OT: Render External USB Harddrive As Non-Bootable

[Jim Thompson]

I removed the hard drive from the dead machine and installed it into a
USB adapter.... it's reading just fine.

However, if I leave it plugged in during a boot, the machine gets
confused as to which drive to boot from.

My oldest son thinks there's a way, from "Disk Management" (Win2K) to
render the external drive non-bootable.

But I can't find it.

Anyone know how to do it?

Thanks!

...Jim Thompson
--
| James E.Thompson, P.E. | mens |
| Analog Innovations, Inc. | et |
| Analog/Mixed-Signal ASIC's and Discrete Systems | manus |
| Phoenix, Arizona Voice480)460-2350 | |
| E-mail Address at Website Fax480)460-2142 | Brass Rat |
| http://www.analog-innovations.com | 1962 |

I love to cook with wine. Sometimes I even put it in the food.

 

[Fred Bloggs]

Jim Thompson wrote:

I removed the hard drive from the dead machine and installed it into a
USB adapter.... it's reading just fine.

However, if I leave it plugged in during a boot, the machine gets
confused as to which drive to boot from.

My oldest son thinks there's a way, from "Disk Management" (Win2K) to
render the external drive non-bootable.

But I can't find it.

Anyone know how to do it?

Thanks!

...Jim Thompson

Doesn't that have 2000 have a "CMOS" mode- press PAUSE at startup or
something- brings up a table where you specify boot-up drive sequence....

 

[Carl D. Smith]

On Mon, 16 Aug 2004 17:44:42 -0700, Jim Thompson
<thegreatone@example.com> wrote:

I removed the hard drive from the dead machine and installed it into a
USB adapter.... it's reading just fine.

However, if I leave it plugged in during a boot, the machine gets
confused as to which drive to boot from.

Go into the BIOS setup, by hitting F1 or F2 or DEL while the
system is booting (the exact key varies from one manufacturer to
the next). In the setup you may find a "boot" page that lets
you control boot device order. Just put the internal hard drive
ahead of the USB one in the list. If that's not possible, since
some BIOSes just let you set the device class order, like HD,
Floppy, CD, etc, then see if there is an option to totally
disable booting USB devices. My system shows a "USB Boot" option
that can be set to "enable" or "disable."

 

[Jim Thompson]

On Tue, 17 Aug 2004 01:30:32 GMT, Carl D. Smith
<cdsmith69NOSPAM@earthlink.net> wrote:

On Mon, 16 Aug 2004 17:44:42 -0700, Jim Thompson
thegreatone@example.com> wrote:

I removed the hard drive from the dead machine and installed it into a
USB adapter.... it's reading just fine.

However, if I leave it plugged in during a boot, the machine gets
confused as to which drive to boot from.

Go into the BIOS setup, by hitting F1 or F2 or DEL while the
system is booting (the exact key varies from one manufacturer to
the next). In the setup you may find a "boot" page that lets
you control boot device order. Just put the internal hard drive
ahead of the USB one in the list. If that's not possible, since
some BIOSes just let you set the device class order, like HD,
Floppy, CD, etc, then see if there is an option to totally
disable booting USB devices. My system shows a "USB Boot" option
that can be set to "enable" or "disable."

Good idea, I'll look for that.

Thanks!

...Jim Thompson
--
| James E.Thompson, P.E. | mens |
| Analog Innovations, Inc. | et |
| Analog/Mixed-Signal ASIC's and Discrete Systems | manus |
| Phoenix, Arizona Voice480)460-2350 | |
| E-mail Address at Website Fax480)460-2142 | Brass Rat |
| http://www.analog-innovations.com | 1962 |

I love to cook with wine. Sometimes I even put it in the food.

 

[ptaylor]

Jim Thompson wrote:

I removed the hard drive from the dead machine and installed it into a
USB adapter.... it's reading just fine.

