in lieu of swapping out hard drives

[C.Joseph S. Drayton]

I miss understood then. I thought the OP needed to be able to run
multiple OSes, and assumed that the easiest way would be with an
external drive. Since I spend most of my time in the field, having
to carry external devices to me is a last resort.

If the OP doesn't mind having to use an external drive, I can verify
that the eSATA drive is an option. I tested it on my HP dv8100cto
and when the card is installe and connect to a drive, if I hit
[ESC] on boot, I am given the option to boot from the external
drive. Its interesting, because if you go into the BIOS, it doesn't
list that drive unless it is physically connected.

I found it by accident when I was testing the drive and did a reboot
and wanted to boot from the CD and saw the drive listed as a
possible boot device.
-- C.Joseph Drayton, Ph.D. AS&T

CSD Computer Services
Web site: http://csdcs.tlerma.com/
E-mail: (e-mail address removed)

c.Joseph...
Could you clarify your above comment?
(And we are talking about the XP OS here, right?)

You're working with a HP dv8100 notebook. You say "...when the card
is installe(d) and connect(ed) to a drive, if I hit [ESC] on boot, I
am given the option to boot from the external drive."

Could you "flesh" that out a bit?

What "card"? You're referring to an ExpressCard with one or more
eSATA ports?

If so, could you provide the make/model of that device?

At what point do you press the [ESC] key during the bootup process?

And when you do this a menu displays displaying a listing of the
bootable devices in your laptop, one of which is the SATA external
HDD you've connected to the ExpressCard eSATA device? Is the external
SATA HDD you've connected a bare drive or is it in a SATA external
enclosure?

And you can then select that bootable SATA HDD from the list and the
system will boot to it? Works every time?

Do you know whether this is an integrated HP function or is it
possible this capability was provided by the driver disk accompanying
the CardBus device?

Is there any info re the above in the HP User Manual?
Anna

Hi Anna,

The hardware I am referring to is;

1) Hewlette-Packard Pavilion dv8100cto laptop with a ExpressCard port.
2) Addonics ADEXC34-2E with 2 eSATA ports
3) Addonics AASA2SAP15C SATA-to-eSATA converter cable
4) Mapower MAP-H31SS-01 Drive case
5) Seagate Barracuda 7200.7

The Seagate is mounted in the Mapower case. The Mapower case is
connected to the Addonics ExpressCard via the Addonics SATA to eSATA
converter cable. The Addonics ExpressCard is plugged into the
ExpressCard slot on the dv8100cto laptop.

Immediately after pressing the power button, press the [Esc] key. I
then get the window to enter the bios password. I enter the BIOS
password and see the BIOS initialization screen. The screen clears and
I get a screen that list the possible boot devices (at the bottom of
the list is the option to enter 'setup').

I choose the Seagate drive and it boots.

It booted successfully a couple of times. I did not do extensive tests
since as I said I hate having to rely on external drives and would
definitely NOT put a production system on an external drive.

I have no idea whether it is an integrated HP function or not. I never
bother to download the User Guide. Off the top of my head I would guess
yes since the drive is recognized as bootable at a BIOS level.

--

C.Joseph Drayton, Ph.D. AS&T

CSD Computer Services
Web site: http://csdcs.tlerma.com/
E-mail: (e-mail address removed)

 

[Colin Barnhorst]

That's an interesting idea.

The OP apparently lost this thread and reopened a new one. Please share
your thoughts there for the OP's benefit.

Have you actually tried to boot with an OS on the eSATA external
drive?

Colin Barnhorst wrote:

This is a useful piece of information. The problem is
specifically about how to boot from an eSATA drive via an
ExpressCard SATA connector on a laptop. Everyone is clear that
it works with eSATA ports on desktops.

Colin Barnhorst wrote:

Joe, the issue isn't about how to multiboot. It is about how
to do it on a laptop with an external drive and the resulting
discussion is about problems of accomplishing that with an
ExpressCard eSATA port.

I am a software developer, and I found the simplest
solution is to have a multi-OS system.

The primary hard disk in my laptop (I have 2 hard disk),
contains Windows2000pe, WindowsXPpe and Ubuntu.

Setting up a multi-OS system is pretty straight forward so
long as you do them in the right order. In my case, I wiped
the disk then created a partition for Windows2000pe. Then I
created the next partition and installed WindowsXPpe then I
used a Ubuntu live CD to install Linux.

Note that when installing multiple Windows, it is best to
start with the oldest Windows first and work forward. Then
Install any other OS.

When I boot, I get the grub menu and choose Windows. I then
get the Windows boot-loader where I can choose between
Windows2000pe, WindowsXPpe and the recovery console.

I do most of my coding from within WindowsXPpe. Since my
apps are designed to run under all Windows (except for
Vista), I also run VirtualPC and have VMs on the secondary
drive for all flavors of Windows.

If you end up installing a version of Linux, be careful
since some updates will reset your 'lilo' or 'grub' and you
will lose access to your Windows partitions. It can be
easily fixed, so long as you keep a LiveCD handy and
remember the four commands that allow you to re-write the
grub or lilo config file.

One last word. I have been playing with Linux more, but lets
face it, it is a Windows world and will be for the
foreseeable future, so I have set up VMWare's VMPlayer
under Linux to use the native Windows partition rather than
a virtual drive.

--
C.Joseph Drayton, Ph.D. AS&T

CSD Computer Services
Web site: http://csdcs.tlerma.com/
E-mail: (e-mail address removed)

I miss understood then. I thought the OP needed to be able to
run multiple OSes, and assumed that the easiest way would be
with an external drive. Since I spend most of my time in the
field, having to carry external devices to me is a last resort.

If the OP doesn't mind having to use an external drive, I can
verify that the eSATA drive is an option. I tested it on my HP
dv8100cto and when the card is installe and connect to a drive,
if I hit [ESC] on boot, I am given the option to boot from the
external drive. Its interesting, because if you go into the
BIOS, it doesn't list that drive unless it is physically
connected.

I found it by accident when I was testing the drive and did a
reboot and wanted to boot from the CD and saw the drive listed
as a possible boot device.

--
C.Joseph Drayton, Ph.D. AS&T

CSD Computer Services
Web site: http://csdcs.tlerma.com/
E-mail: (e-mail address removed)

Hi Colin,

The HP dv8100cto is a laptop. The laptop has an ExpressCard slot on
it. I connected an eSATA drive to the ExpressCard and when I hit
[ESC] on boot to chose my boot device, the eSATA drive showed up on
the list.

If I disconnect the drive but leave the ExpressCard in the slot, the
BIOS does not even show that 'if' a device were connected to the
card that I could boot from it.

If I shut-down the computer and connect the eSATA drive then enter
the BIOS setup, the eSATA drive shows up as a hard disk and shows
up as a drive that can be booted from.

I carry a number of empty cases so that I can pull a drive from a
clients machine and work on it thru my laptop.

