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Can HDD clones be bootable?

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by frogsnot

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I was wondering if it is at all possible to clone a hard drive and make it bootable as well. I would like to clone my hard drive onto a USB HDD and take the USB drive with me when I travel. My ultimate goal would be to be able to change the BIOS of other machines allowing me to boot directly from the USB drive.

Has anyone one done this before? Can it be done? Or would something like PC Anywhere be a better idea. I have never used PC Anywhere, but I hear you can connect to your computer from a remote location and work with your files.

Thanks for your help again TechRepublic members!

5 replies

by pctech

Hi

To the best of my knowledge, the BIOS does not support booting from a USB device. Should this be the case, you can not boot from a USB hard drive.

PC Anywhere does allow for remote connections. So does Remote Desktop. You will see the desktop of the connected computer and use it just as you would as if you were sitting there. These remote connections need to be configured and so do any local firewalls.

by wcp

Read the motherboard (MB) manual.

Some MB allows booting from USB-HD. If it does, you can boot from USB-HD.

If the Windows are 95, 98, or ME, you can clone your HD using Xcopy from DOS prompt in Windows.

For Windows 2K or XP, you may need to use a third party program (e.g. Norton?s Ghost).

Unfortunately, your goal has a few drawbacks.

1. Booting and running Windows from USB-HD is painfully slow. The main purpose of USB-HD or any external HD is for backup or additional storage space.

2. Booting from USB-HD in a different computer may require reconfiguration of Windows initially and this may not be an easy task in Windows 98 or ME. It may not boot at all in Windows 2K or XP. You may get a dreaded Blue Screen of Death (BSOD). Reinstallation of Windows at this point may be impossible.

You are better off

1. If you buy a laptop and travel with it. All your programs and data are right with you all the time.

2. If you carry the USB-HD as portable data storage. Just connect it to the other computer. You may have to install a few applications. But all your data is in your USB-HD.

by mark

Windows works too closely with the hardware of each computer. You don't want to boot your hard drive on some other PC. Just put your data files on it, utilities, or even application installation files that may be necessary to install on your visit.

PCAnywhere, VNC, and Remote Desktop all allow remote use of a PC. VNC is the least obstrusive and versatile. Get it from http://www.realvnc.com/

by stuart_at_oz

Our local computer magzine (APC Magazine, or Australian Personal Computer Magazine) had a 'demo' copy of Lindows 4 on the cover CD of the October issue, that boots from the CD on most recent computers. If you couple it with a USB memory key, you can copy certain config files to the memory key before you shut down and copy them back again when you boot up again - even on another computer.

I can dredge up more details from the magazine if you wish. (They have totally emasculated their web site - www.apcmag.com)

Stu
Stu

by frogsnot

Well, I think I will keep it simple and get a laptop. Because this would be more trouble than it's worth. Thanks everyone.

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