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Title: Booting from flash drive (Win 7 - XP)
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URL Source: http://ChuckW
Published: Mar 2, 2015
Author: Chuck_Wagon
Post Date: 2015-03-02 15:53:26 by Chuck_Wagon
Keywords: None
Views: 40576
Comments: 123
Just suppose that I wanted to create a machine that would
boot from a USB flash drive - a relatively big flash drive -
32gb to 64gb - or whatever is required.
And I wanted this thing to boot either Win7 or XP.
Anybody here have any experience with such an experience?
FYI - I am planning to create this thing on a new Zotac
'ZBox' with a Celeron processor and 4GB of memory (which I
have - the memory - not the Zbox).
So what I'm basically trying to do is create a 'disk-less'
computer. Shouldn't be fraught with problems - Eh?
Thanks for any help / insight!
ZBOX 1320-U:
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See, last time I had to do something like this, Staples charged me $40 bucks.
A five minute job.
Surely you could hire a neighborhood kid to do this for you. If you can handle opening and closing the case yourself, it's a two-minute job.
Watch Willie's vids. A lot of laptops and tiny PCs with 2.5" drives are built so that the drive is almost self-guiding into a groove and onto the SATA data/power connectors. It is much much easier than messing around with IDE cables and power cords.
#12. To: TooConservative (#11)
Surely you could hire a neighborhood kid to do this for you.
I pay 'friends for favors' with beer.
My neighbor won't take any money, but he will take a bottle of Canadian Mist. He's helped me more than a few times over the past twenty years.
My friend's wife needed a ride to the tavern last week while he was working on getting his car's starter working. She wanted to buy me six beers (a bucket). One was sufficient for me. That's how we roll.
#13. To: Fred Mertz (#12)
I pay 'friends for favors' with beer.
That works too.
#14. To: TooConservative, Fred Mertz (#11)
Try doing it with one hand.
A pain in the zorch - trust me.
Many things are.
Try changing a tire one-handed. Ehhh.....
#15. To: Chuck_Wagon (#14)
Don't do it yourself, you g**damned retard. Get help from a friend or neighbor or kid.
Sorry, I couldn't resist, since you don't listen very well.
#16. To: Chuck_Wagon, TooConservative, Fred Mertz (#14)
Try doing it with one hand.
A pain in the zorch - trust me.
Don't do it yourself, you g**damned retard.
Well they lopped-off my left leg above-the-knee a-year-ago-Christmas, so I'm not as unsympathetic to your plight as Fred. But seeing as I actually have a Z-Box, I decided to conduct an experiment and accept your challenge.
And I am quite pleased to report: Success!!!
Using ONLY my left hand (and I'm right-handed):
- I opened the case of my Z-Box.
- I removed the hard drive
- I reinstalled the hard drive
- I removed 1 stick of RAM
- I decided removing the 2nd stick of RAM was unnecessary and wouldn't prove anything
- I replaced the 1st stick of RAM
- I closed the cover on my Z-Box and plugged everything back together.
Yeah, it is a bit more awkward than using two hands (especially since my left hand is all thumbs.) Nevertheless, the whole experiment didn't take me much more than 10~15 minutes, if that much.
But in the end, you'll have to judge for yourself whether you think you're up to it or not... Just don't go spending $40 for somebody to do it for you... it's waaaaaaay too easy... I'd say $5 max... or just buy him a beer...
#17. To: Chuck_Wagon (#0)
So what I'm basically trying to do is create a 'disk-less' computer.
Why?
потому что Бог хочет это тот путь
#18. To: Willie Green (#16)
Nice post.
#19. To: Willie Green (#16)
Okay.
Sorry about your leg.
#20. To: Chuck_Wagon (#19)
Thanks... it definitely slows me down a bit, but it's not as bad as I would have imagined... and hopefully I'll get approval for a prosthesis after my cardiologist gets a couple more tests done,
#21. To: Fred Mertz (#15)
I couldn't resist, since you don't listen very well.
I take after my Mom.
YOU get her to listen to my investment advice.
It's utterly impossible.
#22. To: Willie Green (#20)
Yeah - I have a MOFO brace on my lower right leg -
and braces on my right arm (Which I no longer wear).
Work out 3 times a week at the gym.
The exercises no longer seem to help a Lot.
But the leg presses got me out of the wheelchair.
So that's definitely something, eh?
So on I go.
#23. To: Willie Green (#16) (Edited)
And I am quite pleased to report: Success!!!
Good job. Thanks for the inspiration in your experiment.
#24. To: Chuck_Wagon (#21)
YOU get her to listen to my investment advice.
It's how our aging parents get even with us for being rotten all those times when we were kids.