--
C.Joseph Drayton, Ph.D. AS&T

CSD Computer Services
Web site: http://csdcs.tlerma.com/
E-mail: (e-mail address removed)

Hi Colin,

I cloned my Windows2000pe to the eSATA and it worked. I am sure because
I deactivated the Windows2000pe prtition on my primary hard disk to
assure that the boot was occurring from the eSATA.

--

C.Joseph Drayton, Ph.D. AS&T

CSD Computer Services
Web site: http://csdcs.tlerma.com/
E-mail: (e-mail address removed)

 

[Anna]

I miss understood then. I thought the OP needed to be able to run
multiple OSes, and assumed that the easiest way would be with an
external drive. Since I spend most of my time in the field, having
to carry external devices to me is a last resort.

If the OP doesn't mind having to use an external drive, I can verify
that the eSATA drive is an option. I tested it on my HP dv8100cto
and when the card is installe and connect to a drive, if I hit
[ESC] on boot, I am given the option to boot from the external
drive. Its interesting, because if you go into the BIOS, it doesn't
list that drive unless it is physically connected.

I found it by accident when I was testing the drive and did a reboot
and wanted to boot from the CD and saw the drive listed as a
possible boot device.
-- C.Joseph Drayton, Ph.D. AS&T

CSD Computer Services
Web site: http://csdcs.tlerma.com/
E-mail: (e-mail address removed)

c.Joseph...
Could you clarify your above comment?
(And we are talking about the XP OS here, right?)

You're working with a HP dv8100 notebook. You say "...when >>the card is
installe(d) and connect(ed) to a drive, if I hit [ESC] >>on boot, I am
given the option to boot from the external
drive."

Could you "flesh" that out a bit?

What "card"? You're referring to an ExpressCard with one or >>more eSATA
ports?

If so, could you provide the make/model of that device?

At what point do you press the [ESC] key during the bootup
process?

And when you do this a menu displays displaying a listing of >>the
bootable devices in your laptop, one of which is the SATA >>external HDD
you've connected to the ExpressCard eSATA >>device? Is the external SATA
HDD you've connected a bare >>drive or is it in a SATA external enclosure?

And you can then select that bootable SATA HDD from the list and the
system will boot to it? Works every time?

Do you know whether this is an integrated HP function or is it
possible this capability was provided by the driver disk >>accompanying
the CardBus device?

Is there any info re the above in the HP User Manual?
Anna

Hi Anna,

The hardware I am referring to is;

1) Hewlette-Packard Pavilion dv8100cto laptop with a ExpressCard port.
2) Addonics ADEXC34-2E with 2 eSATA ports
3) Addonics AASA2SAP15C SATA-to-eSATA converter cable
4) Mapower MAP-H31SS-01 Drive case
5) Seagate Barracuda 7200.7

The Seagate is mounted in the Mapower case. The Mapower
case is connected to the Addonics ExpressCard via the Addonics > SATA to
eSATA converter cable. The Addonics ExpressCard is > plugged into the
ExpressCard slot on the dv8100cto laptop.

Immediately after pressing the power button, press the [Esc]
key. I then get the window to enter the bios password. I enter the > BIOS
password and see the BIOS initialization screen. The
screen clears and I get a screen that list the possible boot devices > (at
the bottom of the list is the option to enter 'setup').

I choose the Seagate drive and it boots.

It booted successfully a couple of times. I did not do extensive > tests
since as I said I hate having to rely on external drives and
would definitely NOT put a production system on an external
drive.

I have no idea whether it is an integrated HP function or not. I
never bother to download the User Guide. Off the top of my
head I would guess
yes since the drive is recognized as bootable at a BIOS level.
--
C.Joseph Drayton, Ph.D. AS&T
CSD Computer Services
Web site: http://csdcs.tlerma.com/
E-mail: (e-mail address removed)

C. Joseph...
Many thanks for the comprehensive info.

As I indicated in my previous posts, we've been singularly unsuccessful in
booting XP from a ExpressCard. While we've used a number of different
ExpressCard models, we haven't worked with the Addonics line, although
interestingly enough I'm pretty sure a number of the ExpressCards we worked
with used the same chipset (Sil 3132) as the Addonics device, yet we were
unable to successfully boot to a SATA HDD connected to the ExpressCard
containing a bootable XP OS.

Assuming it works reliably as it apparently has in your experience (at least
up to now), this would be a significant leap forward for maintaining a
comprehensive backup system for laptop/notebook users who, using a
disk-to-disk cloning program, e.g., Symantec's Ghost or Acronis True Image,
or our current favorite Casper 4.0, could clone the contents of their
internal HDD to an external HDD and that external device would be bootable.
It's a capability that has escaped us up to now as it concerns
laptops/notebooks. Naturally we would hope this capability would extend to
laptops/notebooks in general, not just to HP models.

Presumably this info should be of some interest to the OP who is interested
in establishing & maintaining a multi-boot configuration involving his/her
laptop.
Anna

 

[Timothy Daniels]

I cloned my Windows2000pe to the eSATA and it worked.
I am sure because I deactivated the Windows2000pe prtition
on my primary hard disk to assure that the boot was occurring
from the eSATA.

How did you "deactivate" the partition on the primary hard
drive? If you meant that you un-set the "active" flag on the
primary partition which contained the boot files on the internal
hard disk, all that did was to make the system unbootable as
the hard drive still had a valid MBR and therefore not to be
bypassed in the selection of the booting device type - unless
there was only one primary partition - in which case the "active"
flag is ignored.

If you meant that you disabled the internal hard drive in the
BIOS, what device type was it that was enabled that represented
the SATA hard drive that was connected via the eSATA
ExpressCard?

*TimDaniels*

 

[Timothy Daniels]

Naturally we would hope this capability would extend to laptops/notebooks in
general, not just to HP models.

You can certainly add me to the list of keenly interested
people. I was seriously interested in buying and pairing a
Dell XPS laptop with an SIIG eSATA ExpressCard until
my calls to their tech support reps today which incidcated
it couldn't be done with their products. I think I'll be on the
phone to HP and Addonics for a while tomorrow!

I may be reduced to imaging the OS onto eSATA-connected
external SATA drives instead of cloning the OS. That is,
using the external SATA drive as just a data storage medium
rather than as a directly booting OS medium.

*TimDaniels*

 

[Timothy Daniels]

You can certainly add me to the list of keenly interested
people. I was seriously interested in buying and pairing a
Dell XPS laptop with an SIIG eSATA ExpressCard until
my calls to their tech support reps today which incidcated
it couldn't be done with their products. I think I'll be on the
phone to HP and Addonics for a while tomorrow!

I just got off the phone with HP technical support, and the
rep (after checking with superiors) reported that the ExpressCard
port on the Pavillion dv8100cto behaves as a USB port, and it
cannot boot the system from an external hard drive.

*TimDaniels*

 

[C.Joseph S. Drayton]

How did you "deactivate" the partition on the primary hard
drive? If you meant that you un-set the "active" flag on the
primary partition which contained the boot files on the internal
hard disk, all that did was to make the system unbootable as
the hard drive still had a valid MBR and therefore not to be
bypassed in the selection of the booting device type - unless
there was only one primary partition - in which case the "active"
flag is ignored.