However, if I leave it plugged in during a boot, the machine gets
confused as to which drive to boot from.

My oldest son thinks there's a way, from "Disk Management" (Win2K) to
render the external drive non-bootable.

But I can't find it.

Anyone know how to do it?

Thanks!

...Jim Thompson

Another thing to look for is "legacy UBS support"
Basically it enables the USB to work in DOS mode,without windows
drivers. If you have a USB keyboard,you might HAVE to have it enabled to
even be able to press the F1/DEL whatever key to get into the
CMOS,atleast you do on some of the older boards with USB. (IE,no USB no
keyboard.)

 

[Harry Conover]

ptaylor <ptaylor@nospam.qwest.net> wrote in message news:<VLgUc.616$iX1.102267@news.uswest.net>...

Jim Thompson wrote:
I removed the hard drive from the dead machine and installed it into a
USB adapter.... it's reading just fine.

However, if I leave it plugged in during a boot, the machine gets
confused as to which drive to boot from.

My oldest son thinks there's a way, from "Disk Management" (Win2K) to
render the external drive non-bootable.

But I can't find it.

Anyone know how to do it?

Thanks!

...Jim Thompson


Another thing to look for is "legacy UBS support"
Basically it enables the USB to work in DOS mode,without windows
drivers. If you have a USB keyboard,you might HAVE to have it enabled to
even be able to press the F1/DEL whatever key to get into the
CMOS,atleast you do on some of the older boards with USB. (IE,no USB no
keyboard.)

I suspect that Jim is sufficiently sophisticate not to have a computer
of this ilk!

Jim, if you fdisk your added drive without setting an active
partition, then re-boot it attached to say a Windows XP system, XP
will on re-boot automatically ask you if you want it to re-format the
drive, or (grunt) do it on it's own. It will normally format it as
un-bootable, although there may be a way to override this if you have
a reason to do so. I'm not sure how this works on Win2000.

The problem that I ran into with never versions of Windows, was that
(just using Win XP as an example) was that Win XP took the existing
FAT-16 or FAT-32 on the disk being formatted and accepted it literally
without question. This can be problematic when re-using existing hard
drives. While there may be other and better solutions, the only way I
'quickly' found to get around it was to boot and old Win98 boot disk
in the floppy drive (which contains the fdisk executable) and fdisk
the old drive to FAT-32 with new partitions set as desired).

Then (at least with Win XP), it picks up on the presence of the new
drive, and formats it (with prompts). To me, this is sort of
automation carried to an extreme, but when you consider that Microsoft
is simply trying to simplify life for their 'average consumer', it
makes at least some sense.

I have only one USB connected drive, and in order to fdisk it, I had
to plug the drive into a IDE cable, then reconnect it in it's USB
mount prior to booting Win XP. I've never had any boot ambiguity using
this method. Then too, you may want to check on your boot sequence in
your CMOS setting, to assure that your boot sequence is limited to
your #1 (C-drive) possibly followed by your A-drive.

Just for the record, I looked high and low on my Win XP Pro
distribution disk an couldn't locate fdisk anywhere on it! Perhaps I
missed something, but having the old utility progams still laying
around (dating back even to DOS 1.3 and 5.0) have in many recent days
saved my ass!

Kindest regards,

Harry C.

 

[Joerg]

Hi Jim,

As Carl said, the computer is told where to boot from the BIOS. It
shouldn't even have tried from the USB if that wasn't set.

Another area to look is Control Panel -> System -> System Properties ->
Advanced. The top entry there needs to point to the desired operating
system.

Regards, Joerg

http://www.analogconsultants.com

 

[Watson A.Name - \"Watt Su]

"Harry Conover" <hhc314@yahoo.com> wrote in message
news:7ce4e226.0408171343.5381190e@posting.google.com...
[snip]

Just for the record, I looked high and low on my Win XP Pro
distribution disk an couldn't locate fdisk anywhere on it! Perhaps I
missed something, but having the old utility progams still laying
around (dating back even to DOS 1.3 and 5.0) have in many recent days
saved my ass!

