Bootable USB flash drive

Archived from groups: comp.sys.laptops (More info?)

On Fri, 24 Dec 2004 01:27:04 +0800, "Ray"
<NoSpam-Ray282828@Yahoo.com.HK> wrote:

>Can someone advise how to create a bootable USB flash drive in order to make
>a USB CD-ROM readable.


are u trying to read a recovery CD? just copy the whole CD to D:
(formated as FAT), then when u floppy boot, it will be accessible.

Archived from groups: comp.sys.laptops (More info?)

what operating system?

"Ray" <NoSpam-Ray282828@Yahoo.com.HK> wrote in message
news:330dfhF3r5li4U1@individual.net...
> Can someone advise how to create a bootable USB flash drive in order to
> make a USB CD-ROM readable.
>
> Thanks,
>
> Ray
>

Archived from groups: comp.sys.laptops (More info?)

"Ray" <NoSpam-Ray282828@Yahoo.com.HK> wrote:
>Can someone advise how to create a bootable USB flash drive in order to make
>a USB CD-ROM readable.

It's not that easy, it requires not only BIOS support, but the flash
drive must have a particular hardware configuration, and be specially
formatted. In the Dell case, for instance, it must be a Dell keychain
drive formatted, fdisked, and system loaded with a particular set of
Dell utilities. Not really ready for prime time yet....

Archived from groups: comp.sys.laptops (More info?)

Windows XP

Ray

"BigJIm" <Jim10277@hotmail.com> ¼¶¼g©ó¶l¥ó·s»D:VKYyd.705660$mD.282550@attbi_s02...
> what operating system?
>
> "Ray" <NoSpam-Ray282828@Yahoo.com.HK> wrote in message
> news:330dfhF3r5li4U1@individual.net...
>> Can someone advise how to create a bootable USB flash drive in order to
>> make a USB CD-ROM readable.
>>
>> Thanks,
>>
>> Ray
>>
>
>

Archived from groups: comp.sys.laptops (More info?)

Not really but if possible, I am very interested in knowing how.

Just copy the whole CD to D: (formatted as FAT). Is D: a logical drive or
something else? I would be grateful if you could give me greater details.
So far I do not have such big USB drive, what about Microdrive?

Thanks,

Ray


"bobb" <None@NoWhere.com>
???????:ifnos09ccqthpu10k2u6bh9jq0gqf2jbn5@4ax.com...
> On Fri, 24 Dec 2004 01:27:04 +0800, "Ray"
> <NoSpam-Ray282828@Yahoo.com.HK> wrote:
>
>>Can someone advise how to create a bootable USB flash drive in order to
>>make
>>a USB CD-ROM readable.
>
>
> are u trying to read a recovery CD? just copy the whole CD to D:
> (formated as FAT), then when u floppy boot, it will be accessible.
>

Archived from groups: comp.sys.laptops (More info?)

On Sun, 26 Dec 2004 00:32:25 +0800, "Ray"
<NoSpam-Ray282828@Yahoo.com.hk> wrote:

>Not really but if possible, I am very interested in knowing how.



OK, sounds like you really have no specific goals in mind, just want
to know if it's at all possible?

OK, here's the (condensed) spiels on this whole subject:

What u can boot depends on what the laptop's bios supports. Open up
your bios and find out.

All laptops will boot from any floppy.

Some older laptops will only boot from a pcmcia-connected external
cdrom.

When the laptop says it will boot from USB, it means it can boot from
a USB--connected floppy or CD, maybe USB-HD, but NOT a USB memory
dongle.

Someone who reportedly works at Microsoft says it's possible to boot
from a USB dongle but he won't diverge the secret (some programming
required no doubt, so not for the mere mortal).

Hope these help.

Archived from groups: comp.sys.laptops (More info?)

On Sat, 25 Dec 2004 18:59:09 -0800, bobb <None@NoWhere.com> wrote:

>On Sun, 26 Dec 2004 00:32:25 +0800, "Ray"
><NoSpam-Ray282828@Yahoo.com.hk> wrote:
>
>>Not really but if possible, I am very interested in knowing how.
>
>
>
>OK, sounds like you really have no specific goals in mind, just want
>to know if it's at all possible?
>
>OK, here's the (condensed) spiels on this whole subject:
>
>What u can boot depends on what the laptop's bios supports. Open up
>your bios and find out.
>
>All laptops will boot from any floppy.
>
>Some older laptops will only boot from a pcmcia-connected external
>cdrom.
>
>When the laptop says it will boot from USB, it means it can boot from
>a USB--connected floppy or CD, maybe USB-HD, but NOT a USB memory
>dongle.
>
>Someone who reportedly works at Microsoft says it's possible to boot
>from a USB dongle but he won't diverge the secret (some programming
>required no doubt, so not for the mere mortal).
>
>Hope these help.

I copyed a win98 boot floppy to my usb key drive. It can boot from
the usb key when you choose usb -floppy option.

Archived from groups: comp.sys.laptops (More info?)

>I copyed a win98 boot floppy to my usb key drive. It can boot from
>the usb key when you choose usb -floppy option.


Awesome! u didn't even have to format the thing, or "sys" it and it
boots? What brand is it? where do I get one?