#25. To: Chuck_Wagon, Fred Mertz (#22)
But the leg presses got me out of the wheelchair.
So that's definitely something, eh?
Yeah... being in a wheelchair isn't much fun, but I don't complain about it since I'm actually much better off physically than many others. For instance, I can pretty easily stand up and hop around on one leg using my walker (I call it my hopper.) I suppose I could use crutches if I wanted, but I don't trust them. The walker has more stability when I plant it solidly on the ground to help me hop.
So that's how I get myself to the grocery store:
- I wheel myself out to the car & open the trunk.
- I get my walker out of the trunk and unfold it.
- I stand-up and then sit on the lip of the trunk
- I fold up the wheel chair and stash it in the trunk
- I stand up, close the trunk & use the walker to hop to the driver's door.
- I open the door, plop my butt in the driver's seat, fold-up the walker & stash it in the back seat.
- Drive whereever I want (Thank goodness for automatic transmissions) & then reverse the process to get back in my chair.
Self-serve gas stations are a pain in the patoot, but I manage. At other stores, I can push around a full-size shopping cart if I have to, but I prefer the smaller carts or hand-baskets if they have them. And inside the grocery store, it's pretty easy for me to lock my wheels and stand up to get something off the top shelf... or to get my wallet out of my hip pocket at the check-out line.
So all-in-all, I have nothing to complain about... I get along very well... Just hoping a prosthetic leg will help get me accomplish things a little quicker... believe me, although I can do it, pumping gas is REALLY tedious right now...
#26. To: Willie Green (#25)
...being in a wheelchair isn't much fun...
Nope, it ain't.
I was in one for 22 months. Then I stood up.
Good luck to you!
I still use these for grocery and other shopping:
Can't decide which I prefer: The Amigo, or the Smart Cart... LOL
#27. To: Chuck_Wagon (#26)
The Amigo, or the Smart Cart... LOL
I've never seen the luxury model with the fancy armrests...
But then, I only use those things when I go shopping with someone else who can bring them out to the car for me to use. I rarely find one out in the parking lot that I can get to by myself, and once I get my own chair out of the trunk, it just isn't worth switching to the electric chair inside the store. Besides, if I do that, then what am I supposed to do with my own chair while I shop? Just leave it there where someone else might think that it belongs to the store & start using it?
#28. To: TooConservative (#24)
...how our aging parents get even with us for being rotten...
Hey, I was a GREAT kid. With the possible exception of
when I was a teenager. And we won't discuss that one
time when my mother had to pick me up at the police
station. It was a big MISUNDERSTANG - but no one listened...
#29. To: Chuck_Wagon (#28) (Edited)
Obviously you were beyond suspicion. It's so unfair.
So are you going to follow Willy's advice and install your own 2.5" hard drive? It was the point of the thread.
I like for how-to threads to resolve themselves into action.
#30. To: sneakypete, Chuck_Wagon (#29)
I like for how-to threads to resolve themselves into action.
So did you find ever someone to trench that Ethernet cable out to your shop for Roku streaming there? I kinda wondered if the ground got too frozen for that to be a winter project.
#31. To: Willie Green (#27)
Just leave it there(?)
Shoprite (grocery store) has a policy that a bagger or
someone has to accompany 'riding cart' riders
out to their cars (then they ride the cart back) or at
least out to the front vestibule place (where all the
regular shopping carts are) in order to make sure that
it is plugged in for recharge.
I choose the 'vestibule' option, park the cart, and then
set out with my quad cane:
#32. To: TooConservative (#29)
I like for how-to threads to resolve themselves into action.
First I'm going to find my set of jewelers screwdrivers
(I'm pretty sure I know where they are) - then when
I take delivery on the bookshelf PC I shall place it
on the workbench and see if I can do the task at hand
myself. (Installing the internal drive, I mean.)
If yes - I shall proceed to do it. If no I will take the
mess to Staples and spend $40.
#33. To: TooConservative, Chuck_Wagon (#29)
I like for how-to threads to resolve themselves into action.
The Z-Box with 4 Gb RAM, a 2½" hard drive and 64-bit Linux Mint 17.1 "Rebecca" Xfce Edition is working great for me. That's what I'm using right now.
Of course, you're welcome to use Windows or whatever other Linux distribution you choose. I just hope I convinced you that installing an internal drive isn't too difficult. Using a USB drive is OK for installing Windows or Linux TO the internal drive, but they're much too slow for normal every day use. You'll be much happier with the internal 2½" drive.
#34. To: Chuck_Wagon (#32)
First I'm going to find my set of jewelers screwdrivers
Unnecessary...
