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    Boot from USB? Satelllite 5205-s505 possible?

    Discussion in 'Hardware Components and Aftermarket Upgrades' started by PanamaMike, Apr 22, 2006.

  1. PanamaMike

    PanamaMike Notebook Evangelist

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    I see it's possible to boot from a second HDD, but can this be done from a USB or firewire second HDD?

    Regards,

    Mike
     
    PanamaMike, Apr 22, 2006
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  2. ttupa

    ttupa Tech Elitist NBR Reviewer

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    As long as your BIOS supports booting from this type of device it is possible. You have to check. I know mine is. You then have to put boot files on the device, and reconfigure your BIOS's boot order.
     
    ttupa, Apr 23, 2006
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  3. Chutsman

    Chutsman Notebook Evangelist

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    So ttupa, are you able to boot WinXP solely and entirely from a hard drive on the usb port?
     
    Chutsman, Apr 23, 2006
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  4. Duckfart

    Duckfart Notebook Evangelist

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    I have tried this on 3 different laptops and it has not worked.
    I am using A fujitsu 2.5 that I took out of one of my laptop and bought a usb / housing for it . I have no problems with any of the hdd functions except for booting from it.

    what am I doing wrong?
     
    Duckfart, Apr 23, 2006
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  5. Chutsman

    Chutsman Notebook Evangelist

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    Well the reason I asked ttupa is that on another forum they say you just cannot boot XP from a usb port device even if your bios supports booting from the port. Probably can boot other operating systems. XP requires the usb drivers to be loaded during POST before it can boot. That's the impression I get anyway.
     
    Chutsman, Apr 23, 2006
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  6. ttupa

    ttupa Tech Elitist NBR Reviewer

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    HA...I'm SO sorry. I misread the post on my way out the door. I meant that you can create DOS boots from USB/Flash memory. I don't see why you wouldn't be able to use a USB drive to boot windows, but I don't know how you'd go about it.

    Again...very sorry. Haha**Hangs head in embarrassment**
     
    ttupa, Apr 23, 2006
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  7. PanamaMike

    PanamaMike Notebook Evangelist

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    I would like to boot from an external drive since it would make the operation of my laptop much faster :) Not to mention, I wanted to try and figure out why my laptop isn't behaving properly when I try and playback HDV video.

    Figured I could determine if it was an install issue by using a second XP install to check.

    Why can one boot off a key but not a USB hard drive? I'm surprised no one has tried this.

    How about firewire? Is there a driver required for this interface too?

    Mike
     
    PanamaMike, Apr 27, 2006
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  8. ttupa

    ttupa Tech Elitist NBR Reviewer

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    You can boot into DOS with a USB thumb drive, but as far as I know you can't use a USB drive for a Windows install/boot.
     
    ttupa, Apr 27, 2006
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