The optical disk drives have started to disappear from the newer desktop computers and specially from some of the notebook computers. Now the faster, cheaper and compacter USB flash keys have completely replaced all the other types of disks that were used for carrying files from one computer to another. And now the USB flash keys are also being used for even the Windows installation too. Over the past many years we have covered so many programs that can take the Windows installation DVD or the ISO image and use it to create a bootable USB flash key. But all of these programs work by formatting the USB flash key and if you are forced to backup all the files that were already present on those USB flash disks.
WinUSB comes up with a solution to this problem. It can create bootable Windows installation USB flash disks without resorting to format them first. It is a portable program and when you launch it, it presents you with a prompt for choosing the Windows installation ISO image or the DVD.
In either case, it will take you the next step where you have to pick the source (ISO file or the DVD drive) followed by selecting the destination USB flash key. There are options to format the USB flash disk using the FAT32 or the NTFS or the exFAT file systems. But formatting is not necessary, WinUSB works without having to format anything. Of course, you have to make sure that the USB flash disk has enough free space for the Windows installation files (usually around 4GB of free space is needed). Clicking on the big Go! button will start the creation of the bootable USB flash key and the finalized USB key can then be used to install Windows on any PC later.
Verdict: WinUSB prepares bootable Windows installation USB disks without formatting them. This can save you from a lot of headache of backing up the files from the USB flash disk every time you create such a USB disk.
You can download WinUSB from http://www.winusb.net/.