If you meant that you disabled the internal hard drive in the
BIOS, what device type was it that was enabled that represented
the SATA hard drive that was connected via the eSATA
ExpressCard?

*TimDaniels*

I set the active flag to 'off'.

On my laptop if the partition the first partition is turned off, then
neither of my Windows partitions show as bootable. When you de-activate
the partition, it also tells the MBR that the partition is not bootable.

It showed up as 'Ext - Hard Disk'

on the list.

--

C.Joseph Drayton, Ph.D. AS&T

CSD Computer Services
Web site: http://csdcs.tlerma.com/
E-mail: (e-mail address removed)

 

[C.Joseph S. Drayton]

I miss understood then. I thought the OP needed to be able to
run multiple OSes, and assumed that the easiest way would be
with an external drive. Since I spend most of my time in the
field, having to carry external devices to me is a last resort.

If the OP doesn't mind having to use an external drive, I can
verify that the eSATA drive is an option. I tested it on my HP
dv8100cto and when the card is installe and connect to a drive,
if I hit [ESC] on boot, I am given the option to boot from the
external drive. Its interesting, because if you go into the
BIOS, it doesn't list that drive unless it is physically
connected.

I found it by accident when I was testing the drive and did a
reboot and wanted to boot from the CD and saw the drive listed
as a possible boot device.
-- C.Joseph Drayton, Ph.D. AS&T

CSD Computer Services
Web site: http://csdcs.tlerma.com/
E-mail: (e-mail address removed)

c.Joseph...
Could you clarify your above comment?
(And we are talking about the XP OS here, right?)

You're working with a HP dv8100 notebook. You say "...when >>the
card is installe(d) and connect(ed) to a drive, if I hit [ESC]
on boot, I am given the option to boot from the external
drive."

Could you "flesh" that out a bit?

What "card"? You're referring to an ExpressCard with one or
more eSATA ports?

If so, could you provide the make/model of that device?

At what point do you press the [ESC] key during the bootup
process?

And when you do this a menu displays displaying a listing of
the bootable devices in your laptop, one of which is the SATA
external HDD you've connected to the ExpressCard eSATA
device? Is the external SATA HDD you've connected a bare
drive or is it in a SATA external enclosure?

And you can then select that bootable SATA HDD from the list and
the system will boot to it? Works every time?

Do you know whether this is an integrated HP function or is it
possible this capability was provided by the driver disk
accompanying the CardBus device?

Is there any info re the above in the HP User Manual?
Anna

Hi Anna,

The hardware I am referring to is;

1) Hewlette-Packard Pavilion dv8100cto laptop with a ExpressCard
port. 2) Addonics ADEXC34-2E with 2 eSATA ports
3) Addonics AASA2SAP15C SATA-to-eSATA converter cable
4) Mapower MAP-H31SS-01 Drive case
5) Seagate Barracuda 7200.7

The Seagate is mounted in the Mapower case. The Mapower
case is connected to the Addonics ExpressCard via the Addonics >
SATA to eSATA converter cable. The Addonics ExpressCard is >
plugged into the ExpressCard slot on the dv8100cto laptop.

Immediately after pressing the power button, press the [Esc]
key. I then get the window to enter the bios password. I enter the

BIOS password and see the BIOS initialization screen. The screen

clears and I get a screen that list the possible boot devices > (at
the bottom of the list is the option to enter 'setup').

I choose the Seagate drive and it boots.

It booted successfully a couple of times. I did not do extensive >
tests since as I said I hate having to rely on external drives and
would definitely NOT put a production system on an external drive.

I have no idea whether it is an integrated HP function or not. I
never bother to download the User Guide. Off the top of my
head I would guess
yes since the drive is recognized as bootable at a BIOS level.
-- C.Joseph Drayton, Ph.D. AS&T
CSD Computer Services
Web site: http://csdcs.tlerma.com/
E-mail: (e-mail address removed)

C. Joseph...
Many thanks for the comprehensive info.

As I indicated in my previous posts, we've been singularly
unsuccessful in booting XP from a ExpressCard. While we've used a
number of different ExpressCard models, we haven't worked with the
Addonics line, although interestingly enough I'm pretty sure a number
of the ExpressCards we worked with used the same chipset (Sil 3132)
as the Addonics device, yet we were unable to successfully boot to a
SATA HDD connected to the ExpressCard containing a bootable XP OS.

Assuming it works reliably as it apparently has in your experience
(at least up to now), this would be a significant leap forward for
maintaining a comprehensive backup system for laptop/notebook users
who, using a disk-to-disk cloning program, e.g., Symantec's Ghost or
Acronis True Image, or our current favorite Casper 4.0, could clone
the contents of their internal HDD to an external HDD and that
external device would be bootable. It's a capability that has escaped
us up to now as it concerns laptops/notebooks. Naturally we would
hope this capability would extend to laptops/notebooks in general,
not just to HP models.

Presumably this info should be of some interest to the OP who is
interested in establishing & maintaining a multi-boot configuration
involving his/her laptop. Anna

Hi Anna,

I use a WD Passport to backup my hard disk using Ghost. If I need to
reload, up put the Ghost disk in tell it to use USB support clone the
WD copy back onto my primary internal hard disk and I am good to go.

I guess I just like to keep things simple, and having an OS that has
production software and data on it is just to much work. My dv8100cto
has 2 120GB hard disk and I have a 160GB WD Passport for all of my data
that I don't need immediate access to.

For me I need to test on all Windows, and being able to do that without
having to connect an external drive just makes my job considerably
easier.

--

C.Joseph Drayton, Ph.D. AS&T

CSD Computer Services
Web site: http://csdcs.tlerma.com/
E-mail: (e-mail address removed)

 

[C.Joseph S. Drayton]

You can certainly add me to the list of keenly interested
people. I was seriously interested in buying and pairing a
Dell XPS laptop with an SIIG eSATA ExpressCard until
my calls to their tech support reps today which incidcated
it couldn't be done with their products. I think I'll be on the
phone to HP and Addonics for a while tomorrow!

I may be reduced to imaging the OS onto eSATA-connected
external SATA drives instead of cloning the OS. That is,
using the external SATA drive as just a data storage medium
rather than as a directly booting OS medium.

*TimDaniels*

Hi Tim,

I really don't know what to recommend to folks. When I bought the
dv8100cto, size and price were not an issue, so I just looked for the
machine that seemed the most extensible.

When I got the Mapower, I was mainly looked for rugged/price point. As
to the Addonics, I had a client who was using one and I figured since I
had played with it on his machine and it appeared to work fine I wouold
give it a try.

I do know that I have upgraded the BIOS on this machine twice and I
have noticed that all the description o the HP web page of the upgrade
does not always say EVERYTHING that it upgrades. Of course one should
be careful about BIOS upgrades, but since I have a 3 year accidental
damage plan with HP I don't really worry about it.

I'm curious though . . . a couple of people on this thread have
'seemed' to imply that having an external bootable device would be
preferrable to a multi-boot and I was wondering what the reasoning
behind that is?

