boot laptop from usb HD

[slam]

Can I boot a laptop (1-1/2 year old) from a usb drive?...ide port shot. need alternate boot route

[Baddog]

I dont know, but if you need to save your files>>>>http://www.cablesonline.net/25hdmounkitw.html

[Midknyte]

You can try these links:

http://www.bootdisk.com/usb.htm

http://www.stefan2000.com/darkehorse/PC/DOS/Drivers/USB/

http://www.theinquirer.net/?article=10215

[BipolarBill]

What good is booting from a USB drive going to do you? You can't use it all of the time and you can't retrieve data from the other drive if the IDE port is messed up.

I would clear CMOS and try another internal drive first.

[slam]

main drive won't work. so I want an external system drive since there are no motherboards to replace this one with.. says the dealer. main drive data gone. no biggie it was just apps. data is on cd.. but I would like to use the system not buy a new one since it was only a year and half old. I sent the laptop back to the shop, I haven't torn them apart myself yet.

[BipolarBill]

The best you're going to be able to do is to boot DOS from USB. You can't start Windows that way, unfortunately.

[slam]

ouch


can I create a bootable windows on cd?

[slam]

bootable cd info

http://www.nu2.nu/bootcd/


edit: also found this. Looking good though could be tricky
http://www.heise.de/ct/Service/English.htm/99/11/206/

[Midknyte]

I think that is talking about making bootable and slipstreamed Windows CDs, not a fully working installation of windows. I know there are a few distros of Linux that can run from a CD.

http://morphix.sourceforge.net/modules/news/

http://www.knoppix.net/

[BipolarBill]

He wants to actually run Windows from CD.

No - it's impossible.

[Midknyte]

Originally posted by BipolarBill
He wants to actually run Windows from CD.

No - it's impossible.

I know, but the links he provided only talked about making slipstreamed cds and stuff.

The only CD bootable OSes I know of are Linux based.

[slam]

the second article

'To start Windows 95 or 98 in GUI mode, it must be installed on a writeable medium. You cannot start Windows from CD.' Similar statements have been published in various PC magazines, and c't has said it, too.


The time has come to revise this statement.

The reason for this assumption lies in the fact that Windows spits out masses of error messages when unable to access the registry during startup. However, this is essentially only cosmetic: If you can live with it, Windows 9x can indeed be started from a CD ROM. This article will deal with how to eliminate the error messages and optimize CD ROM booting.

[Midknyte]

when you edit a post it's kinda hard to know to go back. ;) Just add another post next time.

Interesting article, but it looks like a lot of work.

[slam]

look like a lot of work. but possibly better than $1200 + for new laptop.

[Midknyte]

No big deal. :D

You might want to just try the Knoppix or Morphix. They are pretty cool and FREE. I'm not a Linux-head by any means, so you might want to check around.

[BipolarBill]

I believe that even bootable CDs need a real hard drive for a page file.

[Midknyte]

I've run Knoppix on a system without a hard drive at all. It's a little slow, but it works. Good enough for a temporary printserver. :) Lemme try it out again and I'll post back.

[Midknyte]

Just booted Knoppix 3.2 with no hdd connected. Like I said, it runs a little slow when opening apps, but it's better than nothing.

[edit]
I forgot to mention that you should have as much RAM in the system as possible if you plan on doing a CD only boot.

[Midknyte]

Just tested out Morphix too. It also worked without a hdd.:D