Can You Use a Multi-Hard Drive Dock to Boot Different OS on a Dell Laptop?

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Discussion Overview

The discussion revolves around the feasibility of using a multi-hard drive dock to boot different operating systems on a Dell laptop. Participants explore various methods for managing multiple operating systems, including the use of USB drives, BIOS settings, and potential hardware modifications.

Discussion Character

  • Exploratory
  • Technical explanation
  • Debate/contested
  • Mathematical reasoning

Main Points Raised

  • One participant inquires about a product that allows selection of multiple hard drives as boot drives for a Dell laptop, expressing frustration with existing methods of using multiple bootable partitions.
  • Another participant mentions concerns about damaging connectors from swapping hard drives frequently.
  • Several participants discuss the portability of laptops and suggest using USB external drives connected through a hub as an alternative to a hard drive rack.
  • It is noted that booting from a USB drive is possible if the BIOS supports it, with one participant confirming their ability to boot from USB mass storage.
  • A participant questions the lack of a "USB HDD" option in their BIOS and wonders if a BIOS upgrade could enable this feature.
  • There is a suggestion to create an extension cable for connecting hard drives externally, with concerns raised about potential issues with cable length and connection stability.
  • One participant shares their experience with IDE connectors being flimsy and expresses concern about the longevity of the laptop's internal connections.
  • Another participant suggests using VMware to run multiple operating systems, highlighting its stability and power when running under Linux.
  • There is a discussion about the need for backward compatibility with older operating systems and the challenges of maintaining legacy systems.

Areas of Agreement / Disagreement

Participants express a range of views on the best approach to boot multiple operating systems, with no consensus reached on a single solution. Some support the use of USB drives, while others consider hardware modifications or virtualization software like VMware.

Contextual Notes

Participants mention limitations related to BIOS capabilities, potential hardware wear from frequent drive changes, and the need for compatibility with older operating systems. There are unresolved questions about the effectiveness of proposed solutions and the feasibility of hardware modifications.

Who May Find This Useful

This discussion may be of interest to users looking to manage multiple operating systems on laptops, particularly those dealing with legacy software or requiring flexible hardware solutions.

Ivan Seeking
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Is it possible, or better yet, is there a product available that will plug into my Dell laptop hard drive slot, and connect to a rack of hard drives that allows for anyone to be selected as the boot drive? In fact, I don't even need access more than one drive at a time, but I do need to be able to select anyone of about four or five; depending on the system to which I am interfacing. I have used mutltiple bootable partitions the past, but not only is this problematic, over time I simply need more space in addition to multiple operating systems. Basically I get buried in a drive for a particular application and it becomes far too time consuming to transfer everything to another computer, time and time again. I have looked around but didn't spot anything...
 
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I started swapping hard drives, but I can see that this method will damage the connectors on the plug, over time.
 
Aren't laptops meant to be portable? Are you going to be lugging around a rack of hard drives? I guess if you wanted to use multiple hard drives on a laptop you could get a bunch of USB external drives and connect them to a USB hub which then gets connected to your laptop.
 
dduardo said:
Aren't laptops meant to be portable? Are you going to be lugging around a rack of hard drives? I guess if you wanted to use multiple hard drives on a laptop you could get a bunch of USB external drives and connect them to a USB hub which then gets connected to your laptop.

Most of the work is done in the office, but when I do need to go into the field, it wouldn't be so bad since I usually set little table up with an ethernet hub and whatnot, anyway. But I didn't think that you can boot from a USB drive...?
 
Yes you can boot from a usb drive, but the bios has to support it.
 
dduardo said:
Yes you can boot from a usb drive, but the bios has to support it.

That would be ideal! Then I could just use the one needed for whatever app is at hand. How do I find out what I need to do?
 
Just go into your bios and look for the boot order list. There should be an option for "USB HDD".
 
Okay, no option for USB HDD, but I do show an option for a "modular bay HDD". I do have a docking bay, but no associated hard drive, and no idea what this means otherwise.

If a USB HDD doesn't show up on the boot list, does this mean that it's not possible on this computer, or might a flash bios upgrade help? I did check with Dell and they don't seem to show any options for this.
 
Also, do you think it would work to simply install a short cable, where the hard drive plugs in, and extend this out to an appropriate external plug that I can use to plug in hard drives? I could incorporate this into a drive chassis so it would be pretty clean, but I wasn't sure if I had any chance of a noise/problem free connection. Any idea how much grace I get on cable length before it starts causing problems?
 
  • #10
I have a dell D610 latitude, fairly new. I can boot from USB mass storage, try flashing your bios and see if you can get a current version that allows for this.

Why don't you use VMware? Its very stable and powerfull running of Linux.
 
  • #11
There are a couple issues I see with trying to rig up an some type of extension cable to the laptop expansion port:

1) They only sell short laptop ide cables. There are converters to a regular desktop ide but I'm not sure if the power requirements will be met.

2) The ide connectors are rather flimsy. I've had the plastic around the pins crack because I keep on pushing the cable in and out over a period of time. It can sometimes be a tight fit.

----------

I don't think attenuation would be a problem if you were to extend the laptop cable to the size of a regular desktop ide. Past that size I don't know.

If you really want to try it out you could get this:

http://www.datapro.net/products/1920.html

plus a long ide cable and power cable.
 
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  • #12
Anttech said:
I have a dell D610 latitude, fairly new. I can boot from USB mass storage, try flashing your bios and see if you can get a current version that allows for this.

I flashed the bios fairly recently and don't see any additional downloads available through Dell

Why don't you use VMware? Its very stable and powerfull running of Linux.

Is this what allows Windows to run as an environment under Linux? The fact is though, I need to run Limux, XP, 2000, and even sometimes 98...and even...you won't believe it...DOS from time to time! But disk space gets to be a real issue which is why the use of dedicated drives seems to make the most sense. This also allows me to completely shield work from viruses, etc. One of the other problems that I have is that I sometimes need to keep a system as it is with no upgrades. Downward compatibility with proprietary systems and software can be a real problem at times. I could darn near make a career of, and spend a fortune on upgrades.

Btw, I'm not and won't be done with serial ports for a long time to come. What are they doing with my serial port? :cry: :cry: :cry: Now I'm going to have to buy some other new thingy to convert whatever to serial, and for some god-forsakent reason, it won't be compatible with half of the stuff I work on...:cry: :cry: :cry:
 
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  • #13
dduardo said:
2) The ide connectors are rather flimsy. I've had the plastic around the pins crack because I keep on pushing the cable in and out over a period of time. It can sometimes be a tight fit.

This is what I'm worried about inside the laptop. I can see that if I keep switching drives, something's going to break, sooner or later. At least this way I can make the vunerable parts easy to repair or replace. Ideally, I need to be able to boot from these drives for at least six years - the legal term of my liability on a project.

Thanks for the help! :smile:

I am going to call Dell as a last hope of getting a bootable USB drive bios upgrade.
 
  • #14
What you could do is buy a big laptop hard drive and then use vmware to run all the operating systems you need under linux or windows. There is a trial version if you care to test it out.

http://www.vmware.com/
 
  • #15
VMware under Linux or windows will work for all OS's you need, including almost all flavours of *nix BSD windows..

It is more stable under linux this is why I suggested Linux
 

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