--

C.Joseph Drayton, Ph.D. AS&T

CSD Computer Services
Web site: http://csdcs.tlerma.com/
E-mail: (e-mail address removed)

 

[R. McCarty]

Multiboot has one inherent problem associated with it - Drive
lettering. I just worked on a PC that had Windows XP 32-bit
and XP-64. The user wanted to expand the 32-bit instance of
XP and tried to use Partition Magic. The eventual outcome was
a mess. I was finally able to restore 32-bit XP to being bootable
but all kinds of lettering issues appeared since it (32-bit) was on
Drive K:\ in the multi-boot scenario. Registry keys held the K:\
designation where the drive now functions as C:\.

Whenever I need access to older OS'es, I just use Virtual PC
and load which ever OS I need. However, the external SATA
drives are bootable so if I need to test something like Windows
Home Server I can use one of the external SATA drives and
turn off the two internal drives. ( Hiding them while working on
the externals ). The additional benefit of SATA is the performance
equals the speed of internal drives ( ~88 Meg-per-Second ).
My external SATA drives aren't eSATA ( Different connector )
but the traditional "L" type connection hosted by a DMI PCI
expansion card.

 

[Anna]

I miss understood then. I
thought the OP needed to be able to run multiple OSes, and assumed that the
easiest way would be with an external drive. Since I spend most of my time
in the field, having to carry external devices to me is a last resort.

If the OP doesn't mind having to use an external drive, I can verify that
the eSATA drive is an option. I tested it on my HP dv8100cto and when the
card is installe and connect to a drive, if I hit [ESC] on boot, I am given
the option to boot from the external drive. Its interesting, because if you
go into the BIOS, it doesn't list that drive unless it is physically
connected.

I found it by accident when I was testing the drive and did a reboot and
wanted to boot from the CD and saw the drive listed as a possible boot
device. -- C.Joseph Drayton, Ph.D. AS&T

CSD Computer Services Web site: http://csdcs.tlerma.com/ E-mail:
(e-mail address removed)


Anna wrote:
c.Joseph... Could you clarify your above comment?
(And we are talking about the XP OS here, right?)

You're working with a HP dv8100 notebook. You say "...when the card is
installe(d) and connect(ed) to a drive, if I hit [ESC] on boot, I am given
the option to boot from the external drive."

Could you "flesh" that out a bit?

What "card"? You're referring to an ExpressCard with one or more eSATA
ports?

If so, could you provide the make/model of that device?

At what point do you press the [ESC] key during the bootup process?

And when you do this a menu displays displaying a listing of the bootable
devices in your laptop, one of which is the SATA external HDD you've
connected to the ExpressCard eSATA device? Is the external SATA HDD you've
connected a bare drive or is it in a SATA external enclosure?

And you can then select that bootable SATA HDD from the list and the system
will boot to it? Works every time?

Do you know whether this is an integrated HP function or is it possible this
capability was provided by the driver disk accompanying the CardBus device?

Is there any info re the above in the HP User Manual? Anna


The hardware I am referring to is;

1) Hewlette-Packard Pavilion dv8100cto laptop with a ExpressCard port. 2)
Addonics ADEXC34-2E with 2 eSATA ports
3) Addonics AASA2SAP15C SATA-to-eSATA converter cable
4) Mapower MAP-H31SS-01 Drive case
5) Seagate Barracuda 7200.7

The Seagate is mounted in the Mapower case. The Mapower case is connected to
the Addonics ExpressCard via the Addonics > SATA to eSATA converter cable.
The Addonics ExpressCard is > plugged into the ExpressCard slot on the
dv8100cto laptop.

Immediately after pressing the power button, press the [Esc] key. I then get
the window to enter the bios password. I enter the BIOS password and see
the BIOS initialization screen. The screen clears and I get a screen that
list the possible boot devices > (at the bottom of the list is the option to
enter 'setup').

I choose the Seagate drive and it boots.

It booted successfully a couple of times. I did not do extensive > tests
since as I said I hate having to rely on external drives and would
definitely NOT put a production system on an external drive.

I have no idea whether it is an integrated HP function or not. I never
bother to download the User Guide. Off the top of my head I would guess yes
since the drive is recognized as bootable at a BIOS level. -- C.Joseph
Drayton, Ph.D. AS&T CSD Computer Services Web site: http://csdcs.tlerma.com/
E-mail: (e-mail address removed)


Anna wrote:
C. Joseph... Many thanks for the comprehensive info.

As I indicated in my previous posts, we've been singularly unsuccessful in
booting XP from a ExpressCard. While we've used a number of different
ExpressCard models, we haven't worked with the Addonics line, although
interestingly enough I'm pretty sure a number of the ExpressCards we worked
with used the same chipset (Sil 3132) as the Addonics device, yet we were
unable to successfully boot to a SATA HDD connected to the ExpressCard
containing a bootable XP OS.

Assuming it works reliably as it apparently has in your experience
(at least up to now), this would be a significant leap forward for
maintaining a comprehensive backup system for laptop/notebook users who,
using a disk-to-disk cloning program, e.g., Symantec's Ghost or Acronis True
Image, or our current favorite Casper 4.0, could clone the contents of their
internal HDD to an external HDD and that external device would be bootable.
It's a capability that has escaped us up to now as it concerns
laptops/notebooks. Naturally we would hope this capability would extend to
laptops/notebooks in general, not just to HP models.

Presumably this info should be of some interest to the OP who is interested
in establishing & maintaining a multi-boot configuration involving his/her
laptop. Anna


Hi Anna,
I use a WD Passport to backup my hard disk using Ghost. If I need to reload,
up put the Ghost disk in tell it to use USB support clone the WD copy back
onto my primary internal hard disk and I am good to go.

I guess I just like to keep things simple, and having an OS that has
production software and data on it is just to much work. My dv8100cto has 2
120GB hard disk and I have a 160GB WD Passport for all of my data that I
don't need immediate access to.

For me I need to test on all Windows, and being able to do that without
having to connect an external drive just makes my job considerably easier.
--
C.Joseph Drayton, Ph.D. AS&T


C.Joseph...
I'm aware, of course, that one can use a disk-cloning program such as Ghost
to clone the contents of one's laptop/notebook internal HDD to a USB
external HDD and then "re:clone" the contents back to the internal HDD for
restore/recovery purposes. That's the basic process we've used on a routine
basis.

But what I can't quite follow from your latest comment is why you're using a
USBEHD as the recipient of the clone rather than using the
ExpressCard/external SATA HDD configuration for disk-cloning purposes since
(as you've previously indicated) the latter has the decided advantage that
the SATA external device under those circumstances is *bootable*, unlike the
USBEHD device which is not. And surely the data transfer rate would be
considerably faster using the SATA external HDD as compared with the USBEHD,
would it not?

BTW, I forgot that your HP notebook has the capability of installing two
HDDs and that obviously accounts for your two 120 GB HDDs that you mention.
Just out of curiosity, is there any reason why you don't use the secondary
internal HDD as the recipient of the clone for backup purposes obviating the
need for external devices? Or is it simply that you need both HDDs for the
volume of your data?