There are only 3 knurled thumb screws to remove: 2 on the outside/back of the case and 1 inside the case holding the hard drive in place. Unless they're too tight, you should be able to unscrew them with your fingers. But just in case, they are slotted and you might be able to loosen them using a dime or a "regular" small screwdriver. Jewelers screwdrivers might be a little too small.
DON'T go spending $40 at Staples, for cripesakes. This is pretty easy to do and you'll make me feel bad that I talked you into buying this thing. I'm pretty sure you can do it.
#35. To: Chuck_Wagon (#31)
I choose the 'vestibule' option, park the cart, and then set out with my quad cane:
Yeah, that quad cane looks like it will be useful AFTER I get a prosthetic leg.
But right now, it just wouldn't provide enough support while I hop around on one leg. If I lose my balance, I'm doomed. That's why I use the walker. The walker works for short distances, but even then, I wouldn't trust it all the way from my car to the vestibule of the store.
#36. To: Willie Green (#35)
The walker works...
Not for me.
I've tried them - and you really need two arms
to support yourself on them. My right arm doesn't
have the steadiness nor the strength for it
unfortunately.
So it's: "Quad Cane Left! Proceed!" for me.
#37. To: Chuck_Wagon, TooConservative (#0)
Just suppose that I wanted to create a machine that would boot from a USB flash drive - a relatively big flash drive - 32gb to 64gb - or whatever is required. And I wanted this thing to boot either Win7 or XP. Anybody here have any experience with such an experience?
I had a 10gig netbook that was obsolete and I use as my bathroom wifi radio now and it ran on Windows XP - but barely. So I bought an Ubuntu loaded thumbdrive and ran it off of that and that was fine for a while until it stopped working and then I got a thumbdrive running Chrome and it works fine most of the time for wireless Pandora or radio.
#38. To: Pericles (#37)
I used to run Ubuntu on a couple of old Celeron machines.
In fact I think they are still in the basement -
and the may possibly still work!
(Actually ONE of them may still work, the other one
died now that I think of it.)
#39. To: Willie Green (#33) (Edited)
The Z-Box with 4 Gb RAM, a 2½" hard drive and 64-bit Linux Mint 17.1 "Rebecca" Xfce Edition is working great for me.
I'm impressed with these sweet tiny budget boxes. And my last new machine was a Mac Pro workstation, top of the line stuff, 2.6Ghz, lots of RAM. So I am used to being a power user.
It would be great if they could get the price of the i7 quad-core versions of these TinyPCs down under $300.
Zotec also have their Nano models. Small as a USB hub. Too cute.
I'm using an i7 Mac Mini, another tiny device. It has room for a second hard drive, two slots for RAM.
I put 16GB in it (Crucial 16GB kit, DDR3, $135 shipped from Amazon). My Mini never uses swap partition at all. Not even if I use VMWare and run Ubuntu Linux 14, Windows XP or Win7, and Apple's OSX 10.9.5 simultaneously on multiple virtual screens along with several browsers (Firefox, Chrome) with 50 or more browser tabs open at once. It's completely smooth, all the time. Virtually no hesitation at any time.
I like my Mini more than my Mac Pro workstation which I do still have. (It's a total power hog, scandalous really. It makes the meter spin!)
I'm trying to make the point that we can just virtualize these OSes (if we have adequate RAM and multiple cores) and run everything at once very smoothly if we have enough RAM and CPU cores. Years back, adding RAM beyond a certain point (2GB or 4GB) was a waste of time because the apps and OS didn't take advantage of it. That has changed on all platforms and they readily gobble up and use any amount of RAM well.
For serious use, you should have 8GB or 16GB. If running a single OS, 8GB will do well enough for everything but commercial Photoshop or 3ds Studio Max or other similar workstation class apps.
Here's one of those Zotec Nanos ($198.99 shipped):
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#40. To: Pericles, Chuck_Wagon (#37)
I had a 10gig netbook that was obsolete and I use as my bathroom wifi radio now and it ran on Windows XP - but barely. So I bought an Ubuntu loaded thumbdrive and ran it off of that and that was fine for a while until it stopped working and then I got a thumbdrive running Chrome and it works fine most of the time for wireless Pandora or radio.
Well, sure but Chuck seems to want Windows and some apps, not just a Chromebook browser setup with a few media extensions.
#41. To: Pericles, Chuck_Wagon, Willie Green (#37)
I had a 10gig netbook that was obsolete and I use as my bathroom wifi radio now and it ran on Windows XP - but barely. So I bought an Ubuntu loaded thumbdrive and ran it off of that...
When you ran Linux in your bathroom, did you invoke the toilet command? With or without the "gay" border option? : )
Linux.com: Fun with figlet and toilet
You make think this is an odd topic but a single web search revealed that there has been a formal conference on Linux In The Bathroom for some time.
