[NTLUG:Discuss] Booting from a USB Flash Drive? ( 64Meg - $9.99 at Fry's )

[Steve Baker]

Jack Snodgrass wrote:
> Anyone know if it's possible... ( not just theory ) but actually
> possible to boot from a USB Flash Drive? I picked up a linksys
> 64Meg Flash Drive from Fry's ( $9.99 after a $20 rebate ) and 
> was hoping to be able to boot my PC with it, but it didn't seem 
> to work. Do ANY motherboards support this? 

We use these flash drives a lot at work - they've come to
replace floppy disks and CD-R's for a lot of work.

However, we've noticed that there are two distinct types - one
of which seems to work with Linux out of the box and the other
of which seems to require large amounts of complicated tweaking
to get it accepted.

I got lucky and bought the Cig at r which works as a mountable drive
out of the box.  (Although I've never tried booting from it)

Given this, it wouldn't suprise me to find that devices of the
second kind might not work with some motherboards that claim to
offer USB boot capabilities.
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