Also, would you have any comment on Tim Daniels latest post in which he
stated...

I just got off the phone with HP technical support, and the
rep (after checking with superiors) reported that the
ExpressCard port on the Pavillion dv8100cto behaves as a USB > port, and
it cannot boot the system from an external hard drive.

*TimDaniels*

Of course it won't be the first time a manufacturer's rep was wrong, yes?
But just to confirm, your experience has shown that the system will boot to
a SATA external HDD connected through the ExpressCard you previously
mentioned, right?
Anna

 

[C.Joseph S. Drayton]

I just got off the phone with HP technical support, and the
rep (after checking with superiors) reported that the ExpressCard
port on the Pavillion dv8100cto behaves as a USB port, and it
cannot boot the system from an external hard drive.

*TimDaniels*

Hi Tim,

If that is what TechSupport said, who am I to argue. It works on my
machine although I have no use for it.

--

C.Joseph Drayton, Ph.D. AS&T

CSD Computer Services
Web site: http://csdcs.tlerma.com/
E-mail: (e-mail address removed)

 

[C.Joseph S. Drayton]

Multiboot has one inherent problem associated with it - Drive
lettering. I just worked on a PC that had Windows XP 32-bit
and XP-64. The user wanted to expand the 32-bit instance of
XP and tried to use Partition Magic. The eventual outcome was
a mess. I was finally able to restore 32-bit XP to being bootable
but all kinds of lettering issues appeared since it (32-bit) was on
Drive K:\ in the multi-boot scenario. Registry keys held the K:\
designation where the drive now functions as C:\.

Whenever I need access to older OS'es, I just use Virtual PC
and load which ever OS I need. However, the external SATA
drives are bootable so if I need to test something like Windows
Home Server I can use one of the external SATA drives and
turn off the two internal drives. ( Hiding them while working on
the externals ). The additional benefit of SATA is the performance
equals the speed of internal drives ( ~88 Meg-per-Second ).
My external SATA drives aren't eSATA ( Different connector )
but the traditional "L" type connection hosted by a DMI PCI
expansion card.

The drive order problem occurs because people don't pull the extra
drives. When I set up my dv8100cto, I pulled the secondary drive
completely. Made the partition to hold Windows2000pe and installed it.
I then created the partition for WindowsXPpe and installed it. Then I
let the Ubuntu CD take the rest of the drive for Ubuntu.

My Windows2000pe is [C], WindowsXPpe is [D]. I then put the secondary
hard disk back in and used 'Computer Management' to put the partitions
in the second drive in order as well as make my DVD-RW the next drive
and my 2 MagicDiscs as the 2 letters following.

If you have all the drives connect when you do the install you will of
course end up with all kinds of wierd lettering systems.

--

C.Joseph Drayton, Ph.D. AS&T

CSD Computer Services
Web site: http://csdcs.tlerma.com/
E-mail: (e-mail address removed)

 

[C.Joseph S. Drayton]

I miss understood
then. I thought the OP needed to be able to run multiple OSes, and
assumed that the easiest way would be with an external drive. Since I
spend most of my time in the field, having to carry external devices
to me is a last resort.

If the OP doesn't mind having to use an external drive, I can verify
that the eSATA drive is an option. I tested it on my HP dv8100cto and
when the card is installe and connect to a drive, if I hit [ESC] on
boot, I am given the option to boot from the external drive. Its
interesting, because if you go into the BIOS, it doesn't list that
drive unless it is physically connected.

I found it by accident when I was testing the drive and did a reboot
and wanted to boot from the CD and saw the drive listed as a possible
boot device. -- C.Joseph Drayton, Ph.D. AS&T

CSD Computer Services Web site: http://csdcs.tlerma.com/ E-mail:
(e-mail address removed)


Anna wrote:
c.Joseph... Could you clarify your above comment?
(And we are talking about the XP OS here, right?)

You're working with a HP dv8100 notebook. You say "...when the card
is installe(d) and connect(ed) to a drive, if I hit [ESC] on boot, I
am given the option to boot from the external drive."

Could you "flesh" that out a bit?

What "card"? You're referring to an ExpressCard with one or more
eSATA ports?

If so, could you provide the make/model of that device?

At what point do you press the [ESC] key during the bootup process?

And when you do this a menu displays displaying a listing of the
bootable devices in your laptop, one of which is the SATA external
HDD you've connected to the ExpressCard eSATA device? Is the external
SATA HDD you've connected a bare drive or is it in a SATA external
enclosure?

And you can then select that bootable SATA HDD from the list and the
system will boot to it? Works every time?

Do you know whether this is an integrated HP function or is it
possible this capability was provided by the driver disk accompanying
the CardBus device?

Is there any info re the above in the HP User Manual? Anna


The hardware I am referring to is;

1) Hewlette-Packard Pavilion dv8100cto laptop with a ExpressCard
port. 2) Addonics ADEXC34-2E with 2 eSATA ports 3) Addonics
AASA2SAP15C SATA-to-eSATA converter cable 4) Mapower MAP-H31SS-01
Drive case 5) Seagate Barracuda 7200.7

The Seagate is mounted in the Mapower case. The Mapower case is
connected to the Addonics ExpressCard via the Addonics > SATA to
eSATA converter cable. The Addonics ExpressCard is > plugged into the
ExpressCard slot on the dv8100cto laptop.

Immediately after pressing the power button, press the [Esc] key. I
then get the window to enter the bios password. I enter the BIOS
password and see the BIOS initialization screen. The screen clears
and I get a screen that list the possible boot devices > (at the
bottom of the list is the option to enter 'setup').

I choose the Seagate drive and it boots.

It booted successfully a couple of times. I did not do extensive >
tests since as I said I hate having to rely on external drives and
would definitely NOT put a production system on an external drive.

I have no idea whether it is an integrated HP function or not. I
never bother to download the User Guide. Off the top of my head I
would guess yes since the drive is recognized as bootable at a BIOS
level. -- C.Joseph Drayton, Ph.D. AS&T CSD Computer Services Web
site: http://csdcs.tlerma.com/ E-mail: (e-mail address removed)


Anna wrote:
C. Joseph... Many thanks for the comprehensive info.

As I indicated in my previous posts, we've been singularly
unsuccessful in booting XP from a ExpressCard. While we've used a
number of different ExpressCard models, we haven't worked with the
Addonics line, although interestingly enough I'm pretty sure a number
of the ExpressCards we worked with used the same chipset (Sil 3132)
as the Addonics device, yet we were unable to successfully boot to a
SATA HDD connected to the ExpressCard containing a bootable XP OS.

Assuming it works reliably as it apparently has in your experience
(at least up to now), this would be a significant leap forward for
maintaining a comprehensive backup system for laptop/notebook users
who, using a disk-to-disk cloning program, e.g., Symantec's Ghost or
Acronis True Image, or our current favorite Casper 4.0, could clone
the contents of their internal HDD to an external HDD and that
external device would be bootable. It's a capability that has escaped
us up to now as it concerns laptops/notebooks. Naturally we would
hope this capability would extend to laptops/notebooks in general,
not just to HP models.

