to FAT/FAT32/NTFS/UDF/exFAT
- Creates DOS bootable USB drives, using FreeDOS or MS-DOS with no external files required
- Creates MBR or GPT/UEFI bootable USB drives
- Creates bootable USB drives from bootable ISOs (Windows, Linux, etc.)
- Twice as fast as Microsoft's USB/DVD tool or UNetbootin, on ISO->USB (1)
- Can perform bad blocks check, with fake drive detection
- Modern and familiar UI
- Small footprint, no installation required
- 100% Free Source Software (GPL v3)

Compilation:
  Use either Visual Studio 2012, WDK 7.1 (Windows Driver Kit) or MinGW and then
  invoke the .sln, wdk_build.cmd or configure/make respectively.
  
Additional information:
  Rufus provides extensive information about what it is doing, either through
  its easily accessible log, or through the Windows debug facility.

More info:
  http://rufus.akeo.ie

Enhancements/Bugs
  https://github.com/pbatard/rufus/issues


(1) Tests carried out with a 16 GB USB 3.0 ADATA pen drive on a
    Core 2 duo/4 GB RAM platform running Windows 7 x64.
    ISO: en_windows_7_ultimate_with_sp1_x64_dvd_618240.iso
    - Windows 7 USB/DVD Download Tool v1.0.30:  8 mins 10s
    - UNetbootin v1.1.1.1:                      6 mins 20s
    - Rufus v1.1.0:                             3 mins 25s
[misc] added README/TODO * also renamed Allocation Unit to Cluster 2011-12-05 12:41:55 +00:00			`Rufus: The Reliable USB Formatting Utility`

			`Features:`
[syslinux] Update Syslinux v4 to 4.07 2013-08-13 23:53:28 +00:00			`- Formats USB flash drives to FAT/FAT32/NTFS/UDF/exFAT`
[misc] improve Windows version detection * Also update README.txt * Closes #220 2013-11-05 02:16:49 +00:00			`- Creates DOS bootable USB drives, using FreeDOS or MS-DOS with no external files required`
v1.3.3 (build 250) 2013-06-10 20:50:42 +00:00			`- Creates MBR or GPT/UEFI bootable USB drives`
			`- Creates bootable USB drives from bootable ISOs (Windows, Linux, etc.)`
[misc] more pre 1.1.0 improvements 2012-02-07 23:16:15 +00:00			`- Twice as fast as Microsoft's USB/DVD tool or UNetbootin, on ISO->USB (1)`
v1.3.3 (build 250) 2013-06-10 20:50:42 +00:00			`- Can perform bad blocks check, with fake drive detection`
[misc] improve Windows version detection * Also update README.txt * Closes #220 2013-11-05 02:16:49 +00:00			`- Modern and familiar UI`
[freedos] Embed FreeDOS always in a single version of rufus.c * also bump version to rufus-next * also change build prefix from '#' to 'b' in tags 2012-03-28 18:50:21 +00:00			`- Small footprint, no installation required`
[core] only allow removable drives to be listed * Our detection code, which is based on the HPUSBFW utility, allows fixed drives such as USB HDDs to be listed * Since Rufus lacks extra precautions for fixed disks, this may result in people mistakenly formatting and HDD instead of a flash drive * Until we have added HDD specific features (support for repartitioning or existing partitions, >32GB FAT32, etc.) we prefer playing it safe by not listing fixed disks. * We will re-enable fixed disks when we feel enough safeties are in place * Also fix an issue where ISO selection could crash if Rufus was compiled for Vista and later and update version to rufus-next 2012-02-24 18:46:02 +00:00			`- 100% Free Source Software (GPL v3)`
[misc] added README/TODO * also renamed Allocation Unit to Cluster 2011-12-05 12:41:55 +00:00
			`Compilation:`
[misc] refactoring and cleanup - part 2 * add GetResource() function call to handle resource loading and revert 98ff7a931a11a0f7cb25d1533e872c5efd68039d * add separate BootCheck() call * better handling of passes tooltip * remove superfluous backslashes * fix standalone EFI support * add GPL v3 license file and update README.txt 2013-01-25 01:38:10 +00:00			`Use either Visual Studio 2012, WDK 7.1 (Windows Driver Kit) or MinGW and then`
[misc] added README/TODO * also renamed Allocation Unit to Cluster 2011-12-05 12:41:55 +00:00			`invoke the .sln, wdk_build.cmd or configure/make respectively.`
[msvc] move FreeDOS config option to a header file * use toplevel ms-config.h for options, rather than duplicate project files * applies for MSVC and WDK 2012-01-11 11:09:40 +00:00
			`Additional information:`
v1.3.3 (build 250) 2013-06-10 20:50:42 +00:00			`Rufus provides extensive information about what it is doing, either through`
			`its easily accessible log, or through the Windows debug facility.`
[misc] added README/TODO * also renamed Allocation Unit to Cluster 2011-12-05 12:41:55 +00:00
			`More info:`
[fat] use ms-sys' partition_info source to correct Disk Drive ID * Disk Drive ID fixup for FAT32 was already available in ms-sys with option -p * modified code to add FAT16 as well as FAT32 support as well as minor fixes * reverts previous patch write_fat_32_br() and write_fat_16_br() 2011-12-14 20:48:20 +00:00			`http://rufus.akeo.ie`
[misc] added README/TODO * also renamed Allocation Unit to Cluster 2011-12-05 12:41:55 +00:00
			`Enhancements/Bugs`
			`https://github.com/pbatard/rufus/issues`
[misc] more pre 1.1.0 improvements 2012-02-07 23:16:15 +00:00

			`(1) Tests carried out with a 16 GB USB 3.0 ADATA pen drive on a`
			`Core 2 duo/4 GB RAM platform running Windows 7 x64.`
			`ISO: en_windows_7_ultimate_with_sp1_x64_dvd_618240.iso`
			`- Windows 7 USB/DVD Download Tool v1.0.30: 8 mins 10s`
			`- UNetbootin v1.1.1.1: 6 mins 20s`
			`- Rufus v1.1.0: 3 mins 25s`