Malke said:
Most modern motherboards already allow you to boot from a usb device.
However, the operating system you choose may not. AFAIK, Windows will not
boot from a usb drive.
In any case, usb thumb drives and external hard drives are normally used
for data transfer and storage not for booting. There is no reason to
prefer an external source for a boot device over a cd/dvd drive. Your
premise of needing a "reusable boot device that replaces the floppy" is
incorrect.
Malke
--
Elephant Boy Computers
www.elephantboycomputers.com
"Don't Panic!"
MS-MVP Windows - Shell/User
Malke:
You are correct, of course, that a USB external HD containing the XP OS will
not boot. At least, we've never been able to achieve that capability with
*any* motherboard, their "USB boot capability" notwithstanding.
However, I would like to comment about the desirability of a user having
available an *external* device that contains a bootable XP OS. We would find
having that capability a most significant advantage. As you know, many users
employ their USB/Firewire external HD as the recipient of a clone of their
working HD, the clone having been created through the use of a disk imaging
program, e.g., Symantec's Norton Ghost, Acronis True Image, etc. But
unfortunately the USB/Firewire device is not bootable so it's necessary for
the user to clone back the contents of that drive to their internal HD
whenever there's a need for restoration purposes.
Now we have the capability to overcome that disadvantage through the use of
SATA external HDs. By using a SATA HD that's external to the computer, i.e.,
physically residing outside the computer, but *directly* connected to a
motherboard's internal SATA connector, the system sees that drive as an
*internal* HD and a cloned copy of the OS is bootable from that SATA drive.
A not insignificant capability it would seem to me. And not to forget about
the significant performance advantage a SATA HD has in comparison with other
external devices. And with the newer motherboards coming on the market
containing an eSATA ("e" for external) port, I'm certain we'll see a decided
move to external SATA hard drives. As I mentioned in a previous post, I
think we've purchased our *last* USBEHD!
(I realize, of course, that one could (at least in theory) connect a PATA HD
*directly* to a motherboard's IDE connector and presumably have the same
capability. But because of the data & power cabling situation involving PATA
drives, it's an awkward arrangement at best as I'm sure you would agree.)
As you also probably know, I've commented on the use of external SATA HDs in
a number of previous posts. We've been working with them over the past few
months and have been most favorably impressed with their
performance/capability aspects in this area.
I thought you would like to have my comments re this area.
Anna
