albertlee Posted August 28, 2004 Posted August 28, 2004 I have an USB/Firewire external HD, how can I make it bootable? and Install Windows in? because I cant find an option in BIOS to boot from the external HD..... Any body can help? Albert
Sayonara Posted August 28, 2004 Posted August 28, 2004 Your BIOS probably can't detect USB devices (which usually require drivers in order to run).
albertlee Posted August 28, 2004 Author Posted August 28, 2004 Yes it can, it detects my USB FDD......... is'nt there any solution that I can install and boot my Windows from the external harddrive? Albert
5614 Posted August 28, 2004 Posted August 28, 2004 um, this is just me being silly, but how do you know your BIOS can detect your external HDD if you can't see it there?
albertlee Posted August 28, 2004 Author Posted August 28, 2004 5614, Sayonara says that my BIOS probably can't detect USB device, but although it can't detect my external HDD, it can still detect my USB FDD. Again, is there any solution that I can install and boot my Windows from the external harddrive?
5614 Posted August 28, 2004 Posted August 28, 2004 then no, if youre bios can see the HDD then you cannot set it to boot up from it, unless there is another way to set up where it boots from (i dont know if there is, if so, i dont know it!)
drz Posted August 30, 2004 Posted August 30, 2004 I've got a usb floppy, and I've never been able to boot from it. Ended up having to harvest one from pile pc pile As to the drive, have you by chance check the manufacturers website for information?
albertlee Posted August 30, 2004 Author Posted August 30, 2004 well, no..... but on the other hand(assme my USB drive is not bootable), which one is faster on transfering data? a laptop DVD Rom VS a USB 2.0 harddrive? Albert
paganinio Posted August 30, 2004 Posted August 30, 2004 I am sure you will get more information if you ask the question here: Hardware Hangout Forum http://www.neowin.net/forum/index.php?showforum=13
5614 Posted August 30, 2004 Posted August 30, 2004 which one is faster on transfering data? a laptop DVD Rom VS a USB 2.0 harddrive?[/i'] well that depends doesnt it... like a really old slow DVD will be slow, whereas a modern DVD will be faster, at the same time, you can get faster and slower hard drives, so whilst without that information, i would assume the USB2 HDD, it could be the DVD depending on the statistics and speeds for each individual item
albertlee Posted August 30, 2004 Author Posted August 30, 2004 Ok, Actually a harddrive would be faster than DVD if both are inserted on a computer, but how about the speed of their Interface? What is the speed of IDE(My combo DVD is not USB& firewire, what is its interface? is it IDE?) VS USB2.0? Albert
5614 Posted August 30, 2004 Posted August 30, 2004 yes, normally HDD are faster than DVDs, but at the same time, if its a 5 year old HDD, and a modern multiple hundred pounds [thats a lot of money!] for a brand new fast DVD, then the DVD would be faster, so again it depends... your DVD is probably IDE, although the only way to be certain is to look inside your computer. i'll come back to you on which is faster, IDE or USB2, i think i know, but i'm just gonna check.
5614 Posted August 30, 2004 Posted August 30, 2004 a USB 2.0 allows 480Mbits/second whereas IDE allows: variable, by the looks of things, you can get different quality, resulting in different speed IDE cables, and i cant find an exact figure for IDE. as a guess, i think (a) its quite close & (b) maybe USB 2.0 is slightly faster, mainly due to the fact that its newer.... although apparently faster IDE is becoming popular and being developed.... soz for not being much help! i couldnt find the speed of IDE anywhere.
albertlee Posted August 30, 2004 Author Posted August 30, 2004 Any way, thx to 5614 for your Information,.... More over, I would like to ask, since only my Windows System can detect my external harddrive, and I am able to install Windows under that system onto the external harddrive, is it possible to leave some kind of boot info in the local C drive and which points to the external harddrive whereas loads Windows? Apreciate for responds Albert
5614 Posted August 30, 2004 Posted August 30, 2004 um, firstly: it is not, only your windows system which can see your external HDD, it is that your BIOS cannot see your external HDD, there is a difference! i dont now the answer to your question, but i can point you in the right direction: a) what does a computer use to boot up? e.g. a single file or what? b) if it is a file/folder, then take that file on your C:\ drive and delete the info, replace it with a command to link it to the same file, but on your external HDD. however: a) i cannot tell you how to write the command... b) i dunno if this would work c) i dont advise you do it because: 1) if it doesnt work, you're in trouble! 2) its always a risk editing system files, in case you muck up.... even if you can do, what if your computer crashes as your editing the boot-up program? 3) make sure you know what your doing... why do you want to do this anyway? whats the point? why not just leave it to boot up from your C:\ drive. apparently.... [i cant prove this, but i've heard it] the reason BIOS doesnt detect external HDD is because the BIOS only needs info from internal drives, such as your floppy drive, CDs and HDD [originally internal] consequently the BIOS cannot read data from ports. USB 2.0 is a port, and so the BIOS can't see this. now-a-days external HDDs are becoming popular, maybe in the next windows, or any other new or currently being developed operating systems, the BIOS will detect from ports, to allow booting from HDDs.... but not at the moment.
