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Title: Booting from flash drive (Win 7 - XP)
Source:
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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: 40587
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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Begin Trace Mode for Comment # 65.
#1. To: Chuck_Wagon (#0) (Edited)
You likely be better off with smaller notebook 2.5" flash drive that is designed for use as a system drive. Typically these have RAM for caching data and eliminating a lot of disk rewrites (that would shorten a USB flash drive's lifetime). And they have a true disk interface. USB just isn't as good.
USB is also potentially a source for unstoppable computer viruses to hide out.
Look at Amazon and you'll find 32GB Crucial solid-state drives with 3Gbps SATA interface for $38 or instead choose a 128GB Seagate drive with 6Gbps SATA3 interface for under $60 (I'd urge you to consider this one as it is a reputable drive with a good record, very fast, and will work quite well with these Zotac units you're considering and it is four times bigger with a better interface for only twice the price).
#4. To: TooConservative, Chuck_Wagon (#1)
You likely be better off with smaller notebook 2.5" flash drive that is designed for use as a system drive
I agree. USB thumbdrives are great for portability, and using "your computer" on different actual machines (like a repair technician might do.) But USB drives are also very slow compared to an internal drive.
I just received a ZBOX 1320-U with 4Gb of RAM on Saturday and put a Western Digital 320 Gb SATA II drive in it that I bought last year for $45. Today it's only $30 + shipping, and the newer/faster SATA III is $39 & FREE SHIPPING.
#7. To: Willie Green, TooConservative, Pridie.Nones, cranky (#4)
...noticeablly slower......forget it..
The only reason I am considering this bootable USB
option is the problem of installing a 2.5 inch
drive in a little bookshelf case.
I have a little problem - my right hand and arm are
mostly paralyzed - which makes working on itsy bitsy,
teeny, tiny things like SATA connectors difficult
for me to do. So I was thinking: "If I can..." -
I'm sure y'all get the general idea I was getting at.
'Ease of assembly' was what I was aiming for.
See, last time I had to do something like this, Staples
charged me $40 bucks. Which isn't really that much,
but it annoys me to pay that to do something as simple
as install a hard drive. I have a friend who is competent
enough to do it, but I don't want to keep annoying him
with my problems. I have another friend who used to run
his own computer/electronics repair shop - but he and
wife and kids moved to West Virginia.
So if I'm going to pack all of the parts into a box and ship
it to WV with a note and cash for return shipping, and
annoy HIM, I might as well grab my wallet and drive 2 miles
to Staples...
Thanks for your help folks!
#11. To: Chuck_Wagon (#7)
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.
#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.
#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.
#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.
#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.
#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.
#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):
|
#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?
#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.
#52. To: Chuck_Wagon (#47)
I've used Red Hat, Fedora, Ubuntu (and I forget what else) - but never Puppy.
You can get Puppy in Ubuntu and in Slackware flavors. They have their own fairly standard aptget to add apps and support, like any other Linux.
Also, you can migrate the LiveCD directly on to a hard drive partition to make it permanent. Or just to have a pristine quick-boot Linux always ready.
#53. To: TooConservative (#52)
Yah. But I need a spare machine to experiment.
This warrants a trip to the basement...
#55. To: Chuck_Wagon (#53)
Just be safe on those stairs. Doubly so if no one is around. And with a cellphone in your pocket.
#59. To: TooConservative (#55)
Just be safe on those stairs.
I've got one of those chair lift thing-a-ma-jigs.
Well, yeah - laundry is a needed thing...
#60. To: Chuck_Wagon (#59)
I've got one of those chair lift thing-a-ma-jigs.
How much did that run you? I saw a commercial on TV yesterday trying to sell them w/o revealing the price. I'm nosy, okay?
Maybe I'll need one in thirty years. Nah, I'll move sometime and have everything on one floor with no stairs.
#61. To: Fred Mertz (#60) (Edited)
http://www.acornstairlifts.com/chairlifts/
866-207-7544
(Made in England - by the way.)
#62. To: Chuck_Wagon (#61) (Edited)
Thanks for nothing, Chucky. I went to their web site. They want too much personal information for a free quote. I wouldn't trust them if they don't list a single price. They probably sized up your assets and net worth before they figured out how much to milk out of you. /TooconservativeAttitude.
I don't feel like calling them either.
Edit: I just did a Google search on: cost of stair lift for home stairs - It satisfied my curiosity on the price range.
#64. To: Fred Mertz (#62)
They want too much personal information for a free quote.
I'm sorry.
Just one hit on their web site.
And I've had their chairlift for almost a decade.
I guess you'd better shoot me - just to be safe...
#65. To: Chuck_Wagon (#64)
And I've had their chairlift for almost a decade.
Any maintenance requirements or problems in that time?
I'll guess you paid $2K +/- $500.
Don't get so defensive. I'm blunt sometimes. Maybe I have Tourettes.
Replies to Comment # 65.
Maybe I have Tourettes.
The eldest son of a pair of good friends of mine
has Tourettes. But you'd never know it.
I think that Tourettes is just another scam to
sell pharmaceautical drugs.
I admit that the kid is a little bit goofy -
but does he need to be medicated? Really?
Heck, I'm goofy when you get right down to it...
End Trace Mode for Comment # 65.
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