How Can I Access a 2nd C Drive Linking 2 PC’s With USB


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Bondppq

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Local time
11:31 AM
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Win 11
Hello, I am using a special data transfer cable with particular softwares: Bravura & PCLinq5 to link 2 mini-PC sticks together to recognize each other’s C Drives to wipe them clean and reformat to them, but I’m not able to see the C Drives of each no matter what I do. Both use Win 11. Is there any software that I can download that can see both C Drives? Any suggestions please is appreciated. thank you
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    Win 11
I'm a little bit confused about the goal here. It sounds to me like you want to simply wipe the drives on these mini PCs. Am I understanding that correctly?

If this is the case, why not simply boot from a USB Flash Disk (UFD) and wipe the drives that way? You won't be able to do that by simply connecting to the other machine because the C: drive would be currently in use by Windows and won't allow you to wipe the drive while Windows is running.

If I misunderstood the situation, could you clarify the goal for me?

If I got it right, let me know and I will provide additional detail.
 

My Computers

System One System Two

  • OS
    Win11 Pro 25H2 (RTM+)
    Computer type
    PC/Desktop
    Manufacturer/Model
    Acemagic
    CPU
    Intel i7-14650HX
    Memory
    32 GB
    Graphics Card(s)
    No GPU - Built-in Intel Graphics
    Sound Card
    Integrated
    Monitor(s) Displays
    Varies as machine will often be moved to locations with different monitors
    Screen Resolution
    Varies
    Hard Drives
    1 x 1TB Gen 4 NVMe SSD
    PSU
    120W Power Brick
    Keyboard
    Corsair K70 Max RGB Magnetic Keyboard
    Mouse
    Logitech MX Master 3
    Internet Speed
    1Gb Up / 1 Gb Down
    Browser
    Edge
    Antivirus
    Windows Defender
  • Operating System
    Win11 Pro 25H2 (RTM+)
    Computer type
    Laptop
    Manufacturer/Model
    Lenovo ThinkBook 13x Gen 2
    CPU
    Intel i7-1255U
    Memory
    16 GB
    Graphics card(s)
    Intel Iris Xe Graphics
    Sound Card
    Realtek® ALC3306-CG codec
    Monitor(s) Displays
    13.3-inch IPS Display
    Screen Resolution
    WQXGA (2560 x 1600)
    Hard Drives
    2 TB 4 x 4 NVMe SSD
    PSU
    USB-C / Thunderbolt 4 Power / Charging
    Keyboard
    Backlit, spill resistant keyboard
    Mouse
    Buttonless Glass Precision Touchpad
    Internet Speed
    1Gb Up / 1Gb Down
    Browser
    Edge
    Antivirus
    Windows Defender
    Other Info
    WiFi 6e / Bluetooth 5.1 / Facial Recognition / Fingerprint Sensor / ToF (Time of Flight) Human Presence Sensor
Hello thank you for your quick reply, I have 3 Asus TS10 VivoSticks with Win 10 on them and 1 AceMacigian Pro mini-PC box with Win 11 on it. On the Asus stix (Win 10) I find it impossible to "fully" turn off automatic updates, and it floods the 32gb drive to a mere 100's mb size. On the Ace box (Win 11) I see the option of turning off automatic updates so far.

I can’t do a reinstall of Win 10 on the stix nor install any 3rd-party softwares to convert them to a Linux system because of the lack of disk space. So I’m giving up on MSFT and trying to wipe all drives and re-format the file system to EXT4 and install Debian with a Deepin distro. But I still can’t get Linux on the drives because there is no space on any 32 gb stix.

I tried this using Rufus and BalenaEtcher but to no avail, so I bought a USB data transfer cable with Bravura and PCLinq5 to try and link 2 stix and remotely wipe one drive through the cable but the target C Drive does not show up under File Explorer - This PC so I can’t reformat it to install Linux Debian / Deepin. I also tried Eassos DiskGenius to remotely access the 2nd stix target C Drive but its not being recognized.