In XP you right click on my computer, and click on manage. Learn the
difference between its and it's. If you change the it's to it is, and
it doesn't make sense, then the damn apostrophe doesn't belong there.

Kindest regards,
Harry C.

 

[Doug Schultz]

there is also a checkbox for search for other bootable devices in XP
so unclick it
and make sure you have it set for Floppy as your first boot seek and the
CDrom as your second and then the 3rd is your HD that you want it to boot
from.
if you ever have a problem with windows and have to boot from your recovery
disk or your XP cd you will be thankful for the boot order.

Doug


"Joerg" <notthisjoergsch@removethispacbell.net> wrote in message
news:xJvUc.7155$Oi.3750@newssvr29.news.prodigy.com...

Hi Jim,

As Carl said, the computer is told where to boot from the BIOS. It
shouldn't even have tried from the USB if that wasn't set.

Another area to look is Control Panel -> System -> System Properties -
Advanced. The top entry there needs to point to the desired operating
system.

Regards, Joerg

http://www.analogconsultants.com

 

[Chris Hodges]

"Doug Schultz" <Douglas_Schultz@hotmail.com> wrote in message news:<uNBUc.135882$J06.55349@pd7tw2no>...

there is also a checkbox for search for other bootable devices in XP
so unclick it
and make sure you have it set for Floppy as your first boot seek and the
CDrom as your second and then the 3rd is your HD that you want it to boot
from.
if you ever have a problem with windows and have to boot from your recovery
disk or your XP cd you will be thankful for the boot order.

This should also be set from the BIOS. Then you can leave your
primary HDD as 1st boot device, until there's a problem, then go into
the BIOS and change the settings on the rare occasions when you want
to boot from a floppy. Otherwise the system spins up the floppy drive
(and the CDROM if there's a disk in it) on every boot, which is a
waste of time.

C

 

[Active8]

On Tue, 17 Aug 2004 22:34:05 GMT, Joerg wrote:

Hi Jim,

As Carl said, the computer is told where to boot from the BIOS. It
shouldn't even have tried from the USB if that wasn't set.

Another area to look is Control Panel -> System -> System Properties -
Advanced. The top entry there needs to point to the desired operating
system.

Regards, Joerg

http://www.analogconsultants.com

Any idea why w2k, freshly installed, entered an XP OS in boot.ini
and pointed it to partition 3 which was created from unused disk
space and formatted prior to installing w2k? It was created and
formatted as fat32 with System Commander.
--
Best Regards,
Mike

 

[Active8]

On 18 Aug 2004 07:17:32 -0700, Chris Hodges wrote:

"Doug Schultz" <Douglas_Schultz@hotmail.com> wrote in message news:<uNBUc.135882$J06.55349@pd7tw2no>...
there is also a checkbox for search for other bootable devices in XP
so unclick it
and make sure you have it set for Floppy as your first boot seek and the
CDrom as your second and then the 3rd is your HD that you want it to boot
from.
if you ever have a problem with windows and have to boot from your recovery
disk or your XP cd you will be thankful for the boot order.

This should also be set from the BIOS. Then you can leave your
primary HDD as 1st boot device, until there's a problem, then go into
the BIOS and change the settings on the rare occasions when you want
to boot from a floppy. Otherwise the system spins up the floppy drive
(and the CDROM if there's a disk in it) on every boot, which is a
waste of time.

