Is it possible to boot a computer from a sd card, and use the sd card as a harddisk?

[leonidas]

hi!

I wonder if it is possible to boot a computer from a sd card, and use the sd card as a harddisk?

and btw do you know what is the powerfullest fanless cpu?

I'd like to build a computer, not so powerfull, but totally silent.

thx if you can help!

[lightshow]

Hmm to boot from an SD card, you need an SD card reader correct?

Well it would be possible if you had a Motherboard and BIOS that would recgonize and initalize the reader hardware then allow it to be one of the devices to boot from.

So if you motherboard supports this, then theoretically yes.

[lynx]

Some motherboards permit booting from USB so as long as it is connected via a USB port, and your mobo permits it, then in theory it should be possible.

If you are thinking of using XP you will probably need a cut down version since the standard version needs at least 2GB.

Getting it installed could be an interesting exercise though.

[StephG]

I saw an article once where a person did just that. He connected an SD card to the motherboard, I cant remember the connections he used. put a really stripped down version of windows on it and used that to boot the computer. There was no other hard drive in it, just the SD card. He was just doing it to see if he could.

[Seedler]

SD card? Isn't that like 1/1000000000000000 the speed of Harddrives?

Shouldn't take longer than 2 decades for Win Xp to boot up.

[chojin]

My mate is going for install Win98 on a 1GB USB Pen Drive. I dont think he can do it, so i will wait and see

[mikeco]

should install windows on a ipod and use the ipod like a harddrive

[StephG]

The article I saw had the SD card actually in the computer and not as an external drive. I dont think it was even that big in megabytes. When I think about it, it may have been compact flash or something like that but the idea is just the same.

I suppose all you really need is some kind of adapter for the solidstate card connector to be converted to an ide interface. Then it can be recognised by the bios and used just as if it was a normal hard drive. I think that would work.

[Virtualbody1234]

SD card? Isn't that like 1/1000000000000000 the speed of Harddrives?

Shouldn't take longer than 2 decades for Win Xp to boot up.

I think you're a little mixed up. Solid state memory is way faster than a mechanical HDD.

[StephG]

SD card? Isn't that like 1/1000000000000000 the speed of Harddrives?

Shouldn't take longer than 2 decades for Win Xp to boot up.

I think you're a little mixed up. Solid state memory is way faster than a mechanical HDD.

It's also quieter, runs cooler and is much less likely to be physically damaged. The big factor is friction, hard disks have to spin at 7200 revolutions a minute. Solid state drives dont move at all so they dont really heat up, or make any noise or wear out.

Its also why they are so expensive by comparison to hard drive technology.