I want to do the same for the Ace box and wipe Win 11 off and go Linux but that is not crucial right now since I have 256 gb size on that drive and auto updates is turned off so the stix is the first hurdle with the box being done right afterwards if I’m successful at this. But I’m not sure what else I can do here, is all of this possible? Thank you in advance for any help.
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    Win 11
If the end goal is to run Linux on these systems, I won't be of much help due to my lack of Linux experience.

However, we can easily run Windows with 32 GB of storage.

One of the primary ways of cutting down on the amount of used space on systems with small amounts of storage space is to enable the CompactOS feature.

I'm curious to see if CompactOS is already enabled on your stick PCs. Could you please run the command below and tell me whether CompactOS is already enabled? Note that this command will not do anything other than to report the status of CompactOS:

Compact.exe /CompactOS:Query

If CompactOS is not enabled on those systems, you can very easily enable it. See this tutorial for guidance:

www.elevenforum.com

Enable or Disable Compact OS in Windows 10 and Windows 11

This tutorial will show you how to enable or disable Compact OS in Windows 10 and Windows 11. Windows 10 and Windows 11 have tools and features that help you save disk space and optimize your image. Compact OS compresses all operating system binaries and sets the system state to Compact, which...
www.elevenforum.com www.elevenforum.com

As for the AceMagician, I can already tell you that they don't ship their systems with CompactOS enabled.

I'm going to follow up with you later (after I get some sleep!), but let me make a few suggestions here quickly:

1) If CompactOS OS does not free up enough space for you (or if it is already enabled), let's look at some other options to free up space for you.

2) If you still decide that you want to switch to Linux, I strongly suggest that you make a backup of all your Win 10 drivers on the systems so that you can go back to Win 10 easily if you should ever want to do so. This is especially important on these small systems because many of those manufacturers do not post the drivers for download. I'll tell you how to do this when I post back later.

For now, let's start by looking at the CompactOS option. If not already enabled, try enabling it. You have nothing to lose because you can always turn that off again.
 

My Computers

System One System Two

  • OS
    Win11 Pro 25H2 (RTM+)
    Computer type
    PC/Desktop
    Manufacturer/Model
    Acemagic
    CPU
    Intel i7-14650HX
    Memory
    32 GB
    Graphics Card(s)
    No GPU - Built-in Intel Graphics
    Sound Card
    Integrated
    Monitor(s) Displays
    Varies as machine will often be moved to locations with different monitors
    Screen Resolution
    Varies
    Hard Drives
    1 x 1TB Gen 4 NVMe SSD
    PSU
    120W Power Brick
    Keyboard
    Corsair K70 Max RGB Magnetic Keyboard
    Mouse
    Logitech MX Master 3
    Internet Speed
    1Gb Up / 1 Gb Down
    Browser
    Edge
    Antivirus
    Windows Defender
  • Operating System
    Win11 Pro 25H2 (RTM+)
    Computer type
    Laptop
    Manufacturer/Model
    Lenovo ThinkBook 13x Gen 2
    CPU
    Intel i7-1255U
    Memory
    16 GB
    Graphics card(s)
    Intel Iris Xe Graphics
    Sound Card
    Realtek® ALC3306-CG codec
    Monitor(s) Displays
    13.3-inch IPS Display
    Screen Resolution
    WQXGA (2560 x 1600)
    Hard Drives
    2 TB 4 x 4 NVMe SSD
    PSU
    USB-C / Thunderbolt 4 Power / Charging
    Keyboard
    Backlit, spill resistant keyboard
    Mouse
    Buttonless Glass Precision Touchpad
    Internet Speed
    1Gb Up / 1Gb Down
    Browser
    Edge
    Antivirus
    Windows Defender
    Other Info
    WiFi 6e / Bluetooth 5.1 / Facial Recognition / Fingerprint Sensor / ToF (Time of Flight) Human Presence Sensor
Hello so I ran the command prompt you told me and it says that the system is already in the compact state. So maybe Asus already had that as a default setting since the drive is only 32gb’s as I have never done that setting before.

I won’t go back to Windows for sure on these little PC stix I will stay with Linux even though I never used it before. I have found some nice UI distros that I can work with, and I only use these stix for the Think or Swim stock day trading platform, I don’t even use browsers or messengers or office or any other programs on these at all. So I need a minimal, barebones, light system like a clean Linux with no bloatware programs that I’ll never use.
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    Win 11
Bondppq said:
Hello so I ran the command prompt you told me and it says that the system is already in the compact state. So maybe Asus already had that as a default setting since the drive is only 32gb’s as I have never done that setting before.

