disable hard drive and boot from sd?

Hi,
I'm not sure if this is possible, but I think it would be fun to try to install xp or linux to a secure digital card inserted in the dedicated sd slot and boot xp from that card with the hard drive disabled or physically disconnected to save power (and possibly prevent screen flicker associated with hd power consumption as a result) and just because it would be fun to do. If the sd slot isn't bootable, what about an xp or linux install to a usb drive with the hard drive disabled? I'd like to try this weekend and if anyone has any tips or comments I'd love to hear them.
Thanks,
Bill

 

You'll need to modify the windows XP first.
You'll need to modify these files in windows:
DOSNET.INF
TXTSETUP.SIF
USB.IN_
USBPORT.IN_
USBSTOR.IN_

You'll also need to add
USBBOOT.INF

You'll need to format your SD card to NTFS. You can enable compression to speed up the SD card.
You'll also need to get hold of bootit program from Lexar and turn the SD removable storage into a non-removable drive.

Then you can install windows Xp on your SD card successfully. You can also take it with you and boot up other computers.

 

Thanks for the reply!
Would you be able to provide some additional information (details) about the modification of those files you listed and where to obtain USBBOOT.INF? I definitely want to try this over the weekend and it doesn't seem too difficult, I could just use a bit more guidance on this part of things.
So this modification of the other listed files - that's the modification on the windows install disc, correct?
Also, "turning the removable storage into a non-removable drive" refers to the program altering the SD card itself and not the drivers for the actual card reader?
Even a link to a walkthrough about this would be appreciated if available.
Thank You,
Bill

 

http://www.ngine.de/article/id/8

My way is a little bit different than the one from the link above. The way I did it is so it can boot up from PC which doesn't have USB boot function. Also the XP is portable so it can be used on all computers, not just the computer you installed Xp on.

From looking at your questions, I can judge that you're not experienced computer user and lack hardware and software experience. Thus I suggest you best not to try this. If you screw up abit, you'll be looking at 5-10 hours of time and couple CDs/DVDs, resources wasted.

This really should only be done by people with moderate to extremly experienced computer users.