boot from "USB Device"
in [Storage]
|
From: Timothy Daniels on 1 Feb 2008 15:24 Virtually all of Dell's current PCs include "USB Device" as a bootable device type in their BIOSs' Boot Sequence of device types. Here is the setup specs for Dell's XPS 420 desktop: http://support.dell.com/support/edocs/systems/xps420/en/OM/HTML/appendix.htm#wp1054035 Check out the Option Settings under the "Boot Sequence" section. It refers to "USB Device" as a "memory device", not a "storage device". And when I explicitly asked Dell's Tech Support whether that would include USB hard drives, the answer was "No". Would someone here tell why the Dell PCs can boot from USB flash drives and not from USB hard drives? *TimDaniels*
From: Franc Zabkar on 31 Jan 2008 16:29 On Thu, 31 Jan 2008 12:24:07 -0800, "Timothy Daniels" <SpamBucket(a)NoSpamPlease.biz> put finger to keyboard and composed: >Virtually all of Dell's current PCs include "USB Device" >as a bootable device type in their BIOSs' Boot Sequence >of device types. Here is the setup specs for Dell's XPS 420 >desktop: >http://support.dell.com/support/edocs/systems/xps420/en/OM/HTML/appendix.htm#wp1054035 > >Check out the Option Settings under the "Boot Sequence" >section. It refers to "USB Device" as a "memory device", >not a "storage device". And when I explicitly asked Dell's >Tech Support whether that would include USB hard drives, >the answer was "No". Would someone here tell why the >Dell PCs can boot from USB flash drives and not from >USB hard drives? > >*TimDaniels* Could it be that the drive has to be formatted as a "super floppy", ie no partition table, just a boot sector? Try Fdisk-ing and reformating your flash drive. I suspect it will fail to boot after you do this. - Franc Zabkar -- Please remove one 'i' from my address when replying by email.
From: Arno Wagner on 1 Feb 2008 18:34 In comp.sys.ibm.pc.hardware.storage Franc Zabkar <fzabkar(a)iinternode.on.net> wrote: > On Thu, 31 Jan 2008 12:24:07 -0800, "Timothy Daniels" > <SpamBucket(a)NoSpamPlease.biz> put finger to keyboard and composed: >>Virtually all of Dell's current PCs include "USB Device" >>as a bootable device type in their BIOSs' Boot Sequence >>of device types. Here is the setup specs for Dell's XPS 420 >>desktop: >>http://support.dell.com/support/edocs/systems/xps420/en/OM/HTML/appendix.htm#wp1054035 >> >>Check out the Option Settings under the "Boot Sequence" >>section. It refers to "USB Device" as a "memory device", >>not a "storage device". And when I explicitly asked Dell's >>Tech Support whether that would include USB hard drives, >>the answer was "No". Would someone here tell why the >>Dell PCs can boot from USB flash drives and not from >>USB hard drives? >> >>*TimDaniels* > Could it be that the drive has to be formatted as a "super floppy", ie > no partition table, just a boot sector? > Try Fdisk-ing and reformating your flash drive. I suspect it will fail > to boot after you do this. Probably. Apart from that, USB disk and USB flash uses the same command set, i.e. if one is bootable, then so is the other. Arno
From: Ben Myers on 1 Feb 2008 19:19 As I stated earlier, it all depends on the drivers one finds on the USB boot medium. A USB floppy boots OK because the BIOS knows how to handle it. A USB stick or hard drive will only boot OK if it has the right drivers for the right operating system on the boot medium in addition to the boot sector and and whatever OS files are needed... Ben Myers On Thu, 31 Jan 2008 12:24:07 -0800, "Timothy Daniels" <SpamBucket(a)NoSpamPlease.biz> wrote: >Virtually all of Dell's current PCs include "USB Device" >as a bootable device type in their BIOSs' Boot Sequence >of device types. Here is the setup specs for Dell's XPS 420 >desktop: >http://support.dell.com/support/edocs/systems/xps420/en/OM/HTML/appendix.htm#wp1054035 > >Check out the Option Settings under the "Boot Sequence" >section. It refers to "USB Device" as a "memory device", >not a "storage device". And when I explicitly asked Dell's >Tech Support whether that would include USB hard drives, >the answer was "No". Would someone here tell why the >Dell PCs can boot from USB flash drives and not from >USB hard drives? > >*TimDaniels* >
From: S.Lewis on 1 Feb 2008 20:02 "Ben Myers" <ben_myers_spam_me_not(a)charter.net> wrote in message news:h8p4q3hlaj29u2v7b17faf9sap38qub3tm(a)4ax.com... > As I stated earlier, it all depends on the drivers one finds on the USB > boot > medium. A USB floppy boots OK because the BIOS knows how to handle it. > A USB > stick or hard drive will only boot OK if it has the right drivers for the > right > operating system on the boot medium in addition to the boot sector and and > whatever OS files are needed... Ben Myers > > The only way I manually was able to get a USB flash drive to become bootable w/o using a utility was to partition/format it as a FAT16 partition and then sys the flash drive being sure to include msdos.sys. Worked like a charm. I have not make extreme attempts to make an external HDD bootable, but would like to do so if I had the time..... Stew
|
Next
|
Last
Pages: 1 2 3 4 Prev: drive with read-only dip switch Next: Acronis Version 8/11 Rescue Cd fails to fully load |