albertlee Posted August 30, 2004 Author Posted August 30, 2004 thx for ur advice, 5614, I knew the file boot.ini in C drive is the one that controls where the Windows system should come from. [boot loader] timeout=30 default=C:\WINDOWS [operating systems] C:\WINDOWS="Microsoft Windows XP Home Edition" /FASTDETECT Above is the content of the file, and I know how to edit it, but since my HDD is an external drive, and my USB2.0 interface is on a combo PCMCIA USB2.0 card, not the on-board port, I doubt that before loading the Windows System, Can the Windows XP boot manager detect the USB2.0 external harddrive on the port of combo PCMCIA USB2.0 card? If not, any more furthur suggestion?
5614 Posted August 31, 2004 Posted August 31, 2004 one sec, you want to move this tiny boot.ini file to an external HDD, why bother? if anything, surely you want to move th OS itself, why do you want/need to move the boot.ini file? i didnt realise boot.ini file was so simple, its just a link, very similar to autorun on CDs, except CDs dont have a timeout. to be honest i have no idea whether or not boot manager can detect the external HDD, whilsts it seems unlikely, i cannot see why it wouldn't follow a link... if it followed the link, it would find the external HDD... actually thinking about it, when you turn on a computer, it runs the boot.ini file, that file then loads windows.... so change that to a "load from external HDD" file, and copy the boot.ini file in that external HDD... should work. it's a bit of a risk, if it dont work, you're really screwed, you wont be able to load windows, and i dont know if you can edit a *.ini in DOS. why do you want to do this? the file is tiny.... why not transfer the OS itself?
albertlee Posted August 31, 2004 Author Posted August 31, 2004 no 5614, I should leave the boot.ini in C drive, but there is more.......... If I think of how DOS is being loaded, it is not simply a boot.ini file, it has certain required files being loaded first before loading the whole system....... Any way, I should ask in another way: What files are required loaded first before loading the whole XP system? Albert
5614 Posted August 31, 2004 Posted August 31, 2004 well, obviously the boot.ini file, seemingly that runs and loads the OS, what loads the boot.ini file i dont know, i shall look into it, but im going out now, so i'll post it later
5614 Posted August 31, 2004 Posted August 31, 2004 no 5614' date=' I should leave the boot.ini in C drive, but there is more.......... If I think of how DOS is being loaded, it is not simply a boot.ini file, it has certain required files being loaded first before loading the whole system....... Any way, I should ask in another way: [b']What files are required loaded first before loading the whole XP system?[/b] well, i've looked and i cant find em anywhere, are you sure they do exist? because when you turn on your computer boot.ini loads windows.... ta da, computer is loaded.... nothing else is needed. why do you need these files? the OS is big, it's understandable if you want to move it, but boot programs such as boot.ini are short files loading other bigger ones, such as the OS.
albertlee Posted August 31, 2004 Author Posted August 31, 2004 no no no, 5614, you cant just leave boot.ini individually in C drive.. the code in the active sector of C drive does not point to boot.ini, it first goes to ntldr, it then reads the boot.ini and load Windows XP due to boot.ini's Information... Any way, i found this Information on the Internet, and hoping that ntldr can detect the external drive.....
5614 Posted September 4, 2004 Posted September 4, 2004 when printing a document i saw it locating the port, which may be useful for you to re-program your boot.ini file, see attached image: on XP, my username is 'Jonathan' and the printer is on a USB port [evidently it is a lexmark printer!]
albertlee Posted September 4, 2004 Author Posted September 4, 2004 Jonathan is not a directory...how am i supposed to find the port?
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