OS on ExpressCard SSD

[zellett]

I've briefly researched this, but most of my results are about using a flash ExpressCard for ReadyBoost. What I want to do is actually install a second OS on an ExpressCard for my laptop. Will this work? I assume that a normal USB flash drive would not have sufficient throughput for an OS, but from what I can tell, ExpressCards actually use a PCI Express interface and are much faster. Would this work? I want to be able to dual-boot XP/Vista or XP/Fedora.

Thanks

 

[enlightenment]

ExpressCard often uses PCIe *but* it may also use a USB link so in fact no PCI-express at all. Especially for older models which don't have a PCI-express chipset.

If its really PCIe then it should have a proper interface. It still may be slow due to the fact those ExpressCard-SSDs dont have a modern controller such as in Intel X25/Mtron/Memoright SSDs. But you do have something based on flash so low energy consumption, high reliability, high shock protection (dropping a laptop doesnt mean the end of your data) and silent operation.

 

[bgalfond]

Wanted to bump this to get some new replies. I see these drives seem to all use the usb connection and thus have decent read but poor write speed. If you are just using it for OS, does write speed make a large difference to overall system speed?