USB Boot CD-ROM + Image

[usbcdboot]

I have what I thought was a relatively simple request but I can't seem to get it working nor find any forums / FAQ that fully cover it.

I am trying to create a bootable USB CD/DVD drive that will have both my HD image and be able to boot unattended and recover it. No matter what I try the USB & DOS CD-ROM drivers seem to be the problem. I can get the CD booted but then it appears that there is only 2MB on it. I tried using both Ghost & Nero and similar results.

Any ideas ? It's very usefull for a school that has to constantly reload images and anybody with a laptop that doesn't have a handy floppy.

Thanks in advance

[Astalavista]

i dont know about usb

but my friend got his external drive w/ firewire to install unattended.

i dont knw how he did it.

It's very usefull for a school that has to constantly reload images

network install

a laptop that doesn't have a handy floppy.

I hv not seen a laptop that has a floppy in so many months now.

all my friends use CF cards. My sony vaio does not come with a floppy.

Floppies are useless now. You can get a 2.8 GB CF card for 80 dollars.

And most laptop either come with a CDRom or DVDrom Drive.

[jaclaz]

Yes, configuring the DOS USB drivers can be tricky.

Have a look at this thread (and related links):

http://www.msfn.org/board/index.php?showtopic=37240

From what you say:

I can get the CD booted but then it appears that there is only 2MB on it.

it seems like:

1) The CD boots out of the Legacy (BIOS) support, loading the bootable OS image

2) The booted OS image does not load properly either the USB driver or the MSCDEX.EXE or SHSUCDX.EXE

3) As a matter of fact, if you succeed in booting you should have at least THREE drives visible:

A: which is the bootable image

C: which is your normal Hard Disk

X: (can be any letter, depending on your autoexec/config) which is the remaining part of the CD

Have a look at this site:

http://www.911cd.net/

There are MANY info on the matter.

jaclaz