Installing Windows 2000 On a Compact Flash Disk

[Guest]

Archived from groups: microsoft.public.win2000.general (More info?)

Hello, I am trying to install Win2K OS on a Compact Flash disk. I Bios sees
the drive and i am able to start the installation. But when the system
reboots for the frist time after it's has copied the files to the flash disk
i receive and error message. " A Disk Read Error Occureded" and i'm not able
to continue with the installation. Is it possible to install Win2K on a
Flash Disk? If so what am i doing wrong. Thanks in advances for you help.

Mike K.

 

[Guest]

Archived from groups: microsoft.public.win2000.general (More info?)

Mikered wrote:
> Hello, I am trying to install Win2K OS on a Compact Flash disk. I Bios sees
> the drive and i am able to start the installation. But when the system
> reboots for the frist time after it's has copied the files to the flash disk
> i receive and error message. " A Disk Read Error Occureded" and i'm not able
> to continue with the installation. Is it possible to install Win2K on a
> Flash Disk? If so what am i doing wrong. Thanks in advances for you help.
>
> Mike K.


Win2K is not designed to be installed upon a Flash Disk, or any other
type of external disk.

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Bruce Chambers

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[Guest]

Archived from groups: microsoft.public.win2000.general (More info?)

"Mikered" <Mikered@discussions.microsoft.com> wrote in message
news:5777138F-18D1-422A-A196-D52147A007E4@microsoft.com...
> Hello, I am trying to install Win2K OS on a Compact Flash disk. I Bios
sees
> the drive and i am able to start the installation. But when the system
> reboots for the frist time after it's has copied the files to the flash
disk
> i receive and error message. " A Disk Read Error Occureded" and i'm not
able
> to continue with the installation. Is it possible to install Win2K on a
> Flash Disk? If so what am i doing wrong. Thanks in advances for you
help.
>
> Mike K.

Nope ... not possible.

 

[Guest]

Archived from groups: microsoft.public.win2000.general (More info?)

Only way I know of is if the "CF disk" is plugged into the IDE system.
There are some hardware/MB that allows this.(not your run of the mill
desktop PC motherboards) And then the card is read as an IDE drive. Any
"removable" drive setup isn't going to work.

Mikered wrote:

> Hello, I am trying to install Win2K OS on a Compact Flash disk. I Bios sees
> the drive and i am able to start the installation. But when the system
> reboots for the frist time after it's has copied the files to the flash disk
> i receive and error message. " A Disk Read Error Occureded" and i'm not able
> to continue with the installation. Is it possible to install Win2K on a
> Flash Disk? If so what am i doing wrong. Thanks in advances for you help.
>
> Mike K.

 

[janean77]

I have installed Windows 2000 on a CF/Micro Drive before.

You need to use a Windows 98 boot floppy or CD to format it.

FORMAT C: /S

This adds the system boot files to the CF/Micro Drive Without installing the windows 98 OS.

Test to see if the drive will boot. It should boot quickly.

Next boot windows 2000 OS CD, install 2000 to CF/Microdrive.

Select "Leave current file system intact (no changes)" during install process.


This will create a Dual-boot CF/MicroDrive, which is needed to get into Windows 2000.

I can't explain why you need windows 98 system files, but is just works.

The only problem I have encounter in doing this, is that the Windows 2000 Recycle Bin will not work.

 

[Pointertovoid]

YES, you can install W2k on a CF. It needs a CF to Pata adapter; an USB adapter doesn't work. W2k benefits a lot from a CF card, it boots faster than on a mechanical disk.

The CF could be of removable type with W2k but this brings more worries. Xp would refuse it.

The W2k install disk can format the CF and this is desirable. A W98 install Cd would only provide Fat32 file system which is much worse than Ntfs, especially at lost fragments.

Aligning the volume makes it faster, and this is difficult with Fat32. The W2k Cd doesn't propose it; other software like GPartEd does it. Beware Win sometimes doesn't boot on aligned volumes; the Bios may be the culprit, but I'm not sure. A workaround is to activate a normal volume at sector 63 and install Win on a other, aligned, volume.

What it needs:
- Sound hardware! The Pata adapter isn't critical, the Pata cable not much, but the CF is! Most have bus transmitter unable to transmit on a Pata cable. Also, you should check at what Udma speed the CF transmit when supplied with 5V: most are fast only at 3.3V. Put together, have a Transcend Udma CF, 300x or 266x. Adata often works also.
- No Via chipset at the controller. Of course.
- An SLC type CF. MLC is inadequate to put an OS - not computer data, in fact. Only good for pictures. This limits the CF to 4GB or 8GB; beware all recent CF are MLC, and one series may be SLC up to 8GB and MLC at 16GB+.
SSD have become good despite MLC recently, but only with huge buffers and smart controllers; CF lack both.
- The Pata controller (or host, more exactly) should use Udma mode right from the beginning. Do provide the host driver with an F6 diskette for that - or integrate the Udma driver in the W2k install Cd. If you have an older Intel chipset using the Application Accelerator, you can search its folder containing Setup.oem in an existing HDD installation, copy the folder on a diskette, and use it as F6.

You can also create a Raid-0 with one CF per Pata port (more CF on a Pata cable is useless). SiI680a controllers are good for that and have F6 drivers for W2k. They also show a "fixed" array even if the CF are removable: helps at Win Xp.