Presumably this info should be of some interest to the OP who is
interested in establishing & maintaining a multi-boot configuration
involving his/her laptop. Anna


Hi Anna,
I use a WD Passport to backup my hard disk using Ghost. If I need to
reload, up put the Ghost disk in tell it to use USB support clone the
WD copy back onto my primary internal hard disk and I am good to go.

I guess I just like to keep things simple, and having an OS that has
production software and data on it is just to much work. My dv8100cto
has 2 120GB hard disk and I have a 160GB WD Passport for all of my
data that I don't need immediate access to.

For me I need to test on all Windows, and being able to do that
without having to connect an external drive just makes my job
considerably easier.

Hi Anna,

I work with large database files on occassion, and having 8GB - 12GB of
TPS database superfiles involved in a single project is not uncommon.
Right now StatBar is saying I only have about 10GB of space free on my
secondary hard disk. At least once a week I find myself moving things
off of the internal hard disk that I have decided I don't need
immediate access to.

I did respond to Tim's article, I said "If that is what TechSupport
said, who am I to argue. It works on my machine although I have no use
for it.".

To get a definitive answer for you, I will connect it up tonignt and do
a fresh install of Fedora 8 (Linux) to the eSATA and see if it will
boot. A buddy of mine suggested I check out this new version of Fedora,
so I will kill 2 birds with one stone . . . 1) check out Fedora 8, 2)
let you know if Fedora 8 will boot off of the eSATA drive.

BTW, I know you said you are using WindowsXP, but if Fedora 8 will boot
from it then so will Windows. Part of the reason for doing it this way
also is that Tim is concerned that my deactivating the partition on my
main drive may not be enough to prove that it is in fact booting from
the eSATA. Since Fedora 8 has never been on my hard disk and will not
be in the Ubuntu grub loader, a succesful boot will be a clear
indicator that it is in fact booting from the eSATA drive.

--

C.Joseph Drayton, Ph.D. AS&T

CSD Computer Services
Web site: http://csdcs.tlerma.com/
E-mail: (e-mail address removed)

 

[Timothy Daniels]

Hi Tim,

If that is what TechSupport said, who am I to argue. It works on my
machine although I have no use for it.

Well, I've learned through long experience that Tech Support
is not the final word on anything. I'm hoping that the same thing
could be done on a Dell XPS laptop regardless of what Dell's
Tech Support says. Your linux experiment will be interesting to
hear about.

*TimDaniels*

 

[C.Joseph S. Drayton]

c.Joseph... Could you clarify your above comment?
(And we are talking about the XP OS here, right?)

You're working with a HP dv8100 notebook. You say "...when the card
is installe(d) and connect(ed) to a drive, if I hit [ESC] on
boot, I am given the option to boot from the external drive."

Could you "flesh" that out a bit?

What "card"? You're referring to an ExpressCard with one or more
eSATA ports?

If so, could you provide the make/model of that device?

At what point do you press the [ESC] key during the bootup process?

And when you do this a menu displays displaying a listing of the
bootable devices in your laptop, one of which is the SATA external
HDD you've connected to the ExpressCard eSATA device? Is the
external SATA HDD you've connected a bare drive or is it in a SATA
external enclosure?

And you can then select that bootable SATA HDD from the list and
the system will boot to it? Works every time?

Do you know whether this is an integrated HP function or is it
possible this capability was provided by the driver disk
accompanying the CardBus device?

Is there any info re the above in the HP User Manual? Anna


Anna, The hardware I am referring to is;

1) Hewlette-Packard Pavilion dv8100cto laptop with a ExpressCard
port. 2) Addonics ADEXC34-2E with 2 eSATA ports 3) Addonics
AASA2SAP15C SATA-to-eSATA converter cable 4) Mapower MAP-H31SS-01
Drive case 5) Seagate Barracuda 7200.7

The Seagate is mounted in the Mapower case. The Mapower case is
connected to the Addonics ExpressCard via the Addonics > SATA to
eSATA converter cable. The Addonics ExpressCard is > plugged into
the ExpressCard slot on the dv8100cto laptop.

Immediately after pressing the power button, press the [Esc] key. I
then get the window to enter the bios password. I enter the BIOS
password and see the BIOS initialization screen. The screen clears
and I get a screen that list the possible boot devices > (at the
bottom of the list is the option to enter 'setup').

I choose the Seagate drive and it boots.

It booted successfully a couple of times. I did not do extensive >
tests since as I said I hate having to rely on external drives and
would definitely NOT put a production system on an external drive.

I have no idea whether it is an integrated HP function or not. I
never bother to download the User Guide. Off the top of my head I
would guess yes since the drive is recognized as bootable at a BIOS
level. -- C.Joseph Drayton, Ph.D. AS&T CSD Computer Services Web
site: http://csdcs.tlerma.com/ E-mail: (e-mail address removed)


Anna wrote:
C. Joseph... Many thanks for the comprehensive info.

As I indicated in my previous posts, we've been singularly
unsuccessful in booting XP from a ExpressCard. While we've used a
number of different ExpressCard models, we haven't worked with the
Addonics line, although interestingly enough I'm pretty sure a
number of the ExpressCards we worked with used the same chipset
(Sil 3132) as the Addonics device, yet we were unable to
successfully boot to a SATA HDD connected to the ExpressCard
containing a bootable XP OS.
Assuming it works reliably as it apparently has in your experience
(at least up to now), this would be a significant leap forward for
maintaining a comprehensive backup system for laptop/notebook users
who, using a disk-to-disk cloning program, e.g., Symantec's Ghost
or Acronis True Image, or our current favorite Casper 4.0, could
clone the contents of their internal HDD to an external HDD and
that external device would be bootable. It's a capability that has
escaped us up to now as it concerns laptops/notebooks. Naturally
we would hope this capability would extend to laptops/notebooks in
general, not just to HP models.

Presumably this info should be of some interest to the OP who is
interested in establishing & maintaining a multi-boot configuration
involving his/her laptop. Anna


"C.Joseph S. Drayton" <[email protected]> wrote in message...

To get a definitive answer for you, I will connect it up tonignt and
do a fresh install of Fedora 8 (Linux) to the eSATA and see if it will
boot. A buddy of mine suggested I check out this new version of
Fedora, so I will kill 2 birds with one stone . . . 1) check out
Fedora 8, 2) let you know if Fedora 8 will boot off of the eSATA
drive.

BTW, I know you said you are using WindowsXP, but if Fedora 8 will
boot from it then so will Windows. Part of the reason for doing it
this way also is that Tim is concerned that my deactivating the
partition on my main drive may not be enough to prove that it is in
fact booting from the eSATA. Since Fedora 8 has never been on my hard
disk and will not be in the Ubuntu grub loader, a succesful boot will
be a clear indicator that it is in fact booting from the eSATA drive.

Hi Anna,

Soory I didn't get back to you last night. my DVD-RW decided last night
that it was going to take a vacation <LOL>. I got the Fedora 8 ISO
burned this morning (ended up burning at 1x instead of 2x (another
project to work on . . . why did I need to burn at a slower speed). The
following is what I have done.

