well i have not run into either KSS8.6 or recovery stick 4.0 yet. to be honest i did not know that such stick was available. but if really new stick is required and the previous stick is not upgradeable, i would be very upset with KUKA specially since previous version (v1 and v2) can be upgraded to v3. plus those things are very pricey ... even though they look so cheap.
i am really not impressed with plastic stick, with LED that is hard to see and attachment hole that is on the cap instead of stick (yeah, i did not loose the stupid cap). the newer the metal ones have the ring on the stick but it is so tiny hole and paint is peeling.
I assume its the board package thats looking for the stick as it does start to boot as the USB is accessed then it stops.
Yes you can do it the usual was via a laptop as ext drive or with Reflect software. It was just a pain to remove the drives when i can normally kick all 4 Image sticks off at the same time. :-).