Forum: EasyBoot
Topic: Something in regard to USB Boot
started by: dickdastardly
Posted by dickdastardly on Dec. 06 2004,09:53
I see the subject has been brought up mildly around here, but on other forums it is mentioned about how useful and beneficial tools like EasyBoot and BartPE would be if they would be able to boot from a USB pen drive.  For instance, on Bart's 911 forum there was a 4 page discussion on how to get BartPE to boot on a USB drive.  Some had success.  Some had not.  However though, unfortunately, there didn't seem to be a consensus on a final standard for making this happen on that particular thread.  However, once again, I believe that Bart is working on making a USB bootable BartPE a reality.

The value of this is flying all over the forums, and I believe the demand will be heard and someone will create a standard for the hardware and for software to make USB pen drives boot into programs such as EasyBoot or BartPE utilities.  Yes, pen drives can be made to boot using various utilities; ie. the HP Format utility.  But I'm talking about booting directly into programs such as EasyBoot or BartPE.

I, for one, have a 2gb USB pen drive.  I am also a computer tech.  To have all of the software tools I need on one device allows for greater convenience and flexability in the work that I do.  It can not only carry a wide array of software to be installed on a computer from Windows, but by having it boot from a dos environment creates massive potential for EasyBoot and BartPE to take advantage of.  There is currently no tool that I know of that offers such power.  EasyBoot can be a leader.  

The talk is everywhere; Acronis forums, VmWare forums, 911 forums.  The people want this.  The industry needs this.  This is, in fact, the next evolution forward for mass media utilization.

And yet, even better, to have ISO images burned, not only to CD's and DVD's, but to USB pen drives as well.

I hope this thread will open up dialog, and hopefully come up with solutions.  It's a topic and a application too important to ignore.

Thanks

Posted by Incroyable HULK on Dec. 06 2004,10:41
According to my reading, the HP utility seems to work but only for single boot sector, no multi-boot.

There is a "hot" topic about this in the MSFN forum right now
Posted by dickdastardly on Dec. 06 2004,11:10
Thank you Hulk.  I've seen your posts before.  I like the research and resources you've brought around the forum.  Good stuff.

Actually, the HP utility, in this case, is used in conjunction with getting boot tools like BartPE to work from directly booting from the USB device.  A nice tool.  But it only does one small aspect of the job, and is probably not suitable for the kind of actions that I'm looking for in a tool like EasyBoot (simply to boot EasyBoot from the USB drive).  However, I could be wrong.  I've actually been trying to find a way to get the boot sectors on the drive using the HP utility (using FAT).  But if I simply extract the ISO that EasyBoot makes to the USB drive afterward, the boot still won't work.  If I could get booted into EasyBoot from the USB drive I think I would be able to select BartPE from the EasyBoot Menu and load BartPE that way.  I've already established a CD/DVD that can do this, along with loading most Acronis products - with the exception of EasyMigrate (still working on that) and many others.

Posted by Incroyable HULK on Dec. 06 2004,15:41
Multi-boot from a USB device is too far different from a CD. the "El Torito" standard wich allow multi-boot from an optical device does not apply to USB devices.
I think we might have to wait until BIOS manufacturer intend to bring us something similar to the USB kingdom.

Regarding Acronis products, ERD Commander, BartPE, etc. they all have in common the use of a 32Bits kernel based on Microsoft WinPE wich is the next big thing. Expect to see WinPE in action when LongHorn will get to our desktop!

EDIT: EasyBootPE... sound like a new idea!