From: press810 on
NOTE:it's ok to just answer by making some space right after the
questions on this same post)

How do I "boot off" a 2nd SATA HD on a Dell Studio1745 laptop?

HD will contain Win 7 Home Premium 64bit

Would like to know if I will be able to change the BIOS boot order so
that the second SATA HD becomes the first and vice versa, so that I
can choose which one to boot off?

If not what about a boot manager. Came across one compatible with Win
7 with good reviews at Cnet Downloads. It installs in on the MBR
reportedly without affecting it and provides an uninstall. It's called
OSL2000 boot manager ver 9.23.Does anyone know if this boot manager
could affect the booting of the hidden diagnostic and recovery
partitions.?

If not what about connecting to eSATA/USB combo port by way of an
external HD enclosure. Not sure where or if it will appear on the bios
boot order list which has the following options with nothing connected
yet: 1) HD( ST9500420AS) 2)USB Storage 3) CD/DVD RW 4)Removable
Devices 5) Network. ?

Finally what about looking into An Express Card(EC) (34mm) with eSATA
port and it's own onboard BIOS. ?

Thanks To All
From: Brian K on
You can boot multiple Operating Systems on the first, second and eSATA HDs
with BootIt NG. Just choose from the boot menu or let it boot to the
default. The Operating Systems can be hidden from each other so there is no
cross talk. There are no shared booting files (each OS is independent) so
Operating Systems can be deleted or added as needed.


From: Timothy Daniels on
"press810" <uce1085(a)hotmail.com> wrote:
> [.............]
>
> Finally what about looking into An Express Card(EC) (34mm)
> with eSATA port and it's own onboard BIOS. ?


Regarding this option - I tried it with an SIIG SC-SAE512-S1
eSATA II ExpressCard 2 years ago, and it didn't work with the installed
Windows Vista Business. (I don't know if the card had an *onboard*
BIOS). The laptop is a Dell XPS 1330M laptop, and although I can access
the external SATA hard drive fine after the OS has booted from internal media,
the laptop will not boot from the external drive on the PCIe card. For PCIe
cards of recent design, call the manufacturer's domestic support or sales
department. The SIIG support reps eventually told me that it wouldn't work
with any PCIe eSATA cards that they made as of 2008. Please post if you
get one to work as an external boot medium.

*TimDaniels*


From: Brian K on
Tim,

I'm using a Silicon Image 3132 PCI Express eSATA card with onboard BIOS.
I've booted WinXP from the attached HD.


From: Timothy Daniels on
"Brian K" wrote:
> I'm using a Silicon Image 3132 PCI Express eSATA card with onboard BIOS. I've booted WinXP from the attached HD.


Thanks for the info. I may get one of these cards for my laptop
if it can boot Vista or Win7.

*TimDaniels*