USB as a hard drive

darich

Hi

I recently changed my laptop harddrive from a traditional HDD to a solid state one.
I bought a cable to allow me to clone the HDD and everything went fine.

But it gave me an idea.

Is it possible to buy an adaptor that plugs into the motherboard and has a USB socket at the other end?
That would allow a USB stick to be connected to the motherboard and if there was an operating system installed on the USB stick, the laptop would boot from it. Essentially allowing you to remove the hard drive by simply unplugging the USB.
It would also mean if I cloned the operating system onto multiple sticks I could be selective about what type of data is stored on which pen drive.

Is such a set up possible?

Stoke

You can already boot from a USB port? So you can carry as many OS's in your pocket as you like. No need to rip the drive out. Your question doesn't make much sense to me.

rtho782

Yes, you can boot from a USB stick. You don't need an adaptor, a normal thumb drive is fine.

Windows 10 has support for it: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Windows_To_Go

But USB sticks are slow, and you then have a dangly thing to knock off on a laptop.

Better to encrypt the hard drive and use a USB security dongle if you feel paranoid.

50Twuncle

Stoke wrote: »

You can already boot from a USB port? So you can carry as many OS's in your pocket as you like. No need to rip the drive out. Your question doesn't make much sense to me.

Maybe the OP is using a "pre-usb" laptop - ie an early 90's 386 powered one ?

esuhl

darich wrote: »

Is it possible to buy an adaptor that plugs into the motherboard and has a USB socket at the other end?

Do you not already have USB sockets on the laptop?

As far as computers are concerned (at the OS level), hard drives, SSDs, USB flash drives, SD cards, CD-ROMs, etc. are all treated the same -- they're just a storage medium.

So, yeah, just install an OS on your USB stick and you have a portable operating system you can use on any other PC that can boot it.

Some operating systems are intended to be run this way. A famous example would be TAILS, which is a GNU/Linux operating system designed for secure anonymous web/email use. You just download the image from their site, and create a USB stick (or CD/DVD) that you can use on any PC.

https://tails.boum.org/

For general use, I really like Slax. It's another GNU/Linux distro that's intended to be used as a portable system on a USB key.

https://www.slax.org/

Stoke

50Twuncle wrote: »

Maybe the OP is using a "pre-usb" laptop - ie an early 90's 386 powered one ?

Tbh, I didn't realize you could actually buy IDE SSD drives. I figured there simply wouldn't be a market for them, but sure enough, Kingston make them.

Even so, it's a weird weird question.

Stoke

rtho782 wrote: »

But USB sticks are slow, and you then have a dangly thing to knock off on a laptop..

They're not too bad. Seems a bit of a naff reason to me.

almillar

darich - for many years there have been Linux versions that can run from CD (yes, for that many years!) without having use of a hard disk at all. They will have evolved into versions that can run from USB.
Motherboards, for years, have been able to boot from HDD, floppy disk, CD, DVD, USB, network. Once you boot from there, you either load an OS, an OS installer, or some kind of utility.
So yes, you can run your computer just on a USB stick if you like.
But... USB will be slower than an SSD, and USB stick/memory cards may not like being written and rewritten to as often as an OS would like to.

50Twuncle

Stoke wrote: »

Tbh, I didn't realize you could actually buy IDE SSD drives. I figured there simply wouldn't be a market for them, but sure enough, Kingston make them.

Even so, it's a weird weird question.

So do Transcend :
https://www.amazon.co.uk/Transcend-PSD330-2-5-inch-Internal-Solid/dp/B00AQT2LCU/ref=sr_1_1/254-0928117-7104854?s=computers&ie=UTF8&qid=1481896383&sr=1-1&keywords=ide+ssd+25
So, in theory, you could have a 25Mhz 386 running an IDE SSD ...!!
That would be an interesting project for someone with time on their hands
What OS would be suitable ?
Windows 3.0 or perhaps DOS 5.0

Nilrem

Stoke wrote: »

Tbh, I didn't realize you could actually buy IDE SSD drives. I figured there simply wouldn't be a market for them, but sure enough, Kingston make them.

Even so, it's a weird weird question.

Probably cheaper than an IDE SSD is to buy one of the IDE to compact Flash adaptors (it's a basic mechanical adaptor*), from memory CF cards used the same electrical interface and command set as later generations of the IDE/ATAPI specification, so it was possible to use a compact flash device as a drive on them Then buy a compact flash card, IIRC the adaptors are about a fiver.
They used to be used in things like ruggisied laptops or devices where you needed the storage in a format that could be connected to a normal PC/laptop but could also be used in conditions that would have killed a mechanical drive (or where you needed lower power consumption).
I think they were used a lot in early digital cameras for that reasons.

[edit]
Just checked the adaptors are about £6, and a 32gb compact flash card is about £20 (sold by amazon), so if the op has a spare card it'll be a cheap way to test.


*In the same way that the adaptor to let you connect a laptop IDE drive to a desktop was (it basically gives the correct sized and spaced connection).

50Twuncle

Or perhaps a parallel to USB adapter is another option ?
Unfortunately - these are unobtainable though !!