External hard drive

[Maiso]

Hi:

I have two questions for the people of this newsgroup. The first
question is: Is it possible to boot and run a PC with only an
external USB Drive and no internal hard drive? Of course it will need
a monitor, video card, etc. but I was wondering if that can be done
and when I finished working for the day unplug the USB drive and then
just plug it in when needed. The second question is: If I use Drive
Image 7 to create a backup image of my C: Drive to one of this USB
external drive, should I be able to transfer that image to the same PC
if the PC can't be boot from the hard disk? Thanks for your help. I am
running Windows XP Pro with a 2.8GHz Pentium 4 800MHZ FSB and 1GB of
Mushkin DDR 3200 RAM (2x512).

 

[CWatters]

Hi:

I have two questions for the people of this newsgroup. The first
question is: Is it possible to boot and run a PC with only an
external USB Drive and no internal hard drive?

I believe this depends if your BIOS supports this.

Of course it will need
a monitor, video card, etc. but I was wondering if that can be done
and when I finished working for the day unplug the USB drive and then
just plug it in when needed. The second question is: If I use Drive
Image 7 to create a backup image of my C: Drive to one of this USB
external drive, should I be able to transfer that image to the same PC
if the PC can't be boot from the hard disk?

Yes you can boot use the PowerQuest Recovery Environment. The help system
for DI says this...

How Does the PowerQuest Recovery Environment Work?
----------------------------------------------------------
Occasionally, a machine failure can leave the operating system intact but
you cannot restore a backup image with just a reboot. Or, sometimes a
machine failure has made the operating system entirely inoperative, making a
restoration seemingly impossible. For these types of situations, you simply
reboot the machine using the PowerQuest CD. The machine automatically boots
into the PowerQuest Recovery Environment (PQRE) and lets you run either the
System Restore wizard (to restore a backup image) or the Backup Image
Browser (to perform a file-level restore). The PQRE makes restoring backup
images possible after almost any machine disaster. Following the restoration
of a backup image, the machine is automatically rebooted and restored to its
previous, usable state.

and also....

Running USB Devices from the PQRE
---------------------------------------

To enable a USB device while you are running from the PQRE, you must first
attach the device, then reboot the machine into the PQRE environment.

plus....

How Do I Decide Where to Store Backup Images?
----------------------------------------------------

You can save backup images to a local hard drive, local removable media, a
network drive, or a local USB or FireWire drives. Each option has advantages
and disadvantages. The following chart will help you decide the best
location to store your backups

USB/FireWire drive (local) Fast create and restore
Advantages:
Can schedule unattended backups
Inexpensive because drive space can be overwritten repeatedly
Off-site storage is possible
Reserves hard drive space for other uses

Disadvantages:
Additional expense for the drive itself
Must have supported storage device drivers to restore from PQRE; could
require additional media along with the PowerQuest recovery CD

Colin

 

[Alex Nichol]

I have two questions for the people of this newsgroup. The first
question is: Is it possible to boot and run a PC with only an
external USB Drive and no internal hard drive? Of course it will need
a monitor, video card, etc. but I was wondering if that can be done
and when I finished working for the day unplug the USB drive and then
just plug it in when needed.

You can't install windows on, or run it from, an external removable
drive like that (even if the BIOS would boot from it, which it probably
would not).

The second question is: If I use Drive
Image 7 to create a backup image of my C: Drive to one of this USB
external drive, should I be able to transfer that image to the same PC
if the PC can't be boot from the hard disk?

Not sure about DI 7 - but using BootIT NG from http://www.BootitNG.com
($35 shareware - 30 day full functional trial) you can certainly image
to, and restore from such an external USB or Firewire drive