ZDnet: Conference Encourages Linux In The Bathroom
Yes, they want to use Linux to flush their toilets, among many other tasks.
That's all I got for computer potty humor for today, I think.
#42. To: TooConservative (#39)
Isn't that just darling? What a sweet little box.
Yeah... I was looking at those higher spec Zotacs, as well as Intel NUCs & HP Chromeboxes. At least the ones that weren't out of my price range. But I finally decided on the more modestly priced ZBOX-BI320-U because it had both HDMI & DVI-D video output and my monitor only accepts VGA or DVI-D. Most of the other little boxes I looked at only have HDMI output, and I didn't want to go through a converter to hook up my monitor.
But yeah, the technology of these little boxes is simply amazing and so affordable compared to what's been available for the last 25+ years... It really makes you wonder where this old world is headed!
#43. To: Willie Green (#42)
But I finally decided on the more modestly priced ZBOX-BI320-U because it had both HDMI & DVI-D video output and my monitor only accepts VGA or DVI-D.
A smaller distro like Mint Linux needs no more than 4GB to really fly for ordinary uses (browsing, office suite, most games). And 4GB is enough for bigger distros like Ubuntu too.
But, yes, it is incredible when your big pricey Xeon workstation can be replaced by a 9"x9"x2" box with comparable or superior performance. A real eye-opener.
#44. To: TooConservative (#43)
A smaller distro like Mint Linux needs no more than 4GB to really fly for ordinary uses (browsing, office suite, most games). And 4GB is enough for bigger distros like Ubuntu too.
I've been using lightweight linux desktops (like Fluxbox, Xfce & LXDE) on old/cheap/obsolete PCs for almost 10 years now. So yes, I really am pleased at how well they run. But I did have the latest Ubuntu installed on my ZBox for a short period of time on Sunday/Monday as well. It worked well... but I just didn't like the weird "Unity" Ubuntu desktop, so I simply installed a lightweight environment that I was more familiar with. I suppose a more traditional, full featured desktop like KDE or Gnome would also work well with 4Gb... but why undergo the extra overhead when the lighter/faster desktops do everything I want to do anyway?
#45. To: TooConservative (#39)
Here's one of those Zotec Nanos ($198.99 shipped):
I like it.
More power than the cheap bookshelf Celeron,
but not that much more expensive.
Too bad that we're not coming up on Christmas -
a fax to Santa now will do no good -
he's in Bermuda.
#46. To: Willie Green, Chuck_Wagon (#44)
I've been using lightweight linux desktops (like Fluxbox, Xfce & LXDE) on old/cheap/obsolete PCs for almost 10 years now.
I used to admire Puppy Linux. It is a distro that can be booted from CD/DVD/USB-drive.
It's base config is only 85MB so you can load it entirely into memory. By default, it is a LiveCD type distro and no results or documents can be saved. However, it is set up so you can use a CD-RW/DVD-RW or USB flash drive and save your bookmarks, emails, documents, etc. Whichever way you want it to run.
With 85MB, it could do web browsing and email (both Mozilla), file browsing/management, had a few games, instant messaging, torrenting, basic Wordpad-style .RTF text editing, etc. Of course, you could easily add more programs if you had the RAM. And since it all ran out of system RAM, it was instantaneous. All the apps could load faster than you could remove your finger from the left mouse button to click-start them. So: really fast.
I used to run it some on a 256MB USB drive on machines with 384-768MB. So I could have an office suite and a few small games and apps along with the standard Puppy Linux apps.
The guy who started PL retired but the community keeps it going. When Chuck first described booting from a flash drive, I thought of Puppy Linux. When it became apparent he wants a Windows installation with some apps, I couldn't recommend it.
Puppy is not the only LiveCD distro with these features. There are some others out there that are just as flexible. Puppy focuses on being widely runnable on a broad variety of older and limited hardware.
#47. To: TooConservative (#46)
I've used Red Hat, Fedora, Ubuntu (and I forget what else) -
but never Puppy.
#48. To: TooConservative (#46)
I hate throwing away computers and Linux is a great way to keep old machines running super fast without the Windows that make the machines obsolete.
#49. To: Pericles (#48)
I hate throwing away computers...
Hey, old computers make great monitor stands, bookends,
doorstops - the possibilities are simply endless...
#50. To: Chuck_Wagon (#49)
Hey, old computers make great monitor stands, bookends, doorstops - the possibilities are simply endless...
I use them as radios in each room almost.
#51. To: Pericles (#50)
I use them as radios in each room almost.
My 'Todo' list is mirrored on several machines
around the house.
"What the heck was I doing? - Oh yeah..."
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