[Noyb]

Originally Posted by supportpros

.... that would be incredible. You'd have a fully portable operating system on as large a portable hard drive as you want.

In my Option .. That’s the wrong way to go.
I do not like large operating system partitions ...
And prefer to only have the operating system and installed programs in my C: partitions.
Then, All my Data does to other partitions, and/or an external.
This assumes you have a lot of Data (many gigs) stored.

This way the OS stays as small as possible, easier/faster to backup/recover, scan for Malware, defrag and runs faster. It also doesn’t get fragged as bad/quickly.

In my disc management screen, all my Data is in other Partition(s) and backed up as just Data.
I can recover a goofy OS partition in a matter of minutes and not worry about the data.
IMO .. the OS is the most fragile, unreliable, item in your computer.

I would leave the OS in the computer .. And keep the Data in the external(s) .. or at least backups of it.
You can also store an Acronis recovery Data file in the external (or other partitions) and fix the OS if/when needed.
It is much quicker and takes less storage space ... If the OS is kept as small as conveniently possible.

If you’re thinking about one OS (external) for several computers .. that won’t work .. it’s not allowed by Bill Gates.

[supportpros]

yeah you're right about the last part. There is a solution though. I met a company at a recent tech convention thats developing a software to image your entire operating system on any external hard drive, including all files, programs, settings, etc.

So for example lets say I have vista on my main coputer. I connect an external hard drive with this program and the image of an XP operating system from another computer. You don't need any software on the VIsta computer.

The XP OS opens up in a window on your desktop, and you can work from within XP. You leave no traces of any activities (surfing etc) on the vista computer, everything is self contained on the image you made on the external hard drive. You now have a portable external operating system, where changes are automatically saved.

I checked the website after meeting the company at the convention, but they're still not selling the software, even though they had a working example set up at the convention.

Anyway, its food for thought. Carrying your whole operating system on a small external hard drive, being able to work on public computer in a self contained environments so nothing leaks out, being able to run XP on top of Vista etc. I don't know the full breadth of the software, for example whether you can run Mac OS on Windows, or Linux on Mac OS etc.

[Noyb]

I don't understand how that can be.
Microsoft only allows one operating system (per product code) for each computer.
Anything else will probably not work ... but will definitely be Illegal.

Here's what many of us here at TSG use to make System Backup Images or Clone HDs.
Also works To/From externals .. USB or otherwise.
http://www.acronis.com/homecomputing...cts/trueimage/

I hear that you can use Linux for what you want.

When can I expect delivery of my Raptor

[supportpros]

Trust me you don't want the Raptor, it sounds like an outboard motor, and the sound of two together takes weeks to get used to :rolleyes:

I didn't post the link to the website because I never considered the legality of the issue, and you pointed it out earlier on.

But the software does exist, it was displayed at the Gitex conference a few weeks ago. The entire operating system is placed on some sort of image on an external hard drive. And when opened on any other operating system, it opens in a self contained window (and environment.)

Meaning you could run your desktop computer (with all files, programs, settings) on a public computer without data leaking through, and it doesn't matter what platform the public computer runs on. I saw a Vista self contained system being run on an XP computer.
Pretty cool. I wonder how they will work out the legal issues with windows.


As for external storage, see attached picture. And thats still without 3 other external drives I don't have hooked up right now that add up to another terabyte. :p

[JeannieB360]

Juggynut - essentially my problem was solved by doing what Noyb said - powering down the computer, disconnecting the external hard drive from the hub, rebooting the computer, letting it get through all of its start-up stuff, then plugging the external drive into the hub.

I did this many times until the problem 'went away', sometimes changing the hub from one port on the computer to another while the computer was powered down.

It didn't seem to work, and I moved the external drive to another computer for a while, then went back to my new Vista machine to try the firewire connection again, and called HP support when I still had problems. Since I referenced my prior calls that included the USB problem, the tech support person wanted to start back on the USB problem. So I disconnected the firewire connection and re-plugged the drive in through a USB cable plugged into my USB hub, absolutely certain it wouldn't work. BUT IT WORKED!

So, all I can suggest is try the procedure. It MIGHT be that the reason it finally worked for me was that somewhere along the line I had powered the computer down with the hard drive disconnected, as opposed to just doing a 'restart'. I think this 'solution' falls into the category known as 'voodoo magic'.

I don't think the problem is just on Vista - I had a similar problem on my XP machine when I got a new 7 port USB hub (with no prior problems on an old 4 port hub), and I thought it was the hub itself (a cheapie I bought at a computer show), but eventually the problem 'went away' by itself.

[Noyb]

I've been trying to think of a Descriptive term that fits this procedure ...
I like "Vodoo Magic" ... Thanks , and glad it worked.

It's like there's something stuck in the external .. and you just have to kick it around for a while.

[DaveA]

Some USB drives (Seagate is one) does NOT like it when it (the USB drive) is turn on when the computer is booted from scratch.
But if one was to do a "Reboot" then there does not seem to be a problem.

When doing a Cold boot, I make sure that my USB drives are OFF, when the computer is fully booted, I turn on the USB drive and all works well.
This happens on XP and Vista.

[ktyong123]

Format your external harddisk will solve the problem!

It is caused by partition table partly damaged.

[berabi]

Originally Posted by ktyong123

Format your external harddisk will solve the problem!

It is caused by partition table partly damaged.

*Sigh*

I normally wouldn't reply to a response from a plastic engineer giving a grammatical nightmare of a response like the one above but I will on this occasion as frankly, you have no idea what you're talking about. The problem is specific to some motherboards and USB controller models and nothing to do with any sort of partition table issue. Why do I know this? Through testing all of these things out as a pre-requisite to posting on a site like Tech Support Guy where I don't want to look like a fool.

If it was a table issue, it would be consistently exhibiting this issue when I plugged the device into other machines. However, the reality is that I get 26MB/s when I'm transferring from an AMD based machine also running Vista Ultimate so I'm afraid you have a lesson to learn my friend; before offering your pretty lousy technical advice in future, READ THE WHOLE THREAD AND NOT JUST PART OF IT

Have a great day

[ktyong123]

Originally Posted by berabi

*Sigh*

I normally wouldn't reply to a response from a plastic engineer giving a grammatical nightmare of a response like the one above but I will on this occasion as frankly, you have no idea what you're talking about. The problem is specific to some motherboards and USB controller models and nothing to do with any sort of partition table issue. Why do I know this? Through testing all of these things out as a pre-requisite to posting on a site like Tech Support Guy where I don't want to look like a fool.

If it was a table issue, it would be consistently exhibiting this issue when I plugged the device into other machines. However, the reality is that I get 26MB/s when I'm transferring from an AMD based machine also running Vista Ultimate so I'm afraid you have a lesson to learn my friend; before offering your pretty lousy technical advice in future, READ THE WHOLE THREAD AND NOT JUST PART OF IT

Have a great day

This is my real experience, after this problem caused me pain for almost one month. I tried many ways already, I also read this thread carefully, but no one can solve the problem for me.

You look like a well trained technical fool , in my view,

Luckily i am still smart enuf to solve the problem by myself (Format my external hd), and not by the lessons u all those 'tech guy' offer at here. *sigh*

[ktyong123]

Sorry, maybe is not partition table, it is file allocation table damaged. Format the external drive sure can solve this slow problem.