Jonathan Hutchins wrote:
On Monday 30 August 2004 08:35 am, Garrett Goebel wrote:
My brand spanking new Toshiba Tecra M2 can't... [boot from USB devices]
See if there's a BIOS update available.
I called Toshiba, they said they couldn't provide a BIOS update because the underlying hardware support wasn't there.
Okay I looked it up.
You have to have a USB to ATA bridge controller that acts as a USB to ATA translator. Without this you can't access a USB HDD except via USB legacy floppy mode emulation. My guess is that the USB keychain distributions are setup like CD bootable distro's. I.e., they boot a floppy image and bootstrap the OS and USB device access from there.
Several workstation motherboards on the market have USB to ATA translators. Very few laptops do. In fact, the only laptop I found reference to is the IBM T41.
-- Garrett Goebel IS Development Specialist
ScriptPro Direct: 913.403.5261 5828 Reeds Road Main: 913.384.1008 Mission, KS 66202 Fax: 913.384.2180 www.scriptpro.com garrett at scriptpro dot com
On Monday 30 August 2004 10:46 am, Garrett Goebel wrote:
Several workstation motherboards on the market have USB to ATA translators. Very few laptops do. In fact, the only laptop I found reference to is the IBM T41.
Which explains why I wasn't very aware of the problem - I tend to work with IBM's, and my own Asus motherboard has flawless USB support.
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Garrett Goebel -
Jonathan Hutchins