I won’t go back to Windows for sure on these little PC stix I will stay with Linux even though I never used it before. I have found some nice UI distros that I can work with, and I only use these stix for the Think or Swim stock day trading platform, I don’t even use browsers or messengers or office or any other programs on these at all. So I need a minimal, barebones, light system like a clean Linux with no bloatware programs that I’ll never use.
Click to expand...
Thanks for the update. Unfortunately, as I noted, I can't be of much help here since Linux is pretty much foreign to me :-). Maybe someone else will have some ideas to assist.
 

My Computers

System One System Two

  • OS
    Win11 Pro 25H2 (RTM+)
    Computer type
    PC/Desktop
    Manufacturer/Model
    Acemagic
    CPU
    Intel i7-14650HX
    Memory
    32 GB
    Graphics Card(s)
    No GPU - Built-in Intel Graphics
    Sound Card
    Integrated
    Monitor(s) Displays
    Varies as machine will often be moved to locations with different monitors
    Screen Resolution
    Varies
    Hard Drives
    1 x 1TB Gen 4 NVMe SSD
    PSU
    120W Power Brick
    Keyboard
    Corsair K70 Max RGB Magnetic Keyboard
    Mouse
    Logitech MX Master 3
    Internet Speed
    1Gb Up / 1 Gb Down
    Browser
    Edge
    Antivirus
    Windows Defender
  • Operating System
    Win11 Pro 25H2 (RTM+)
    Computer type
    Laptop
    Manufacturer/Model
    Lenovo ThinkBook 13x Gen 2
    CPU
    Intel i7-1255U
    Memory
    16 GB
    Graphics card(s)
    Intel Iris Xe Graphics
    Sound Card
    Realtek® ALC3306-CG codec
    Monitor(s) Displays
    13.3-inch IPS Display
    Screen Resolution
    WQXGA (2560 x 1600)
    Hard Drives
    2 TB 4 x 4 NVMe SSD
    PSU
    USB-C / Thunderbolt 4 Power / Charging
    Keyboard
    Backlit, spill resistant keyboard
    Mouse
    Buttonless Glass Precision Touchpad
    Internet Speed
    1Gb Up / 1Gb Down
    Browser
    Edge
    Antivirus
    Windows Defender
    Other Info
    WiFi 6e / Bluetooth 5.1 / Facial Recognition / Fingerprint Sensor / ToF (Time of Flight) Human Presence Sensor
hsehestedt said:
Thanks for the update. Unfortunately, as I noted, I can't be of much help here since Linux is pretty much foreign to me :-). Maybe someone else will have some ideas to assist.
Click to expand...
ok well thanks anyways for your quick replies, I appreciate it (y)
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    Win 11
Here's the thing - the data transfer cables require an OS on both ends to work. The software runs from the C: drive. Therefore you simply cannot format C: remotely - unless possibly you boot the target computer from an OS contained on a flash drive that contains the software needed for the data transfer cable to work. And if you were going to boot the computer from the flash drive anyway, then why not just format C: drive from the OS that loaded from the USB flash drive?
 

My Computers

System One System Two

  • OS
    Windows 11
    Computer type
    PC/Desktop
    Manufacturer/Model
    Homebuilt
    CPU
    AMD Ryzen 7 3800XT
    Motherboard
    ASUS ROG Crosshair VII Hero (WiFi)
    Memory
    32GB
    Graphics Card(s)
    EVGA GeForce GTX 1080 Ti
  • Operating System
    Windows 11 Education
    Computer type
    Laptop
    Manufacturer/Model
    Dell Inspiron 7773
    CPU
    Intel i7-8550U
    Memory
    32GB
    Graphics card(s)
    Nvidia Geforce MX150
    Sound Card
    Realtek
    Monitor(s) Displays
    17"
    Screen Resolution
    1920 x 1080
    Hard Drives
    Toshiba 512GB NVMe SSD
    SK Hynix 512GB SATA SSD
    Internet Speed
    Fast!
well the data transfer cable is new, I just bought it a few days ago and it does work because it has these 2 little blue lights on the transfer box in the middle of the cable and the Bravura and PCLinq5 and Eassos DiskGenius all work, recognize and sync both PC stix it just doesn't give that C Drive access remotely to wipe, reformat and install, and I can't find that option in the settings.