C
And set the bios settings password if physical security isn't

enough. Then no one can boot from floppy or cd and snatch your data
which should be on another partition (OS partition gets hosed...
data gets hosed.) OS user settings may keep people from messing with
your files, but if someone sneaks in and boots another OS... there
goes that quintillion dollar idea to run your car off water.
--
Best Regards,
Mike

 

[Active8]

On Thu, 19 Aug 2004 01:40:04 GMT, Active8 wrote:

On 18 Aug 2004 07:17:32 -0700, Chris Hodges wrote:

"Doug Schultz" <Douglas_Schultz@hotmail.com> wrote in message news:<uNBUc.135882$J06.55349@pd7tw2no>...
there is also a checkbox for search for other bootable devices in XP
so unclick it
and make sure you have it set for Floppy as your first boot seek and the
CDrom as your second and then the 3rd is your HD that you want it to boot
from.
if you ever have a problem with windows and have to boot from your recovery
disk or your XP cd you will be thankful for the boot order.

This should also be set from the BIOS. Then you can leave your
primary HDD as 1st boot device, until there's a problem, then go into
the BIOS and change the settings on the rare occasions when you want
to boot from a floppy. Otherwise the system spins up the floppy drive
(and the CDROM if there's a disk in it) on every boot, which is a
waste of time.

C
And set the bios settings password if physical security isn't
enough. Then no one can boot from floppy or cd and snatch your data
which should be on another partition (OS partition gets hosed...
data gets hosed.) OS user settings may keep people from messing with
your files, but if someone sneaks in and boots another OS... there
goes that quintillion dollar idea to run your car off water.

Er... there might be a shunt the thief can use to wipe out the CMOS,
so there's always the thing called a case lock. Maybe removing the
part of the header where the shunt goes would slow him down.

Encryption? I wouldn't bank on it if the data's *that* valuable.
--
Best Regards,
Mike

 

[Joerg]

Hi Active8,

Any idea why w2k, freshly installed, entered an XP OS in boot.ini
and pointed it to partition 3 which was created from unused disk
space and formatted prior to installing w2k? It was created and
formatted as fat32 with System Commander.

No idea, I am only a guy who has to use windows for biz reasons and
doesn't particularly like it. All I heard is that if you start using
another Win system the old stuff better be gone or may never run right.
That's what an IT guy told me.

Regards, Joerg

http://www.analogconsultants.com

 

[Active8]

On Thu, 19 Aug 2004 18:39:21 GMT, Joerg wrote:

Hi Active8,

Any idea why w2k, freshly installed, entered an XP OS in boot.ini
and pointed it to partition 3 which was created from unused disk
space and formatted prior to installing w2k? It was created and
formatted as fat32 with System Commander.



No idea, I am only a guy who has to use windows for biz reasons and
doesn't particularly like it. All I heard is that if you start using
another Win system the old stuff better be gone or may never run right.
That's what an IT guy told me.

Regards, Joerg

http://www.analogconsultants.com

I think that makes sense. When I installed w2k the 1st time, it
found a SystemCommander or Boot Magic MBR with the old XP entry for
partition 3 (part 1 was also XP, but I was formatting that with w2k
install and thus it would be wiped out) and added it. Then I
destroyed all but OS and data partitions, created an app and data
partition, and reloaded w2k without first deleting the XP entry in
boot.ini - the 2nd install of 2k found that.

--
Best Regards,
Mike

 

[Jim Meyer]

Jim Thompson <thegreatone@example.com> wrote in message news:<erk2i01afh5qge1drjmo5dou4743klrar9@4ax.com>...

I removed the hard drive from the dead machine and installed it into a
USB adapter.... it's reading just fine.

However, if I leave it plugged in during a boot, the machine gets
confused as to which drive to boot from.

My oldest son thinks there's a way, from "Disk Management" (Win2K) to
render the external drive non-bootable.

But I can't find it.

Anyone know how to do it?

Thanks!

...Jim Thompson

I find that a few well placed blows from a carpenter's
framing hammer will render almost anything non-bootable.

Jim

 

[John Woodgate]

I read in sci.electronics.design that Jim Meyer
<jmeyer@nektonresearch.com> wrote (in <21ede509.0408200814.7861d736@post
ing.google.com&gt about 'OT: Render External USB Harddrive As Non-
Bootable', on Fri, 20 Aug 2004:

I find that a few well placed blows from a carpenter's framing
hammer will render almost anything non-bootable.

