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    Booting from a mass storage device

    Discussion in 'Asus' started by unrealii, Jan 17, 2006.

  1. unrealii

    unrealii Notebook Geek NBR Reviewer

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    I'm thinking of purchasing a z63a barebone laptop and building it myself. However, I see very little need to invest in a cd rom because I doubt I would ever use it. But I need to install the os, etc.

    I have an adapter which turns a regular ide devices into usb 2.0: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16812156101

    Does this laptop have capability to boot from a usb 2.0 device?
     
    unrealii, Jan 17, 2006
    #1
  2. ZaZ

    ZaZ Super Model Super Moderator

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    Seems a little shortsighted to scrimp on the optical drive when you spending that much on a laptop. Maybe you want to play a CD/DVD or someone gies you some data on a disc.
     
    ZaZ, Jan 17, 2006
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  3. John Ratsey

    John Ratsey Moderately inquisitive Super Moderator

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    This has been discussed previously but I can't remember the conclusion, so I have just made some tests on my W3A (same hardware as the Z63A).

    Yes, the BIOS has the option to boot from a removable device and I have successfully started up from a USB 2.0 optical disc drive. However, when I attempted to boot from the HDD which used to be inside my W3A, the boot process started up but then fell over. I suspect that Windows got confused by having two HDDs present.

    Press F2 at the initial boot screen to enter the BIOS and set the boot options.

    John
     
    John Ratsey, Jan 17, 2006
    #3