Transferring DOS System Files to USB HDD

[Edward W. Thompson]

I have a USB HDD (30GB) and a motherboard that allows booting from a
USB-HDD. I have downloaded a WIN98 DOS boot disk (www.bootdisk.com) and
extracted the file to a floppy. I have transferred the OS to the USB HDD
(sys c and the machine will boot to DOS from the USB-HDD. The problem is
when I use the DIR command, the directory displays in full but the machine
hangs before it returns to the prompt (C:>). I need to reboot to get out of
the 'hang'.

I have tried two versions of the win98 boot disk each downloaded from
www.bootdisk.com with the same results. The odd thing is when I boot the
machine using the boot disk, DIR displays the directory and returns to the
prompt (C:>).

Does anyone have any idea why I am having this problem and how to overcome
it?

My fixed drives are SATA and formatted NTFS with WINXP Pro installed,
although I can't think that is relevant to the problem.

 

[Carey Frisch [MVP]]

Installing an operating system on an external hard drive is
not supported. Your issue is unrelated to Windows XP.

--
Carey Frisch
Microsoft MVP
Windows XP - Shell/User

Be Smart! Protect your PC!
http://www.microsoft.com/security/protect/

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|I have a USB HDD (30GB) and a motherboard that allows booting from a
| USB-HDD. I have downloaded a WIN98 DOS boot disk (www.bootdisk.com) and
| extracted the file to a floppy. I have transferred the OS to the USB HDD
| (sys c and the machine will boot to DOS from the USB-HDD. The problem is
| when I use the DIR command, the directory displays in full but the machine
| hangs before it returns to the prompt (C:>). I need to reboot to get out of
| the 'hang'.
|
| I have tried two versions of the win98 boot disk each downloaded from
| www.bootdisk.com with the same results. The odd thing is when I boot the
| machine using the boot disk, DIR displays the directory and returns to the
| prompt (C:>).
|
| Does anyone have any idea why I am having this problem and how to overcome
| it?
|
| My fixed drives are SATA and formatted NTFS with WINXP Pro installed,
| although I can't think that is relevant to the problem.

 

[Walter Clayton]

I can speculate.

Most likely issue is BIOS in conjunction with the fact that no version of
DOS was designed to be fired up from USB. That may seem strange, but
hardware initialization is affected by boot device order.

--
Walter Clayton - MS MVP(WinXP)
Associate Expert
http://www.microsoft.com/windowsxp/expertzone
Any technology distinguishable from magic is insufficiently advanced.
http://www.dts-l.org
http://support.microsoft.com/servicedesks/fileversion/default.asp|

 

[Edward W. Thompson]

I have since solved the problem. I was loading DOS onto the full size of
the drive (30 GB). I have since reduced the primary partition to 1 GB,
(sufficient room for the DOS utilities), and the DIR command now returns me
to the prompt.

Thanks for your response.