Duh,,,,yeah! 
In your description you're missing a boot sector with the DOS boot files,


which must be present to boot the system.

OK, by the numbers.....you must download the program from the link I gave you.  Then you must run the program to install the HP program in your "Program Files" folder.
Then you must run the program and fill in the blanks, like where is the USB device you want to format and where are you getting the DOS boot files from?

If you don't have DOS boot files (and I really can't imagine why you wouldn't), you can download those from the site too.  But they are Windows 98 and I use Windows ME.

In my case, which I just did,  I selected my SD card slot as the receiver of the DOS boot info and my Floppy Disk Drive (A: ) as the source of the files.  Then the HP program formatted the SD card I had inserted in the SD slot and then read the Ghost Boot disk that I had placed in my Floppy Drive and copied the three boot files, that I listed above, to the SD card.
(an SD card is used in Kodak and many other digital Cameras)

I then booted my system from the SD card and it came up to the DOS prompt. 

Is that what you wanted?

I know nothing about Linus.....ooops I mean Linux, but you won't be booting Windows from a flash drive.
At least within my own experience, you'll boot to DOS and that's it.
That's what the HP program is for.
I have one flash drive set up to boot into my custom Ghost menu and another one to boot into "Partition Magic 8".  Another one is set up to boot into my custom Windows ME Utilities disk.

Yesterday, I did download the new version of the HP Format tool and I did format my SD Flash Memory Card.  It's a one gig'er.
Then after the HP program put the three DOS, system files, on the little SD card and set up the boot sector, I went ahead and copied the rest of the files from my Ghost boot floppy to that SD card, thus making it a copy of my Ghost boot floppy disk.

Since floppy disks are subject to cosmic rays and all sorts of other things that can cause them to fail, I like having my Ghost boot info on other non-magnetic media.  I also have it on every Ghost Backup DVD that I've made for the past several years.  They all boot into my custom Ghost menu.  Here it is:


[1;33;44m                  

       
                     
[41m   GHOST 2003 Menu  
[44m

  1.  Run Ghost to make a new image. (Windows XP Only)
       This program will delete all temp files, cookies, histories, etc.
       The Cleanup works only on a FAT-32 partition.

  2.  Run Ghost
       This program runs Ghost alone, with NO cleanup being done.
       Use this version to do Ghost Restores or Ghost image without cleanup.
       You must use this option on any NTFS partition.

  3.  Run Ghost on Windows 98 or ME (del the Swapfile and all temp's, etc.)
 
  4.  Delete all Restore points (Windows XP. Works on FAT-32 partition only)

  5.  Delete Windows "Pagefile" (Windows XP. Works on FAT-32 partitions only)

  6.  Remove all the old Restore files in Windows ME.

 
 Type in a number at the DOS Prompt and press ENTER.

********************************
The weird codes are Ansi Color codes for the menu screen.
I made this for Me, so it may not be to everyone else's liking.
But, with this one disk, I can back up anything from DOS to XP (NTFS).

On a flash drive I can also add any other Utilities that I may wish to have handy, like NTFS4DOS or my Windows ME Utilities, which would never fit on a floppy disk.

When someone says to me, "Flash Drive" I automatically think of the little gadget that looks a lot like a Bic lighter or package of Juicy Fruit Gum.
 
I understand that they may also be referring to the new "Solid State Hard Drives".  I think we need a very definitive name for those new drives so there is no confusion with the older Flash or Thumb Drives.

The title of this thread "USB 2.0 Flash Drives" pretty much excludes those new internal 'Solid State Hard Drives' from the conversation.

I've found the new Flash Drives to be very useful, but awfully slow on a fast system with SATA2 hard drives.  I wouldn't want to be using one for a replacement for a very fast HD.  That would just be Sooooooo counter productive.

I wish there were something faster than SATA2 HD's, for a like price.
It's fast, but still the biggest bottle-neck in a really fast system.
The CPU just sits there twiddling its thumbs (do CPU's really have thumbs?) while the drive is finding the data that's required.
I like to load the kernel into RAM and get it up off of the VERY Slow HD to eliminate one very serious road block to system performance.

Oh well, that's a topic for another day.

Sorry this ran so long.  Old folks tend to ramble........on......and on!

Shadow

I love this forum, because I can learn something new every day that I come here.

If you don't have the HP tool, another way of making your flash drive bootable is to boot from a Win98 floppy (I gather a WinME floppy won't work as its sys.com is incompatible) and sys C: the USB flash drive.