500gig externaal usb HD

[ziceman]

atm i'm throwing films on it as back up because i have a freeview box that has a usb port in which i can put my external HD and play all.

i like to use the full potential of this HD so what would be the best way to use it, could i put a OS on it like vista and plug it into my laptop or partition it off and have one for the OS and the other for files backup, any advice would be grateful.

 

[KSoD]

No. You can not put Vista on a External drive. It will not install to any USB devices. You are pretty much using it for its best purpose. Backup and storage.

Windows XP could isntall to the USB device but then you have to setup the PC you are going to use to boot form the USB device not to mention having the Boot files setup correctly.

 

[ziceman]

thats great i will do that then use it for backup then maybe give MojoPac a try i have used it on the usb pen so might try it on the HD.

 

[eyeCpc]

The only OS most suitable to boot from on a usb model surprisingly seems to offer less usb support namely Linux. The option seen in the bios here with an external usb drive is to see that or one of the two sata drives set as the default boot device.

Once unplugged the entire Windows/software configuration would have to be redone all over. There are external eSata models that simply use an extension cable to an external sata port that runs directly to the board just like an internal sata drive would except the breaks and longer data cable involved.

The usb only as Makaveli213 pointed out already is nothing like a flash drive and best for external storage only. Most external drives see a Fat32 partition and software for Windows and Mac capability. You will most likely want to see that changed to NTFS after downloading the replacement software from the support site.

 

[Osiris]

Found this post show up on google search so posting in here on a HOWTO for vista full release install on usb drive


I hope this method is easy to do and will help anyone looking for
the vista usb solution. This avoids any ghosting or copying over
of OS install to diff drives. Avoids cross mounting registry hives.

Drawback: Needs another drive plugged in sata or ide channel or BSOD after install procedure (used or unused)
Meaning this only boots off usb vista, if there is another hard drive present in the system. Has
something to do with vista verification of disk drives. The ide or sata drive doesnt need to boot, it just
needs to be present. (seen this with some hardware, others boot fine without any other attached drives)
If usb boot is slow its not the install but the hardware bios support on the system.

I read around and compiled my own way of doing so. Credit to those listed
in the urls. (only after reading their materials I was able to understand all this)

http://www.ngine.de/index.jsp?pageid=4176 (thx emanuel)

http://www.nedprod.com/Niall_stuff/BootWinUSB/ (thx nialls)

http://www.911cd.net/forums//index.php?sho...181&st=1720 (thx dietmar)


Vista wont start installation on a USB interface no matter what. It is embedded in its OS which
I wasnt able to track down.
So I decided to use VMWARE 6 (may work with older vmware not sure).
You can download vmware and an eval license for 30 days can be emailed to you.
You can also try the free server version of vmware assuming it will work the same.
download vmware install it. (vmware is easy to use)

Create a new vmware for windows, pick custom pick lsi logic as scsi card (vista has support for this card)
use cdrom or iso as you wish for the vista install CD.
have your usb drive u want to install on, plugged in. Vmware will see this device as physical drive 1 (0 being your OS)
use physical disk(advanced) of your usb drive. Make sure you pick the
correct physical drive (drive 1 usually) or else you might wipe the current OS drive.
Use entire disk.
Click advanced on disk in virtual machine settings. Click on independent
and persistent changes for the disk.

Now, please remove all assigned letters in disk management for the USB drive
(If you dont u can corrupt an install that way).
Also make sure you format the drive during vista install inside vmware. If it is already formatted
you still need to format during vista install (or else u might get corrupt boot as crcdisk error)
Vmware will show that drive as scsi disk under lsi logic controller, this is fine as vista will install on a scsi disk.

Boot and go through the vista install procedure in vmware.
Let vista boot to the desktop the first time in the vmware
inside vmware vista do start-> run regedit (in the search box unlike XP)
goto HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\services\
Now edit tags
start = 0
Group = boot bus extender

on all these servies
usbccgp
usbehci
usbhub
usbstor
usbuhci

If there are no "group" string values add them in for those services


exit regedit
goto \windows\system32\DriverStore\FileRepository\usbstor.inf_bb2778a0
copy usbstor.sys into \windows\system32\drivers (ugh not sure why MS doesnt have it in here)
goto \windows\inf
take control and inherit perms for administrator of the inf folder, then
edit usbstor.inf,usbport.inf,usb.inf to have inside section
[*.AddService]
StartType = 0
LoadOrderGroup = boot bus extender


(This is because when you boot into regular desktop out of vmware it will find new usb interface
and mess up the startup type.)

shutdown vista

close vmware

Now reboot your machine and select USB boot drive from bios boot. Machine should now boot
to vista desktop.

* Be careful about it finding new usb devices and to add drivers. Make sure the
start type and groups dont change on the usb services (verify in regedit).
It will find your current hardware's usb device and install drivers for it.
problem is it can overwrite the original usb*.inf file and add new params into it.
double check this or when you reboot again boot will fail.
If you do windows update, fix the registry or it will fail. Update adds new files like the original.
After the drivers get installed for the first time it is safe to assume you wont
have to deal with it being reinstalled unless you goto another machine.
Of course you can always go back to the vmware instance and fix it there.


