Transcend SSD Express card

Hi everyone,

Transcend has presented some SSD using Express card. My question is the following: does anyone knows if this can be used in a computer with Express Card to install the OS so that the laptop boots directly from it instead of the normal hard drive. Like this we could have a fast booting disk for the SO and other software and the normal HD where we could save all the rest of the stuff.

Best

 

It may depend on the BIOs, and what the booting sources can be set to, for sure HD, USB and the Optical Drive are options, but I don't believe ExpressCard is an option....yet.

 

That's a shame actually. I don't have any hope that the brands will update their BIOS just to allow for this..I have new a Asus A8Js and will probable miss this feature... Bad luck

 

yeah, what a bummer!! Honestly I had thought we would have completely modular systems by now. And these SSD cards would be PERFECT. We could easily have 2-3 card slots in the space used by today's HDD's.

I felt even desktops would have moved to a totally simple modular design by now also. And it was when the PCMCIA technology was first introduced way back in the mid-90s. Never did see why this never happened. It would have made complete sense. Ahh, yeah, there is less profit in such systems. Yet again big business stomps innovation and advance of technology. oops, that would be a whole nutthah thread...

 

I don't know much about EFI but we can all hope that EFI would solve much of these problems.
Anyway, just adding the support is not enough.There might be much debugging to it.We all (at least ASUS owners) remember the persistant "graininess" problem.It took more than half a year for the fixed bios to arrive.

 

I think some do allow you to boot via pcmcia or express slot. Some bios allow for you to select removable media / usb as a boot device. I remember reading somewhere about people booting their OS via pcmcia slot.

 

This would be a great addon for current and eventually future systems: we wouldn't have to change your HD, but keep it just to save data files and so on. Ie, get the benefits of big storage (no SSD can compete with the traditional HD solutions on a $/GB basis, at least for now), lower power consumption (most of the software would be on the SSD), and higher speed. Lets keep our fingers crossed...

 

In my case, mine allows to boot from a removable media, HD, cd, and network. The question is if the express card can be considered as removable media...

 

Yeah I have "removable device" in my bios. I'm not sure if my pcmcia card slot is covered.

What I've read before though is that remvovable device/drive or even usb sometimes includes pcmcia. Some do, some don't... It's pot luck. Not sure about express slot though.

 

Digging this thread up.
A review was just posted of the Lexar 8GB Expresscard SSD, and the results were highly disappointing. Someone on that thread posted their results from the Transcend SSD, which seems to be much better.

Before I return my unopened Lexar and exchange for this thing though, can anyone else post some of their experiences with this? I'd love to see some read and write speeds as well.

If anyone has had experiences with both this one and Lexar's, I'd love some comparisons as well.

Thanks!

 

I have a similar issue. I have successfully installed a Transcend ExpressCard on Dell Inspiron 640m with 2gb. Still empty at this stage though have enabled readyboost. My problem is that I cannot boot with the card installed. Boots fine as long as the slot is empty. I do not wish or intend to boot from the card. I am guessing I am going to have to amend the bios, and if so, don't know how, or even if it is a good idea to mess with it. Any advice greatly appreciated.