Cannot boot from USB 2 HDD formatted with NTFS

  • Thread starter Thread starter meagain
  • Start date Start date
M

meagain

After much GOOGLE-ing and trying different things, it seems that I must use
some version of FAT instead of NTFS to make my USB 2.0 HDD bootable. Is this
true?
It's a 40GB Maxtor with XP-Home SP2 using NTFS.
And Asus A7N8X-X which supports booting from USB in BIOS but it just won't
work.

I bought an external enclosure mainly for backing up but maybe I should just
put the HDD in the PC as a slave.

Thanks for any feedback.

Rick
 
meagain said:
After much GOOGLE-ing and trying different things, it seems that I must use
some version of FAT instead of NTFS to make my USB 2.0 HDD bootable. Is this
true?
It's a 40GB Maxtor with XP-Home SP2 using NTFS.
And Asus A7N8X-X which supports booting from USB in BIOS but it just won't
work.

I bought an external enclosure mainly for backing up but maybe I should just
put the HDD in the PC as a slave.
Click to expand...


If your bios supports booting from a USB drive the file system does not
matter...

Did you *install* windows on the USB drive...if so , it should boot.

If you just copied it over...it will not be bootable.

If you cloned it over...you may need to "repair" the bootsector fromt he
recovery console
 
philo said:
If your bios supports booting from a USB drive the file system does not
matter...

Did you *install* windows on the USB drive...if so , it should boot.

If you just copied it over...it will not be bootable.

If you cloned it over...you may need to "repair" the bootsector fromt he
recovery console
Click to expand...
Thanks.

AFAIK, you can't install Windows TO a USB drive. Send me to the right place
if I'm wrong.
I installed Windows to the Maxtor while connected to IDE 1 in the PC.
I temporarily disconnected my main Seagate 120GB to do this.
I got all the critical M$ , AVG, spyware updates, rebooted several times,
etc. Everything was fine and nice.

I just can't boot from the MOFO.
 
meagain said:
Thanks.

AFAIK, you can't install Windows TO a USB drive. Send me to the right
place if I'm wrong.
I installed Windows to the Maxtor while connected to IDE 1 in the PC.
I temporarily disconnected my main Seagate 120GB to do this.
I got all the critical M$ , AVG, spyware updates, rebooted several times,
etc. Everything was fine and nice.

I just can't boot from the MOFO.
Click to expand...
What I meant was I can boot from it in the PC but not via USB.
 
Thanks.

AFAIK, you can't install Windows TO a USB drive. Send me to the right place
if I'm wrong.
Click to expand...

If you know you can't install Windows on a USB drive, why are you
trying to boot Windows from a USB drive? Hint: the reason why Windows
can't be installed on a USB drive is because it won't boot from a USB
drive.
 
|On Mon, 05 Jun 2006 23:47:05 GMT, meagain wrote:
|
|> |>>
|>> |>>>
|>>> |>>>> After much GOOGLE-ing and trying different things, it seems that I must
|>>> use
|>>>> some version of FAT instead of NTFS to make my USB 2.0 HDD bootable. Is
|>>> this
|>>>> true?
|>>>> It's a 40GB Maxtor with XP-Home SP2 using NTFS.
|>>>> And Asus A7N8X-X which supports booting from USB in BIOS but it just
|>>>> won't
|>>>> work.
|>>>>
|>>>> I bought an external enclosure mainly for backing up but maybe I should
|>>> just
|>>>> put the HDD in the PC as a slave.
|>>>>
|>>>
|>>>
|>>> If your bios supports booting from a USB drive the file system does not
|>>> matter...
|>>>
|>>> Did you *install* windows on the USB drive...if so , it should boot.
|>>>
|>>> If you just copied it over...it will not be bootable.
|>>>
|>>> If you cloned it over...you may need to "repair" the bootsector fromt he
|>>> recovery console
|>>>
|>>>
|>> Thanks.
|>>
|>> AFAIK, you can't install Windows TO a USB drive. Send me to the right
|>> place if I'm wrong.
|>> I installed Windows to the Maxtor while connected to IDE 1 in the PC.
|>> I temporarily disconnected my main Seagate 120GB to do this.
|>> I got all the critical M$ , AVG, spyware updates, rebooted several times,
|>> etc. Everything was fine and nice.
|>>
|>> I just can't boot from the MOFO.
|>>
|>>
|> What I meant was I can boot from it in the PC but not via USB.
|
|How have you jumpered the drive as an external USB drive? Mine must be
|jumpered as master.

I don't use jumpers on my external USB drives.
 
meagain said:
Thanks.

AFAIK, you can't install Windows TO a USB drive. Send me to the right place
if I'm wrong.
I installed Windows to the Maxtor while connected to IDE 1 in the PC.
I temporarily disconnected my main Seagate 120GB to do this.
I got all the critical M$ , AVG, spyware updates, rebooted several times,
etc. Everything was fine and nice.

I just can't boot from the MOFO.
Click to expand...

The boot sequence for windows set for an IDE drive, it needs a few files
modified so that it 'knows' it's a USB drive now.