I have a USB ready to go with a Linux ISO on it, but Rufus doesn't recognize the C Drive either on the target disk, Rufus only gives me the USB drive letter and when I tried to do the same with BalenaEtcher I got an error saying I couldn't proceed either. So I'm walking into walls on this one, not sure what else I can do. Wondering if there is some special software that can easily wipe and reformat any drives remotely?
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    Win 11
Bondppq said:
Wondering if there is some special software that can easily wipe and reformat any drives remotely?
Click to expand...
Yes there is - but that software is classified as a virus and you would have to visit very unscrupulous sites to get it. Why are you set on wiping these drives remotely? Why can't you just do it the normal way by booting the computer from a USB drive. Also, RUFUS won't recognize C: drive because Rufus is software designed to create bootable USB flash drives.
 

My Computers

System One System Two

  • OS
    Windows 11
    Computer type
    PC/Desktop
    Manufacturer/Model
    Homebuilt
    CPU
    AMD Ryzen 7 3800XT
    Motherboard
    ASUS ROG Crosshair VII Hero (WiFi)
    Memory
    32GB
    Graphics Card(s)
    EVGA GeForce GTX 1080 Ti
  • Operating System
    Windows 11 Education
    Computer type
    Laptop
    Manufacturer/Model
    Dell Inspiron 7773
    CPU
    Intel i7-8550U
    Memory
    32GB
    Graphics card(s)
    Nvidia Geforce MX150
    Sound Card
    Realtek
    Monitor(s) Displays
    17"
    Screen Resolution
    1920 x 1080
    Hard Drives
    Toshiba 512GB NVMe SSD
    SK Hynix 512GB SATA SSD
    Internet Speed
    Fast!
Hi,

If you can boot from Usb key, make one with Gparted bootable installed on it.
It will erase and format in whatever file system you desire.
Ciao, Han
 

My Computers

System One System Two

  • OS
    WIN 11 24H2
    Computer type
    Laptop
    Manufacturer/Model
    Lenovo Thinpad X1 Yoga 3gen
    CPU
    i7-8550U
    Memory
    16 GB lpddr3
    Screen Resolution
    2560x1440
    Hard Drives
    NVME SSD 2TB Samsung PM981
    Mouse
    Logitech M720
    Internet Speed
    350 Mbps down and up from 500 advertised on WiFi
    Browser
    Firefox
    Antivirus
    Windows Security, Malwarebytes
    Other Info
    Acronis TrueImage 2019
  • Operating System
    Win 11 24H2
    Computer type
    PC/Desktop
    Manufacturer/Model
    Lenovo Tiny M920x
    CPU
    i7-8700T
    Memory
    32 GB DDR4
    Sound Card
    MOTU M4
    Monitor(s) Displays
    DELL P2418D
    Screen Resolution
    2560 x 1440
    Hard Drives
    NVME SSD 2TB Samsung PM981a
    NVME SSD 1TB Samsung PM981a
    SSD Sandisk 1T Sata
    Mouse
    Logitech M590
    Browser
    Firefox
    Antivirus
    Windows Security, Malwarebytes
    Other Info
    Acronis TrueImage 2019
When I use Rufus the device it recognizes is both the external D Drive and the E Drive for the mouse driver, it locks onto both of these drives on the same line and I can’t separate them as I fear it may overwrite some USB drivers for the mouse and make it inoperable. But I still get a failure with Rufus anyways when I tried it.

And then when going on the GParted website it says for me to first download Linux ISO the Linux Live Usb Creator then it says -“This Linux is not in the compatibility list” despite it being the latest Deepen stable version that i just downloaded off the Deepin website today, and their own Deepin Boot Installer also did not work which leads me to believe that something is wrong with my USB stick itself although it seems to be working fine when I use it.

