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can you boot from a usb DVDr drive

Onceler

Onceler

Golden Member
my optical drive in my laptop is going bad and I tried to boot from the usb dvdr drive but it kept going to the harddisk
I have my OS reinstalled by using a dvdr(my drive will not read pressed dvds)in my laptop drive but fear the next time it will not work
 
thanks
I am still unable to boot from the usb dvd
I tried changing it to boot usb hard drive and it still just boots from the HD thats in the laptop
 
Without knowing what laptop (hence what BIOS), I can tell you that it's hit and miss as laptop BIOSs are notorious for not being the most feature-filled. Make sure the USB drive is plugged in and powered on (if bus powered, and it has an optional external power brick, plug that in too) prior to powering on the notebook.

If you can boot from USB flash, there are some tutorials out there for booting and installing Windows from a large USB flash drive. That would require you to have another machine available.
 
yea depends on the bios. they do all sorts of weird emulation to boot usb sticks and cd/dvd.
macs can with firewire though.
 
NewLightNet pretty well sums it up. I would only add that you should check to see whether or not your laptop supports USB device boot at all. If it does, it is in BIOS, and it needs to be elevated in priority above the built in HDD in the boot sequence. If it is not there, then you are SOL.
 
There are several solutions for that. This is an example:

Flash

But - unless such a device is listed in your BIOS, you can't get there from here.
 
Originally posted by: corkyg
There are several solutions for that. This is an example:

Flash

But - unless such a device is listed in your BIOS, you can't get there from here.
Click to expand...

I think that that requires an OS disc
 
I would think as long as the restore CD/DVD boots from a DOS type thing and runs a DOS executable (GHOST, etc), just run the HP flash drive boot utility (google is your friend), then copy the entire filestructure from the CD to the flash drive by just dragging all files from the CD drive to the flash drive after running the boot utility.
 
it doesnt run a dos executable I suppose that I could get a usb harddrive and install my os on it then copy it onto the old hd using acronis
 
I do not think that you can install Windows OS on a USB drive.

You can copy the original CD to a USB Drive but it can not be installed on an USB external HD.

P.S. In most cases it is easy to take out and reinstall a DVD drive on a Laptop.

Functioning DVD drives can be found on eBay for a reasonable price.
 
you can install a windows os on a usb thumb drive. you just have to put the iso on it, and be done. I have done it. You just need a big enough usb thumb drive to put it onto, and do it. As long as the boot order can be changed to boot off of usb it should work. I have done it with a few linux distros too. No big deal. If it doesnt, get your hands on a ubcd image, and install off of that.

As for it trying to pick up a usb cd drive, or dvd drive, i dont know if it will work. It sounds like your disk doesnt have the right image on it, for it to take off and install if you have already set the bios to boot off of usb.
 
it will read dvdr just not dvd
I am looking on ebay for my drive it is a SDVD8441 philips for a gateway nx860xl laptop
I can boot ok off the recovery disc or have in the past and it take me to OS install,but my drive is dying and I need to get something done about it soon
 
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