--
spammage trappage: remove the underscores to reply

I'm going to die rather sooner than I'd like. I tried to protect my
neighbours from crime, and became the victim of it. Complications in
hospital following this resulted in a serious illness. I now need a bone
marrow transplant. Many people around the world are waiting for a marrow
transplant, too. Please volunteer to be a marrow donor:
http://www.abmdr.org.au/
http://www.marrow.org/
 
|On Mon, 05 Jun 2006 23:47:05 GMT, meagain wrote:
|
|> |>>
|>> |>>>
|>>> |>>>> After much GOOGLE-ing and trying different things, it seems that I must
|>>> use
|>>>> some version of FAT instead of NTFS to make my USB 2.0 HDD bootable. Is
|>>> this
|>>>> true?
|>>>> It's a 40GB Maxtor with XP-Home SP2 using NTFS.
|>>>> And Asus A7N8X-X which supports booting from USB in BIOS but it just
|>>>> won't
|>>>> work.
|>>>>
|>>>> I bought an external enclosure mainly for backing up but maybe I should
|>>> just
|>>>> put the HDD in the PC as a slave.
|>>>>
|>>>
|>>>
|>>> If your bios supports booting from a USB drive the file system does not
|>>> matter...
|>>>
|>>> Did you *install* windows on the USB drive...if so , it should boot.
|>>>
|>>> If you just copied it over...it will not be bootable.
|>>>
|>>> If you cloned it over...you may need to "repair" the bootsector fromt he
|>>> recovery console
|>>>
|>>>
|>> Thanks.
|>>
|>> AFAIK, you can't install Windows TO a USB drive. Send me to the right
|>> place if I'm wrong.
|>> I installed Windows to the Maxtor while connected to IDE 1 in the PC.
|>> I temporarily disconnected my main Seagate 120GB to do this.
|>> I got all the critical M$ , AVG, spyware updates, rebooted several times,
|>> etc. Everything was fine and nice.
|>>
|>> I just can't boot from the MOFO.
|>>
|>>
|> What I meant was I can boot from it in the PC but not via USB.
|
|How have you jumpered the drive as an external USB drive? Mine must be
|jumpered as master.

I don't use jumpers on my external USB drives.
Click to expand...

With at least one HDD maker, no jumper is master.
 
JAD said:
Bios boot sequence is?
Click to expand...

1st=USB-HDD (This is normally set to CD-ROM but I changed to see if I could
boot from USB-HDD)
2nd=HDD-1
Boot Other Device=Enabled
 
BobN said:
How have you jumpered the drive as an external USB drive? Mine must be
jumpered as master.
Click to expand...

It's jumpered as Master. No jumper on this drive = Slave.
I tried both with no luck.
 
|On Mon, 05 Jun 2006 22:19:54 -0500, dead_man_walking wrote:
|
|>
|>|On Mon, 05 Jun 2006 23:47:05 GMT, meagain wrote:
|>|
|>|> |>|>>
|>|>> |>|>>>
|>|>>> |>|>>>> After much GOOGLE-ing and trying different things, it seems that I must
|>|>>> use
|>|>>>> some version of FAT instead of NTFS to make my USB 2.0 HDD bootable. Is
|>|>>> this
|>|>>>> true?
|>|>>>> It's a 40GB Maxtor with XP-Home SP2 using NTFS.
|>|>>>> And Asus A7N8X-X which supports booting from USB in BIOS but it just
|>|>>>> won't
|>|>>>> work.
|>|>>>>
|>|>>>> I bought an external enclosure mainly for backing up but maybe I should
|>|>>> just
|>|>>>> put the HDD in the PC as a slave.
|>|>>>>
|>|>>>
|>|>>>
|>|>>> If your bios supports booting from a USB drive the file system does not
|>|>>> matter...
|>|>>>
|>|>>> Did you *install* windows on the USB drive...if so , it should boot.
|>|>>>
|>|>>> If you just copied it over...it will not be bootable.
|>|>>>
|>|>>> If you cloned it over...you may need to "repair" the bootsector fromt he
|>|>>> recovery console
|>|>>>
|>|>>>
|>|>> Thanks.
|>|>>
|>|>> AFAIK, you can't install Windows TO a USB drive. Send me to the right
|>|>> place if I'm wrong.
|>|>> I installed Windows to the Maxtor while connected to IDE 1 in the PC.
|>|>> I temporarily disconnected my main Seagate 120GB to do this.
|>|>> I got all the critical M$ , AVG, spyware updates, rebooted several times,
|>|>> etc. Everything was fine and nice.
|>|>>
|>|>> I just can't boot from the MOFO.
|>|>>
|>|>>
|>|> What I meant was I can boot from it in the PC but not via USB.
|>|
|>|How have you jumpered the drive as an external USB drive? Mine must be
|>|jumpered as master.
|>
|> I don't use jumpers on my external USB drives.
|
|With at least one HDD maker, no jumper is master.

The logic is faultless, Grasshopper.
 
meagain said:
After much GOOGLE-ing and trying different things, it seems that I must
use some version of FAT instead of NTFS to make my USB 2.0 HDD bootable.
Is this true?
It's a 40GB Maxtor with XP-Home SP2 using NTFS.
And Asus A7N8X-X which supports booting from USB in BIOS but it just won't
work.

I bought an external enclosure mainly for backing up but maybe I should
just put the HDD in the PC as a slave.

Thanks for any feedback.

Rick
Click to expand...


I guess the Maxtor goes back into the PC as a Slave then.
 
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