Archived from groups: comp.sys.laptops (More info?)

William,

I have been hearing it since the USB flash drive introduction but do not
find it as a selling point in USB flash drive sales. Probably, you are
right it is not a mature technology so far.

Thanks,

Ray

<William P.N. Smith> ???????:36hps0to6je4epti8orroh06c7q62urfi6@4ax.com...
> "Ray" <NoSpam-Ray282828@Yahoo.com.HK> wrote:
>>Can someone advise how to create a bootable USB flash drive in order to
>>make
>>a USB CD-ROM readable.
>
> It's not that easy, it requires not only BIOS support, but the flash
> drive must have a particular hardware configuration, and be specially
> formatted. In the Dell case, for instance, it must be a Dell keychain
> drive formatted, fdisked, and system loaded with a particular set of
> Dell utilities. Not really ready for prime time yet....
>

Archived from groups: comp.sys.laptops (More info?)

your bios must support the boot from usb, then all you have to do it
is put your xp disk in and it should boot. If the bios feature does not
support this feature
you can not boot from the usb port.

"Ray" <NoSpam-Ray282828@Yahoo.com.HK> wrote in message
news:330dfhF3r5li4U1@individual.net...
> Can someone advise how to create a bootable USB flash drive in order to
> make a USB CD-ROM readable.
>
> Thanks,
>
> Ray
>

Archived from groups: comp.sys.laptops (More info?)

Bobb,

I am sorry to make you believe that I have no specific goal. In fact, I
have clear goals in my mind but I am not too aggressive to ask for something
difficult/impossible nowadays.

Bootable USB flash drive exists but probably it is still in a secret form
and not disclosed to the public at the moment.

I know how to configure the notebook computer to boot to USB device and make
a bootable floppy or CD-ROM. However, it still requires a bootable device,
i.e., floppy drive or CD-ROM drive. Again, the bootable devices are still
in secret form and not disclosed to the public at the moment.

Ray

"bobb" <None@NoWhere.com>
??????? m9ss0tkujpscc1vttnv3l4d241q89l6fp@4ax.com...
> On Sun, 26 Dec 2004 00:32:25 +0800, "Ray"
> <NoSpam-Ray282828@Yahoo.com.hk> wrote:
>
>>Not really but if possible, I am very interested in knowing how.
>
>
>
> OK, sounds like you really have no specific goals in mind, just want
> to know if it's at all possible?
>
> OK, here's the (condensed) spiels on this whole subject:
>
> What u can boot depends on what the laptop's bios supports. Open up
> your bios and find out.
>
> All laptops will boot from any floppy.
>
> Some older laptops will only boot from a pcmcia-connected external
> cdrom.
>
> When the laptop says it will boot from USB, it means it can boot from
> a USB--connected floppy or CD, maybe USB-HD, but NOT a USB memory
> dongle.
>
> Someone who reportedly works at Microsoft says it's possible to boot
> from a USB dongle but he won't diverge the secret (some programming
> required no doubt, so not for the mere mortal).
>
> Hope these help.
>

Archived from groups: comp.sys.laptops (More info?)

On Fri, 24 Dec 2004 01:27:04 +0800, "Ray"
<NoSpam-Ray282828@Yahoo.com.HK> wrote:

>Can someone advise how to create a bootable USB flash drive in order to make
>a USB CD-ROM readable.
>
>Thanks,
>
>Ray
>

Re: bootable USB flash drives.

You have to have a BIOS that supports this - on my notebook the USB
key shows up as a hard drive in the BIOS and I can select it as the
default bootable device.

To see if your USB drive can be made to boot you could try Linux.

Two small Linux distributions are specially configured to boot from
a USB flash drive: Damn Small Linux and Puppy Linux. Do a web search
for these and read the forums to get further info - they offer the
most information I've seen.. Puppy Linux will boot from a Dell 64MB
flash drive.

Many flash drives do not advertise 'bootability' but are indeed
bootable, don't rely on the advertised specs to determine if yours
will or will not boot.. I suspect the manufacturers do not want to
encourage support calls re that function.

A handy utility to format flash drives is downloadable from Hewlett
Packard, and works on all the drives I have tried it on:


http://h18000.www1.hp.com/support/files/hpcpqdt/us/down...

Soames




"Never mind world peace, visualize using your turn signal"

Archived from groups: comp.sys.laptops (More info?)

On Fri, 24 Dec 2004 20:43:01 -0500, William P.N. Smith wrote:

>"Ray" <NoSpam-Ray282828@Yahoo.com.HK> wrote:
>>Can someone advise how to create a bootable USB flash drive in order to make
>>a USB CD-ROM readable.
>
>It's not that easy, it requires not only BIOS support, but the flash
>drive must have a particular hardware configuration, and be specially
>formatted. In the Dell case, for instance, it must be a Dell keychain
>drive formatted, fdisked, and system loaded with a particular set of
>Dell utilities. Not really ready for prime time yet....


I have a Dell 64MB flash drive that boots Linux very well in an IBM
Thinkpad T30.

Soames


"Never mind world peace, visualize using your turn signal"

Archived from groups: comp.sys.laptops (More info?)

Here is one more tool to do the job, it seems like it has much more
options than HP's one:

http://www.prime-expert.com/flashboot/