Re: Bootable USB HDD
From: Wislu Plethora (anonymous_at_discussions.microsoft.com)
Date: 07/30/04
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Date: Fri, 30 Jul 2004 09:05:26 -0700
>-----Original Message-----
>"Edward W. Thompson" <thomeduk1@btopenworld.com> wrote in
message
>news:ulNdXFjdEHA.1644@tk2msftngp13.phx.gbl...
>> Firstly, if you read the post I think I made it clear
that my new
>> motherboard does support booting from a USB HDD.
>>
>> Secondly, the point of the post was to advise others,
who like me, may
>not
>> know, that fdisk has limitations and the apparent need,
at least in my
>case,
>> to recreate the mbr if the drive had been previously
partitioned.
>>
>> While I may be wrong, I don't think there is any 'work
around' if the
>BIOS
>> does not support booting from the HDD.
>>
>> My post has nothing to do with a 'work around'.
>>
>> Don't you take the time to read what is written,
however imperfectly,
>> before you jump in?
>>
>>
>> "Nathan McNulty" <nospam@msn.com> wrote in message
>> news:eOamKtgdEHA.1692@tk2msftngp13.phx.gbl...
>> > Just a note. You MUST have a BIOS that supports
External USB Storage
>> > Devices. If you have an Intel i865 or i875 Chipset,
you can boot from
>> > external USB Storage devices without any extra
effort. Most of this is
>> > trying to figure out a way to workaround the BIOS if
your motherboard
>> > doesn't support this.
>> >
>> > ----
>> > Nathan McNulty
>> >
>> >
>> > Edward W. Thompson wrote:
>> > > I am posting my experience in making an external
USB HDD bootable as
>an
>> aide
>> > > to others who may be having the same problem. My OS
is WINXP Pro
>> formatted
>> > > NTFS and the external drive is formatted FAT32.
>> > >
>> > > I have an external usb/firewire enclosure in which
is housed an IBM
>DJSA
>> 230
>> > > 2.5" HDD. I have been using this setup for about a
year to store
>> backups
>> > > and the like. I used the system on both my desktop
(USB 2.0) and
>laptop
>> > > (firewire).
>> > >
>> > > I upgraded my desktop to a system that has a
motherboard that allows
>> booting
>> > > from a USB HDD. I then tried to make my external
enclosure bootable
>and
>> ran
>> > > into complications.
>> > >
>> > > Initially I simply transferred (sys) DOS ver 7.0 OS
onto the external
>> HDD
>> > > (FAT32), made the drive active in WINXP, changed
the boot order in the
>> > > desktop BIOS and tried to boot. The boot process
hung, although the
>> > > external drive was recognised. I then booted to
DOS via a floppy and
>> > > repartioned the drive using fdisk, making a single
primary partition.
>> fdisk
>> > > identified the external drive as Drive 3, I have
two SATA drives on my
>> > > desktop. I formatted the partition and reloaded
the OS (Sys c:) from
>my
>> > > bootable floppy. So far so good.
>> > >
>> > > I then tried to make the drive active, using fdisk
and found that I
>> couldn't
>> > > as fdisk will only allow the first drive to be made
active and the
>> external
>> > > drive is recognised as Drive 3. So back to WINXP
to make the drive
>> active
>> > > there (Control Panel->Admin Tools->Computer
Management). I changed
>the
>> boot
>> > > order back to USB-HDD first and tried to reboot.
The system again
>hung
>> > > during the bootup as before.
>> > >
>> > > For whatever reason I concluded the problem may be
a MBR problem so I
>> tried
>> > > to recreate the MBR using fdisk /mbr. Fortunately
before I tried that
>I
>> > > read that fdisk /mbr will only rewrite the mbr on
the first drive in
>the
>> > > system. To rewrite the mbr for another drive (in
my case drive 3) I
>> either
>> > > had to disconnect my two SATA fixed drives (which
would make the
>> external
>> > > drive, drive 1) or find an alternative to fdisk.
