Re: Hard drive question

"Aries" <notme@xxxxxxxxxxx> wrote in message
news:1tg6xt2czehpq$.dlg@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
> On Thu, 17 Nov 2005 22:47:43 GMT, pmj wrote:
>
>> Well, if you can Read Data from it & Write to it, (which I gather
>> is the general idea?), then yes, you can also Format it.
>>
>> You can do that from a Command Prompt or from within windoze.
>> But if you Boot up from it, windoze won't let you Format the
>> Drive that you've actually Booted up from.
>
> Oooooh, I hadn't thought of booting up from it <thinking>

Whether or not you can Boot up from a Hard Disk that is Connected
using a USB thingy will depend mainly on the Motherboard & BIOS.
Not all Motherboards &/or BIOSes Support that & also, how the Hard
Disk is Partitioned & whether or not it has a partition on it that
is marked as "Bootable" (Active).

Have you tried Booting from your current (USB?) Hard Drive thingy?
What happens, when you Install an Operating System on it & try
Booting from it?

Obviously, if the (other) Hard Disk that you intend using is one
that was originally used to Boot from in another PC, then it will
have a Bootable (Startable) Partition on it, but it would also need
to be used in a PC that has a Motherboard (& BIOS) that Supports
Booting from (& is Set to Boot from) USB Hard Disk.

Also, you wouldn't be able to Boot from any Operating System
that was *already* Installed on it, in another PC, cos the HAL
(Hardware Abstraction Layer) & the other Device Drivers & stuff
will be different in another PC, so it won't Boot from *that*
Installation, but you could Install a *different* Installation
of windoze on it OK, so long as the MotherBoard (& BIOS) Support
Booting from USB Hard Drive.

--
pmj


.

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