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    Can SZ boot from ExpressCard?

    Discussion in 'VAIO / Sony' started by watergun, Jun 3, 2007.

  1. watergun

    watergun Notebook Guru

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    Has anyone tried booting from the expresscard? I have a crazy idea. I am thinking to get the Transcend Expresscard SSD 32GB (pic below) then will probaly ghost the OS image into that drive. Any feedback/suggestion if this will work please? Thanks.

    [​IMG]
     
    watergun, Jun 3, 2007
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  2. bmnotpls

    bmnotpls Notebook Deity

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    Are you aware of that Express SSD card will be alot slower than built in SSD?
     
    bmnotpls, Jun 3, 2007
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  3. watergun

    watergun Notebook Guru

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    Yes, my guess was that it will be slower than built-in SSD. But, will it be faster than HDD? And more importantly, will it work? :D
     
    watergun, Jun 3, 2007
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  4. Outrigger

    Outrigger SupaStar Reviewer NBR Reviewer

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    you most likely will not be able to boot from anything thats removable. I could be wrong, but someone I know couldn't even install the OS onto an expresscard SSD, let alone boot from it.
     
    Outrigger, Jun 4, 2007
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  5. watergun

    watergun Notebook Guru

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    Yup, got a reply from Transcend. It said it's not bootable unless you put in the older OS like DOS. Guess need to wait longer until SATA SSD becomes more widely available and affordable. :(
     
    watergun, Jun 4, 2007
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  6. narci

    narci Notebook Enthusiast

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    But..people have booted working copies of XP off a USB key no?

    There are people who have booted XP with a compact flash card as well.

    edit: grrr...the CF method is to replace the harddrive os that's not viable.
     
    narci, Jun 5, 2007
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  7. swarmer

    swarmer beep beep

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    I can't see why it would matter which OS you want to boot. Generally, the BIOS determines what you can boot from (e.g. CD/DVD, USB, network, floppy). Expresscard SSDs are kind of new so I'm not too surprised if most BIOSes don't support it yet. I'm not sure what the SZ supports. You can go into your computer's BIOS setup and look at what devices it supports booting from.
     
    swarmer, Jun 5, 2007
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  8. narci

    narci Notebook Enthusiast

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    Just checked the SZ bios. It allows booting from extrernal drives. One of them is USB Drive. Not sure about the expresscard..i see I.Link and regualt harddrive, USB optoical drive etc.

    Edit:

    Hmmm

    http://www.notebookreview.com/default.asp?newsID=2849

    Express Card also has a direct link to the USB bus meaning many USB technologies can be converted to this new technology without needing a bridge.
     
    narci, Jun 5, 2007
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  9. swarmer

    swarmer beep beep

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    Interesting... in that case, I'd try setting it to boot from USB and see if that works. Of course, you'd first have to install a bootable OS on there.
     
    swarmer, Jun 5, 2007
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  10. narci

    narci Notebook Enthusiast

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    BartPE is a bootable XP OS but it's a crippled version used to fix OS's on harddrives.
     
    narci, Jun 5, 2007
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  11. v12spd

    v12spd Notebook Consultant

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    Any more people try this at all?
     
    v12spd, Nov 30, 2007
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  12. wijnoostmuziek

    wijnoostmuziek Notebook Geek

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    Yes me,
    I just bought the 860tu today, and the reseller will put xp on the expresscard!
    So I can use the hd for audio only. Xxodd (Netherlands) said it'll work allright. I'll tell you about it wenn I pick it up next week.
     
    wijnoostmuziek, Nov 19, 2008
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  13. katsun

    katsun Notebook Enthusiast

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    So did it work? Were you able to boot from expresscard? I am trying to boot from 48GB SSD ExpressCard (PCI-E) from Wintec with no success...
     
    katsun, Nov 1, 2009
    #13