1) I burned the ISO on the dv8100cto.
2) shut down the dv8100cto and connected a Seagate Barracuda 7200.7
mounted in a Mapower MAP-H31SS-01 drive case connected to my dv8100cto
via an Addonics AASA2SAP15C SATA-to-eSATA converter cable which is
plugged into a Addonics ADEXC34-2E with 2 eSATA ports which in turn is
plugged into the Expresscard port on the dv8100cto.
3) Turned on the computer and presses the [Esc] key within 3 seconds of
powering it on.
4) Enter my BIOS password
5) Recieve screen asking which device to boot from
6) Choose CDROM
7) Run Fedora 8
8) Choose hd2 for the installation
9) Complete installation
10) Remove CD from CDROM drive
11) Shut down Fedora 8 with an actual shutdown (not reboot)
12) Unplug ExpressCard and turn on computer
13) Get my normal grub loader;
Ubuntu loads
Windows2000pe loads
WindowsXPpe loads
14) Using the Hiren's Boot Disk v9.1 use Acronis to check and see if
any new partitions have been created on either my primary or secondary
drive. None have been created.
15) Shutdown the computer
16) Plug in ExpressCard
17) Turned on the computer and presses the [Esc] key within 3 seconds
of powering it on.
18) Enter my BIOS password
19) I recieve screen asking which device to boot from
20) Select second to last option which is the external hard disk
21) Fedora 8 boots up

I plugged and unplugged, boooted from local drives, etc. about a dozen
times. Each time the external drive was connected and I chose it, it
booted up successfully. I was also able to boot my local drives
including the CDROM with the eSATA connected.

If I have time this weekend, I will boot up some of my diagnostics disk
to see if I can determine why this works since HP 'TechSupport' says it
can't. I will also see if can get the system to boot from a
thumbdrive. If I understood Tim correctly, his statement was that HP
was saying that the eSATA is handled by the BIOS the same way that USB
is. Since HP actually makes an application for creating a bootable
thumbdrive I will use their image to create the boot disk. I have found
the application and downloaded it. Again I will post results after
testing.
--

C.Joseph Drayton, Ph.D. AS&T

CSD Computer Services
Web site: http://csdcs.tlerma.com/
E-mail: (e-mail address removed)

 

[Anna]

Hi Anna,

Soory I didn't get back to you last night. my DVD-RW decided last night
that it was going to take a vacation <LOL>. I got the Fedora 8 ISO
burned this morning (ended up burning at 1x instead of 2x (another
project to work on . . . why did I need to burn at a slower speed). The
following is what I have done.

1) I burned the ISO on the dv8100cto.
2) shut down the dv8100cto and connected a Seagate Barracuda 7200.7
mounted in a Mapower MAP-H31SS-01 drive case connected to my dv8100cto
via an Addonics AASA2SAP15C SATA-to-eSATA converter cable which is
plugged into a Addonics ADEXC34-2E with 2 eSATA ports which in turn is
plugged into the Expresscard port on the dv8100cto.
3) Turned on the computer and presses the [Esc] key within 3 seconds of
powering it on.
4) Enter my BIOS password
5) Recieve screen asking which device to boot from
6) Choose CDROM
7) Run Fedora 8
8) Choose hd2 for the installation
9) Complete installation
10) Remove CD from CDROM drive
11) Shut down Fedora 8 with an actual shutdown (not reboot)
12) Unplug ExpressCard and turn on computer
13) Get my normal grub loader;
Ubuntu loads
Windows2000pe loads
WindowsXPpe loads
14) Using the Hiren's Boot Disk v9.1 use Acronis to check and see if
any new partitions have been created on either my primary or secondary
drive. None have been created.
15) Shutdown the computer
16) Plug in ExpressCard
17) Turned on the computer and presses the [Esc] key within 3 seconds
of powering it on.
18) Enter my BIOS password
19) I recieve screen asking which device to boot from
20) Select second to last option which is the external hard disk
21) Fedora 8 boots up

I plugged and unplugged, boooted from local drives, etc. about a dozen
times. Each time the external drive was connected and I chose it, it
booted up successfully. I was also able to boot my local drives
including the CDROM with the eSATA connected.

If I have time this weekend, I will boot up some of my diagnostics disk
to see if I can determine why this works since HP 'TechSupport' says it
can't. I will also see if can get the system to boot from a
thumbdrive. If I understood Tim correctly, his statement was that HP
was saying that the eSATA is handled by the BIOS the same way that USB
is. Since HP actually makes an application for creating a bootable
thumbdrive I will use their image to create the boot disk. I have found
the application and downloaded it. Again I will post results after
testing.
--

C.Joseph Drayton, Ph.D. AS&T

CSD Computer Services
Web site: http://csdcs.tlerma.com/
E-mail: (e-mail address removed)

C.Joseph:
Again, thanks for the additional info.

But just to make it as clear as I can as to what our primary - if not
exclusive - objective is re this issue...

Whether using an ExpressCard device with a eSATA port in a laptop/notebook
environment that's equipped with that interface, the user can clone (using a
disk-cloning program, e.g., Acronis, Ghost, Casper, etc.) the contents of
his/her notebook's internal HDD containing the XP OS onto a SATA HDD
connected to the ExpressCard's eSATA port and the external SATA HDD will be
*bootable* as a result of this disk-cloning operation.

As I've previously indicated, our experience to date using a number of
different laptop/notebook CardBus & ExpressCard devices with SATA & eSATA
ports has been negative in this regard (although we haven't used the
Addonics device that you're using).

If I've correctly understood you, you have indicated you have achieved
success in this area, i.e., as a consequence of using your Addonics
ExpressCard device with a externally connected SATA HDD, you are able to
clone the contents of the laptop/notebook's internal HDD containing the XP
OS to an external SATA HDD and that HDD will be bootable - at least with
respect to your HP notebook. And at least up to now, the process is
reliable. And I emphasize that we're talking about the XP OS, right?

Do I have all this right? Thanks.
Anna

 

[Colin Barnhorst]

I am skeptical that usb and eSATA are handled the same way in the BIOS. I
wonder what the HP agent might have meant. The devices are on different
busses, no?

c.Joseph... Could you clarify your above comment?
(And we are talking about the XP OS here, right?)

You're working with a HP dv8100 notebook. You say "...when the card
is installe(d) and connect(ed) to a drive, if I hit [ESC] on
boot, I am given the option to boot from the external drive."

Could you "flesh" that out a bit?

What "card"? You're referring to an ExpressCard with one or more
eSATA ports?

If so, could you provide the make/model of that device?

At what point do you press the [ESC] key during the bootup process?

And when you do this a menu displays displaying a listing of the
bootable devices in your laptop, one of which is the SATA external
HDD you've connected to the ExpressCard eSATA device? Is the
external SATA HDD you've connected a bare drive or is it in a SATA
external enclosure?

And you can then select that bootable SATA HDD from the list and
the system will boot to it? Works every time?