Even your left foot. (;-)
--
Regards, John Woodgate, OOO - Own Opinions Only.
The good news is that nothing is compulsory.
The bad news is that everything is prohibited.
http://www.jmwa.demon.co.uk Also see http://www.isce.org.uk

 

[James Meyer]

On Fri, 20 Aug 2004 17:37:15 +0100, John Woodgate
<jmw@jmwa.demon.contraspam.yuk> wroth:

I read in sci.electronics.design that Jim Meyer
jmeyer@nektonresearch.com> wrote (in <21ede509.0408200814.7861d736@post
ing.google.com&gt about 'OT: Render External USB Harddrive As Non-
Bootable', on Fri, 20 Aug 2004:

I find that a few well placed blows from a carpenter's framing
hammer will render almost anything non-bootable.

Even your left foot. (;-)

When all your fingers finally go, you still have to hold the nails
somehow. I haven't worked out what I'll use after the toes are all gone.

Jim "Lefty" Meyer

 

[Tim Auton]

James Meyer <jmeyer@nowhere.net> wrote:

On Fri, 20 Aug 2004 17:37:15 +0100, John Woodgate
jmw@jmwa.demon.contraspam.yuk> wroth:
I read in sci.electronics.design that Jim Meyer
jmeyer@nektonresearch.com> wrote (in <21ede509.0408200814.7861d736@post
ing.google.com&gt about 'OT: Render External USB Harddrive As Non-
Bootable', on Fri, 20 Aug 2004:

I find that a few well placed blows from a carpenter's framing
hammer will render almost anything non-bootable.

Even your left foot. (;-)

When all your fingers finally go, you still have to hold the nails
somehow. I haven't worked out what I'll use after the toes are all gone.

I'd tell you to stick the nail through a bit of card and hold that,
but then you'd probably be upset that you needlessly mangled all your
fingers.


Tim
--
Google is not the only search engine.

 

[Ian Stirling]

In sci.electronics.design Active8 <reply2group@ndbbm.net> wrote:

On Thu, 19 Aug 2004 01:40:04 GMT, Active8 wrote:

On 18 Aug 2004 07:17:32 -0700, Chris Hodges wrote:

"Doug Schultz" <Douglas_Schultz@hotmail.com> wrote in message news:<uNBUc.135882$J06.55349@pd7tw2no>...
there is also a checkbox for search for other bootable devices in XP
so unclick it
and make sure you have it set for Floppy as your first boot seek and the
CDrom as your second and then the 3rd is your HD that you want it to boot
from.
if you ever have a problem with windows and have to boot from your recovery
disk or your XP cd you will be thankful for the boot order.

This should also be set from the BIOS. Then you can leave your
primary HDD as 1st boot device, until there's a problem, then go into
the BIOS and change the settings on the rare occasions when you want
to boot from a floppy. Otherwise the system spins up the floppy drive
(and the CDROM if there's a disk in it) on every boot, which is a
waste of time.

C
And set the bios settings password if physical security isn't
enough. Then no one can boot from floppy or cd and snatch your data
which should be on another partition (OS partition gets hosed...
data gets hosed.) OS user settings may keep people from messing with
your files, but if someone sneaks in and boots another OS... there
goes that quintillion dollar idea to run your car off water.

Er... there might be a shunt the thief can use to wipe out the CMOS,
so there's always the thing called a case lock. Maybe removing the
part of the header where the shunt goes would slow him down.

Pull hard drive cable, plug into laptop.

Encryption? I wouldn't bank on it if the data's *that* valuable.

There are encryptors available that cannot practically be cracked.

Then again, there are other solutions, from installing keylogging
hardware, to cameras, to beating you until you decide to reveal the
password.