SOLVED Install Win 7 on USB Drive

[yodap]

Looks like a nice little rig, except for the HP bloat.

 

[catilley1092]

It runs fine now, since I no longer have the original install on here. I'm dual booting Pro & Ultimate now, without the HP crap on it. The screen and performance of a clean install made it "like new" all over again. The only thing Windows Update didn't pickup was my webcam, but that's no big deal. It's as big around as a pencil eraser. I really don't even care for webcams, if I did, I'd buy a real one. But the microphone picked up. Remember that I told you that Mint looked better than 7 does on here? Well, 7 looks as good, now. I added Microsoft Office 2010 today to it, I wanted Microsoft Works, but couldn't find it. I still have a little more to do, but not much. I just wished there was a way that I could install that drive through a SATA connection. If there was a for sure way, I'd remove the drive from here, install it in one of those fanned enclosures, run the proper cable from my internal hard drive connection to it, and attach to the eSATA port on the enclosure for running the second hard drive and backup drive. That would be the simple way, if it could be done. Then, except for my keyboard, mouse and printer, everything would be eSATA.

 

[clifford_cooley]

External SATA Port Multiplier Box 1-to-5 SATA2 Port Multiplier

PS - All ports would be bottlenecked by the one SATA. However this would allow you to connect more than one SATA drive to one port which would still be much faster than USB 2.0.


Edit:
Please be aware that eSATA and SATA connectors are not the same. I will check to see if I can find an adapter.

Edit2:
You might need a bracket to get the appropriate adapter
PCI SATA Female Port External PCI Slot Bracket

 

[catilley1092]

I may have had them mixed up. There is an eSATA connection on my backup drive, I don't know if there's one on the enclosure that I'm getting for my spare drive, though.

 

[clifford_cooley]

All the drives and motherboards will have internal SATA connectors. The back or side of the case as well as all enclosures will have the external connectors. In order to connect the enclosure to your AIO you will need to convert the eSATA to SATA connector which will allow you to connect to the inside of the computer if that is your wish. I would also like to note that you would need to remove the drive inside the case seeing how you only have one port. The hub would then allow you to connect more drives to your AIO computer.

 

[catilley1092]

Need to come up with some more cash, I saw that one part, that was nice and clean looking. I've spent a ton of money lately, my mother-in-law loaned me part of the money for that TechNet Plus subscription. I was scared they would run out of memberships at the discount before the promo ended, so she loaned me half of that. That was a big savings. What I don't understand is, instead of everyone buying a single OS, for less than the price of Pro, you have everything at the keyboard with this deal. You don't even have to be a member every year, just when they are going to do something big. Then load up on everything.

 

[Nibiru2012]

Hopefully, there will be an eight core processor by then, and a 5GB video card.

I sincerely doubt that you'll ever have a need for an 8 core CPU and a 5GB video card!

Unless you're a mega uber gamer or do work in AutoCAD, heavy video processing or Photoshop with 4 applications running at once. Otherwise it would just be money wasted, like buying a Ferrari and driving it only in school zones and to church.

You'd be better off getting an SSD drive for the C drive and kick your RAM up to 6GB. Putting in the new SATA III 6GB/S secondary drive.

 

[edawood]

Thanks, yodap for the info.

I will begin work on what you suggested and post back to the site after I have sucessfully set up everything.

It may take some time to get everything going, so be patient with me.

Thanks to all of you for your suggestions and help.

Regards,
Ed

 

[yodap]

Good luck, Ed.

 

[edawood]

Well, I finally got Win 7 Ultimate up and running. It is much better than XP Pro. In my BIOS setting on my Gigabyte MB, I was able to select the 1st boot drive, so I reformatted drive "E", then selected it as the new drive "C" (this automatically relabeled the other two drives "D" & "E" respectively) then installed Win 7 without having to disconnect the other drives, so I DID NOT HAVE TO OPEN MY BOX!

Now, I can boot to Win 7, or on initial boot mode, go in to setup, and reselect drive "D" as the first drive and boot into XP. I eventually will delete all XP files, and reformat drive "D".

The only problem that I have is when I do a cold boot, or a restart, the first thing that comes up is a Boot Manager program that asks if I want to start Windows 7 (the default that will automatically start in 30 seconds), or start Windows 7 installation program, or tab to start Windows Troubleshooter.

Does anyone know how to disable this Boot Manager program and on a restart or cold boot go directly into Windows 7 start mode?

Thanks to you guys for all the great help.

Have a great weekend.
Ed

 

[Fire cat]

Nice Work Ed!
It might help some other members if you made a tutorial on how to do it!

Anyway, well done!
Cheers,
Fire Cat

 

[Nibiru2012]

Ed, I hope you get the boot manager problem fixed. Personally I've never liked them, but it's strange that it still has the installer on the computer. Did you use a DVD to install Windows 7?

Apologies for a few of us "hijacking" the thread for a couple of days.

On a lighter note, I thought you might like a picture of the "other" Ed Wood!

 

[edawood]

Yes, I installed Win 7 from a DVD. I will research the Windows Boot Manager, and if I find anything, I will post it here.

Firecat, Good suggestion about the tutorial. I am leaving Wed am for a vacation trip to FL ( I have two children in Orlando, My son & daughter-in-law both work at Disney, my daughter works at Regions Bank), so we will have a FREE place to stay. I will work on the tutorial when I get back & post it.

Have a great week,
Ed

Postscript: I discovered how to remove the Windows Boot Manager. To do so, click on Start, Run and enter msconfig. Select the Boot Tab then delete what you do not want to show up to boot to when Windows starts. If the only thing in the Boot Manager is Windows 7, the boot manager will not appear, and your system will automatically boot into Windows 7.

Regards,
Ed

 

[catilley1092]

edawood, I hope you enjoy your vacation. I hope that you remain a regular here, as you really seem to know a lot about computing, and many can learn from your experiences. See you when you get back!

 

[Fire cat]

Thanks for the infos edawood!
Enjoy your stay, and I can't wait for that tutorial!

Cheers,
Fire Cat

 

[edawood]

Well,

I had time to write the turorial before I left for my trip to Orlando, so here it is. it is a windows .txt file.

If you find any mistakes, let me know. I won't be able to correct anything until after I get back for our trip.

Enjoy,
Ed

 

[yodap]

You are the man Ed! No doubt this will be very helpful to many forum users.

Have a great trip, and try to get over to Islands of Adventure at Universal Studios.

 

[Fire cat]

Very Good tutorial Edawood.
Don't forget to post it in "articles".

I didn't find any mistakes.

Cheers,
Fire Cat