By searching Google
>I
>> > > found the symantec gdisk.exe, bundled with Ghost,
will allow rewriting
>> mbr
>> > > on disks other that the first. gdisk used to be
available as freeware
>> but
>> > > not anymore. Fortunately I was able to download an
old copy of the
>> gdisk
>> > > freeware version from a site by searching using
Google. I recreated
>mbr
>> > > (gdisk 3 /mbr) and the machine now boots from the
external drive
>without
>> > > problems.
>> > >
>> > > I believe my experience only relates to previously
used HDD. If a new
>> drive
>> > > is partitioned using fdisk anew mbr is created
however when an old
>drive
>> is
>> > > repartitioned fdisk does not recreate the mbr. Why
the mbr was the
>> source
>> > > of ther proble, I have no idea. I don't have that
level of knowledge,
>> but
>> > > my experience suggests that if anyone is trying to
make a previously
>> used
>> > > HDD bootable via an external enclosure, re creating
the drive mbr will
>> be
>> > > required.
>> > >
>> > > Before I embarked on this 'enterprise' I did look
up as many
>references
>> as I
>> > > could find on what was entailed to make an external
usb drive bootable
>> and
>> > > all my references suggested using fdisk, which for
me gave problems,
>and
>> > > none indicated that recreating the mbr will/may be
required.
>> > >
>> > > Hope this may be of assistance to others.
>
>Ed:
>Based on my own experience, to the best of my knowledge
you cannot boot from
>a USB external hard drive. Hardly a week passes where I
don't come across
>postings in various newsgroups as well as information on
various web sites
>that state that "you can boot from a USB external hard
drive as long as your
>motherboard's BIOS supports this capability", or words to
that effect. I've
>worked with a variety of modern motherboards, many of
which contain a BIOS
>element indicating a USB boot capability, but I've yet to
boot to a USB
>external hard drive containing a cloned XP operating
system. And I have yet
>to come across a *documented* source indicating this
capability is actually
>achievable.
>
>The following is from Western FAQs:
>Question: Can I boot my computer using an external
(FireWire, USB, Combo)
>hard drive?
>
>Answer: Western Digital does not provide technical
support for booting your
>computer using an external hard drive. BIOS manufacturers
who design PC
>system BIOS chips have informed Western Digital that it
is not currently
>possible to boot your computer with an external hard
drive.
>
>
>I also queried Symantec Technical Support on this issue
and here's their
>response:
>"Thank you for contacting Symantec Online Technical
Support.
>
>
>You wanted to know if you could boot from a external USB
drive that you have
>cloned to using Norton Ghost.
>
>
>
>The issue at hand would be whether the drive would be
recognized in the boot
>sequence of your system. To the best of my knowledge,
there is no
>motherboard that supports booting from external devices
currently. This
>really has nothing to do with Norton Ghost."
>
>
>
>In addition, I raised the question with two local
computer technicians in
>our area; both of whom stated that USB external drives
are not bootable.
>
>
>
>Using Symantec's Ghost 2003, I routinely clone my
internal hard drives to
>USB external hard drives. I can, when the need arises,
clone the external
>drive back to the fixed internal one and under those
circumstances the
>internal drive will be bootable.
>
>
>
>If anyone has personally booted from a USB external hard
drive or witnessed
>such, I would certainly be grateful to hear about it.
>
>
>
>Art
>
The OP stated quite succinctly, "The machine now boots from
the external drive without problems." Do you think he's
lying?
- Next message: EmperorG: "Can not find Scandisk"
- Previous message: anonymous_at_discussions.microsoft.com: "SATA HD and DVD Drive setup"
- In reply to: Art: "Re: Bootable USB HDD"
- Next in thread: Nathan McNulty: "Re: Bootable USB HDD"
- Reply: Nathan McNulty: "Re: Bootable USB HDD"
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