Hope its simple and straight forward. You can probably install xp and 200(0,3) this way too. (may need
lsi logic drivers to find boot disk though, vista,win2k3 has it natively)
EDIT: xp and windows 200(0,3) exhibit the same behavior of BSOD during boot. Even after
copying usbstor.sys and other files from driver cache cabs. So xp and win2k3 dont work currently.
Still maybe salvageable with other tweaks out there.

The is another way to get WAIK tools for vista and regedit the above changes directly in the boot(1,2).wim
and install(1,2,3,4,5,6).wim but I will leave that out to the daring. Vista installer still wont
do direct usb install though even with those usb service changes in the image.

If your drive doesnt show up under vmware for use then its targetting as removeable device.
you can install the xpfildrvr driver (the hitachi driver) to remedy that. (mostly for usb flash drives)
Careful about USB stick since it needs additional drivers to stop those write cycles in windows.
But atleast the install should be straight forward. No need for extra copying or dealing with
non working boot sectors as the install is directly on the destination.



Lazy mans quick install...
Here is a working INF file which you can copy (by assigning deassigning drive letters to your usb drive)
put it in c:\ of your windows install, inside vmware right click install the inf file. It wont change the usb
inf files for you but it will add the reg and copy usbstor.sys for you. For those who dont want to regedit and such...




[version]
signature="$CHICAGO$"
SetupClass=BASE

[DefaultInstall]
AddReg = usbservices.Addreg
CopyFiles = usbstordr

[SourceDisksNames]
1 = yourcdrive,,,\windows\system32\DriverStore\FileRepository\usbstor.inf_bb2778a0

[SourceDisksFiles]
usbstor.sys = 1,,


[DestinationDirs]
DefaultDestDir = 12 ; DIRID_DRIVERS

[usbstordr]
usbstor.sys

[usbservices.Addreg]

HKLM,"SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\usbccgp","DisplayName",0x00000000,"USB parent Driver"
HKLM,"SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\usbccgp","ErrorControl",0x00010001,1
HKLM,"SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\usbccgp","Group",0x00000000,"boot bus extender"
HKLM,"SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\usbccgp","ImagePath",0x00020000,"system32\DRIVERS\usbccgp.sys"
HKLM,"SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\usbccgp","Start",0x00010001,0
HKLM,"SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\usbccgp","Type",0x00010001,1


HKLM,"SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\usbstor","DisplayName",0x00000000,"USB Mass Storage Driver"
HKLM,"SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\usbstor","ErrorControl",0x00010001,1
HKLM,"SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\usbstor","Group",0x00000000,"boot bus extender"
HKLM,"SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\usbstor","ImagePath",0x00020000,"system32\DRIVERS\usbstor.sys"
HKLM,"SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\usbstor","Start",0x00010001,0
HKLM,"SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\usbstor","Type",0x00010001,1

HKLM,"SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\usbehci","DisplayName",0x00000000,"USB 2.0 Enhanced Host Controller Miniport Driver"
HKLM,"SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\usbehci","ErrorControl",0x00010001,1
HKLM,"SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\usbehci","Group",0x00000000,"boot bus extender"
HKLM,"SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\usbehci","ImagePath",0x00020000,"system32\DRIVERS\usbehci.sys"
HKLM,"SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\usbehci","Start",0x00010001,0
HKLM,"SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\usbehci","Type",0x00010001,1

HKLM,"SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\usbhub","DisplayName",0x00000000,"USB2 Enabled Hub"
HKLM,"SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\usbhub","ErrorControl",0x00010001,1
HKLM,"SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\usbhub","Group",0x00000000,"boot bus extender"
HKLM,"SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\usbhub","ImagePath",0x00020000,"system32\DRIVERS\usbhub.sys"
HKLM,"SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\usbhub","Start",0x00010001,0
HKLM,"SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\usbhub","Type",0x00010001,1

HKLM,"SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\usbuhci","DisplayName",0x00000000,"Microsoft USB Universal Host Controller Miniport Driver"
HKLM,"SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\usbuhci","ErrorControl",0x00010001,1
HKLM,"SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\usbuhci","Group",0x00000000,"boot bus extender"
HKLM,"SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\usbuhci","ImagePath",0x00020000,"system32\DRIVERS\usbuhci.sys"
HKLM,"SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\usbuhci","Start",0x00010001,0
HKLM,"SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\usbuhci","Type",0x00010001,1

HKLM,"SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\usbohci","DisplayName",0x00000000,"Microsoft USB Open Host Controller Miniport Driver"
HKLM,"SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\usbohci","ErrorControl",0x00010001,1
HKLM,"SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\usbohci","Group",0x00000000,"boot bus extender"
HKLM,"SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\usbohci","ImagePath",0x00020000,"system32\DRIVERS\usbohci.sys"
HKLM,"SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\usbohci","Start",0x00010001,0
HKLM,"SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\usbohci","Type",0x00010001,1

 

[KSoD]

Yeah. I never said that it couldnt be done with a bunch of hacking and stuff that is really pointless...

I mean who wants to install it thru VMWare and then make a image of that to put on the External then modify the boot to make it work. Not to mention the other stuff posted about.

In reality you are just better off not putting it on a USB as you will be trying to hack it more than use it.

 

[eyeCpc]

That's precisely the point. Flash drives on the other hand are designed to be boot devices while the usb type external drives were strictly intended for storage and backup.

If anything the eSata type would offer far more support simply from being a direct plug in by way of an extension cable over the usb bus there. There the cable goes into the normal sata port on the board even while the drive itself is outside of the case.