Max USB size

[hapEcat]

What is the maximum supported size USB stick that can be used?
128GB didn't work, even 64GB seemed to complain, but 16GB does work flawlessly.

[longpanda]

Ventoy doesn't limit the USB size, many users use Ventoy with 256GB/1TB USB stick.
But some computer's motherboard has some limitation when booting a USB stick.
Please refer: https://www.ventoy.net/en/doc_legacy_limit.html

[Rafael]

What is the maximum supported size USB stick that can be used?
128GB didn't work, even 64GB seemed to complain, but 16GB does work flawlessly.

What do you mean exactly with "Didn't work"? Explain what issues you have had.

[hapEcat]

"Didn't Work", simply means that it would not boot to the menu, as best i remember.... It's been at least a year since I was trying Ventoy, started with a 128GB, wouldn't boot, went to 64GB, wouldn't boot either, only when I used the 16GB stick did it boot to menu. Now I put 4-5 OS's on the stick, delete one or two, then add a couple back.
All sticks were new SanDisk Ultra USB 3.0, so perhaps I should try again.

[Rafael]

Ok. I asked you cause I bought some months ago my first 128GiB USB stick precisely to use for Ventoy. But when I tried to install Ventoy on that USB stick from Linux console, it simply ended with an error:

Code:

[0121/02/06 21:46:41] Writing legacy grub ...

[0121/02/06 21:46:41] Write MBR stage1 ...

[0121/02/06 21:46:41] lseek offset:512(512) writelen:1048064(1048064)

[0121/02/06 21:46:41] fsync data1...

[0121/02/06 21:46:53] Checking part2 efi data /dev/sdi ...

[0121/02/06 21:46:56] part2 data check failed i=0 len:1048576

[0121/02/06 21:46:56] efi part data check failed

so finally, I was not able to install Ventoy from Linux in that stick. I tried another 32GiB one, and same issue.
However, when I tried to install Ventoy from Windows in those sticks, it ended without issues. But when I tried to check Ventoy installation (from Ventoy application) , surprise!!!: Ventoy was not installed!!!

In Ventoy forum someone suggested maybe those sticks were defective, so I tried to format in BTRFS and in NTFS both sticks. Again, surprisingly, even my brand new USB formatting process ended with errors. In fact, most errors was at the end of the blocks. So, finally, issue was not Ventoy, but bad blocks in those USB sticks. If fact, I bought a Sandisk 128GiB and another (no brand) 32GiB USB sticks, and have Ventoy working fine on both.

You could try to format in NTFS (not quick format, but complete format) that USB stick that failed to install Ventoy. It's the simplest way to check if you had same issue.

Conclusion: USB stick size is not the issue, but bad blocks in that stick (usually, at the end of memory). Nowadays

[cscs]

Ok. I asked you cause I bought some months ago my first 128GiB USB stick precisely to use for Ventoy. But when I tried to install Ventoy on that USB stick from Linux console, it simply ended with an error:

Code:

[0121/02/06 21:46:41] Writing legacy grub ...

[0121/02/06 21:46:41] Write MBR stage1 ...

[0121/02/06 21:46:41] lseek offset:512(512) writelen:1048064(1048064)

[0121/02/06 21:46:41] fsync data1...

[0121/02/06 21:46:53] Checking part2 efi data /dev/sdi ...

[0121/02/06 21:46:56] part2 data check failed i=0 len:1048576

[0121/02/06 21:46:56] efi part data check failed

so finally, I was not able to install Ventoy from Linux in that stick. I tried another 32GiB one, and same issue.
However, when I tried to install Ventoy from Windows in those sticks, it ended without issues. But when I tried to check Ventoy installation (from Ventoy application) , surprise!!!: Ventoy was not installed!!!

In Ventoy forum someone suggested maybe those sticks were defective, so I tried to format in BTRFS and in NTFS both sticks. Again, surprisingly, even my brand new USB formatting process ended with errors. In fact, most errors was at the end of the blocks. So, finally, issue was not Ventoy, but bad blocks in those USB sticks. If fact, I bought a Sandisk 128GiB and another (no brand) 32GiB USB sticks, and have Ventoy working fine on both.

You could try to format in NTFS (not quick format, but complete format) that USB stick that failed to install Ventoy. It's the simplest way to check if you had same issue.

Conclusion: USB stick size is not the issue, but bad blocks in that stick (usually, at the end of memory). Nowadays

What brand of USB drive you are using?

[Rafael]

What brand of USB drive you are using?

I'm sorry for replying so late, I don't receive messages from threads I'm subscribed to, I don't know why.

The 128GiB stick working is a SANDISK bought in Amazon. The 32GiB sticks have no brand (were gifts) but they works with Ventoy perfectly.

[Midas]

The 32GiB sticks have no brand (were gifts) but they works with Ventoy perfectly.

FYI, ChipEasy identifies generic storage devices such as this; it's a single Windows executable that can be downloaded from Softpedia:

www.softpedia.com/get/System/System-Info/ChipEasy.shtml.

[hapEcat]

Finally got time to try another 128GB SanDisk Ultra 3.0.
Ran "chkdsk F: /f /r /x", which found "0" errors
Tried it GPT (my drive is GPT), MBR, SecureBoot on/off, even tried the .iso through Rufus v3.15, and none would boot.
I've reformatted the drive each time before running "Ventoy2Disk.exe".
I put in the 16GB Ventoy Stick, and it will boot to the Ventoy Boot Menu.
I'm perplexed, to say the least!

[longpanda]

Maybe your computer or the USB port doesn't support boot USB 3.0 device.
You can plug the 128GB USB to another computer to see whether it can boot.