I think I’m going to buy a new USB stick this weekend and try using that and if that still doesn’t work then I give up and bringing it to a PC store and just paying them to install Linux on these PC stix.
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    Win 11
So getting back to this problem after I had to shelf it for a holiday week, I decided not to get back into solving the problem myself because I can't stand the time kill torture any longer.

So I'm just going to bring the mini-PC's to a computer shop and tell them to do it for me instead. But I have one last question for this forum -

Can I have 3 different bootable Linux distro each on their own partitions on 1 USB thumbdrive, but what would happen when you insert the thumbdrive?

Would a boot menu load first asking the user which partition you would like to start from? I would like to eliminate any extra steps so that I can just plug in the thumbdrive and it goes into an autoloader mode to install the Linux distro, but a simple boot menu as described above is fine besides anything else further. Will this be possible and how much space would I need for this per partition, per Linux distro? thank you.
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    Win 11
And with a new USB - (SanDisk Ultra Luxe 32GB USB 3.1 SDCZ74-032G-G46) after reformatting to EXT4 for these partitions will I be wiping away any vital Linux drivers or kernels that would prevent me from doing the set up what I’ve described above?
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    Win 11
this thread went dead, since I wasn't receiving any feedback anymore, I've joined some other forums which gave me some good advice to figure out this garbage Windows software wasn't worth the time torture anymore, I've switched to Linux for good.
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    Win 11
The original question, as I understood it, was setting up communication between two C: drives, on two different PC's. If they are setting next to each other, there are several methods that use a USB cable.

But in my case, my two main PC's are about 60' apart. So the USB cable is OUT!
Instead I use Team Viewer, to transfer files or control one PC from the other one.
It's free for personal use. It uses the Internet, instead of a data transfer cable.
It's just as easy to use it for much longer distances.
I've not tried it Internationally, yet, but that may not be too far away.

Just a suggestion.
Cheers Mate!
TM :cool:
 

My Computer

System One

TechnoMage2021 said:
The original question, as I understood it, was setting up communication between two C: drives, on two different PC's. If they are setting next to each other, there are several methods that use a USB cable.
Click to expand...
Did you miss the part about wanting to wipe and reformat the C: drive remotely?
 

My Computers

System One System Two

  • OS
    Windows 11
    Computer type
    PC/Desktop
    Manufacturer/Model
    Homebuilt
    CPU
    AMD Ryzen 7 3800XT
    Motherboard
    ASUS ROG Crosshair VII Hero (WiFi)
    Memory
    32GB
    Graphics Card(s)
    EVGA GeForce GTX 1080 Ti
  • Operating System
    Windows 11 Education
    Computer type
    Laptop
    Manufacturer/Model
    Dell Inspiron 7773
    CPU
    Intel i7-8550U
    Memory
    32GB
    Graphics card(s)
    Nvidia Geforce MX150
    Sound Card
    Realtek
    Monitor(s) Displays
    17"
    Screen Resolution
    1920 x 1080
    Hard Drives
    Toshiba 512GB NVMe SSD
    SK Hynix 512GB SATA SSD
    Internet Speed
    Fast!
You can connect an external drive with USB.
 

My Computers

System One System Two

  • OS
    win 11
    Computer type
    PC/Desktop
    Manufacturer/Model
    Homebrew
    CPU
    Core i5 10400
    Motherboard
    ASUS B560-Plus
    Memory
    8 GB DDR4
    Graphics Card(s)
    Heatsink cooled ASUS
    Sound Card
    None. Business computer
    Monitor(s) Displays
    ASUS
    Screen Resolution
    1920
    Hard Drives
    1TB WD NVME SSD
    PSU
    Cooler Master 600 watt
    Case
    Cooler Master
    Cooling
    fans
    Keyboard
    ergonomic
    Mouse
    Microsoft
    Internet Speed
    Very slow - satellite internet, nothing else available.
    Browser
    Firefox
    Antivirus
    PC Matic
    Other Info
    5 other computers on our network including Win 11, 10 and Linux.
  • Operating System
    Win 11
    Computer type
    Laptop
    Manufacturer/Model
    Acer Aspire 3
    CPU
    core i5
    Motherboard
    Acer
    Memory
    8GB
    Graphics card(s)
    integral
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