Do you know whether this is an integrated HP function or is it
possible this capability was provided by the driver disk
accompanying the CardBus device?

Is there any info re the above in the HP User Manual? Anna


Anna, The hardware I am referring to is;

1) Hewlette-Packard Pavilion dv8100cto laptop with a ExpressCard
port. 2) Addonics ADEXC34-2E with 2 eSATA ports 3) Addonics
AASA2SAP15C SATA-to-eSATA converter cable 4) Mapower MAP-H31SS-01
Drive case 5) Seagate Barracuda 7200.7

The Seagate is mounted in the Mapower case. The Mapower case is
connected to the Addonics ExpressCard via the Addonics > SATA to
eSATA converter cable. The Addonics ExpressCard is > plugged into
the ExpressCard slot on the dv8100cto laptop.

Immediately after pressing the power button, press the [Esc] key. I
then get the window to enter the bios password. I enter the BIOS
password and see the BIOS initialization screen. The screen clears
and I get a screen that list the possible boot devices > (at the
bottom of the list is the option to enter 'setup').

I choose the Seagate drive and it boots.

It booted successfully a couple of times. I did not do extensive >
tests since as I said I hate having to rely on external drives and
would definitely NOT put a production system on an external drive.

I have no idea whether it is an integrated HP function or not. I
never bother to download the User Guide. Off the top of my head I
would guess yes since the drive is recognized as bootable at a BIOS
level. -- C.Joseph Drayton, Ph.D. AS&T CSD Computer Services Web
site: http://csdcs.tlerma.com/ E-mail: (e-mail address removed)


Anna wrote:
C. Joseph... Many thanks for the comprehensive info.

As I indicated in my previous posts, we've been singularly
unsuccessful in booting XP from a ExpressCard. While we've used a
number of different ExpressCard models, we haven't worked with the
Addonics line, although interestingly enough I'm pretty sure a
number of the ExpressCards we worked with used the same chipset
(Sil 3132) as the Addonics device, yet we were unable to
successfully boot to a SATA HDD connected to the ExpressCard
containing a bootable XP OS.
Assuming it works reliably as it apparently has in your experience
(at least up to now), this would be a significant leap forward for
maintaining a comprehensive backup system for laptop/notebook users
who, using a disk-to-disk cloning program, e.g., Symantec's Ghost
or Acronis True Image, or our current favorite Casper 4.0, could
clone the contents of their internal HDD to an external HDD and
that external device would be bootable. It's a capability that has
escaped us up to now as it concerns laptops/notebooks. Naturally
we would hope this capability would extend to laptops/notebooks in
general, not just to HP models.

Presumably this info should be of some interest to the OP who is
interested in establishing & maintaining a multi-boot configuration
involving his/her laptop. Anna


"C.Joseph S. Drayton" <[email protected]> wrote in message...

To get a definitive answer for you, I will connect it up tonignt and
do a fresh install of Fedora 8 (Linux) to the eSATA and see if it will
boot. A buddy of mine suggested I check out this new version of
Fedora, so I will kill 2 birds with one stone . . . 1) check out
Fedora 8, 2) let you know if Fedora 8 will boot off of the eSATA
drive.

BTW, I know you said you are using WindowsXP, but if Fedora 8 will
boot from it then so will Windows. Part of the reason for doing it
this way also is that Tim is concerned that my deactivating the
partition on my main drive may not be enough to prove that it is in
fact booting from the eSATA. Since Fedora 8 has never been on my hard
disk and will not be in the Ubuntu grub loader, a succesful boot will
be a clear indicator that it is in fact booting from the eSATA drive.

Hi Anna,

Soory I didn't get back to you last night. my DVD-RW decided last night
that it was going to take a vacation <LOL>. I got the Fedora 8 ISO
burned this morning (ended up burning at 1x instead of 2x (another
project to work on . . . why did I need to burn at a slower speed). The
following is what I have done.

1) I burned the ISO on the dv8100cto.
2) shut down the dv8100cto and connected a Seagate Barracuda 7200.7
mounted in a Mapower MAP-H31SS-01 drive case connected to my dv8100cto
via an Addonics AASA2SAP15C SATA-to-eSATA converter cable which is
plugged into a Addonics ADEXC34-2E with 2 eSATA ports which in turn is
plugged into the Expresscard port on the dv8100cto.
3) Turned on the computer and presses the [Esc] key within 3 seconds of
powering it on.
4) Enter my BIOS password
5) Recieve screen asking which device to boot from
6) Choose CDROM
7) Run Fedora 8
8) Choose hd2 for the installation
9) Complete installation
10) Remove CD from CDROM drive
11) Shut down Fedora 8 with an actual shutdown (not reboot)
12) Unplug ExpressCard and turn on computer
13) Get my normal grub loader;
Ubuntu loads
Windows2000pe loads
WindowsXPpe loads
14) Using the Hiren's Boot Disk v9.1 use Acronis to check and see if
any new partitions have been created on either my primary or secondary
drive. None have been created.
15) Shutdown the computer
16) Plug in ExpressCard
17) Turned on the computer and presses the [Esc] key within 3 seconds
of powering it on.
18) Enter my BIOS password
19) I recieve screen asking which device to boot from
20) Select second to last option which is the external hard disk
21) Fedora 8 boots up

I plugged and unplugged, boooted from local drives, etc. about a dozen
times. Each time the external drive was connected and I chose it, it
booted up successfully. I was also able to boot my local drives
including the CDROM with the eSATA connected.

If I have time this weekend, I will boot up some of my diagnostics disk
to see if I can determine why this works since HP 'TechSupport' says it
can't. I will also see if can get the system to boot from a
thumbdrive. If I understood Tim correctly, his statement was that HP
was saying that the eSATA is handled by the BIOS the same way that USB
is. Since HP actually makes an application for creating a bootable
thumbdrive I will use their image to create the boot disk. I have found
the application and downloaded it. Again I will post results after
testing.
--

C.Joseph Drayton, Ph.D. AS&T

CSD Computer Services
Web site: http://csdcs.tlerma.com/
E-mail: (e-mail address removed)

 

[Timothy Daniels]

I am skeptical that usb and eSATA are handled
the same way in the BIOS. I wonder what the
HP agent might have meant. The devices are on
different busses, no?

The agent (after conferring with her superior) said
that "USB and ExpressCard" were handled the same
way by the BIOS - not "USB and eSATA". What this
really meant, neither I nor (I believe) the agent knew.

*TimDaniels*

 

[Timothy Daniels]

If I have time this weekend, I will boot up some of my
diagnostics disk to see if I can determine why this works
since HP 'TechSupport' says it can't. I will also see if
can get the system to boot from a thumbdrive.

Booting from a USB flash device may be more
universally successful as I see from the Dell support
website's User Manuals that virtually all Dell's
current PCs list "USB Device" as a bootable device type,
and the text refers to it as a "memory device". But when
I asked Dell's Tech Support reps whether that includes
hard drives connected via USB, they always said that the
system couldn't boot from a USB hard drive.

*TimDaniels*





If I understood Tim correctly, his statement was that HP