I want to boot from an USB thumb drive. I know it to work on another computer. I also want to boot from an external USB DVD drive. It works fine on another computer. In both cases I use Puppy Linux 5.1.1 But my Dell Optiflex Gx620 won't boot! The BIOS version is A06 from 02/20/06. I also want to boot from an external USB hard drive. I have not tested this yet. Any ideas? Best wishes Rolf

Computer starts normally in windows with a windows that is installed on a hard disk on that copmuter. In other words - windows is installed on an internal hard disk of a computer A. If you get it out and put in a computer B it wont work.

To have the things work:
1. First should set in BIOS boot up options first boot device CD/DVD, second OTHER/USB/EXTERNAL, third HDD
2. Should boot up from a CD and install windows on an external hard disk (in your case your 3TB Toshiba external HD)
3. Set in BIOS boot up options first boot device OTHER/USB/EXTERNAL, second internal hard disk e.g. HDD0, HDD1

Check the drivers Comes with your External DVD

you will need usb data drive at least 4 - 8 gb

Download the GParted Live utility and the HP USB Format Tool via the links in Resources.

http://www.majorgeeks.com/downloadget.php?id=5757&file=15&evp=fb0a8fee133295405b5af3205e8d2424

Insert your USB stick into the computer. Run HP USB Format Tool. Select your USB stick and then choose the FAT or FAT32 format options. Click "Start."

Extract the files from the GParted Live zip file. Select the USB stick as the destination.

Open a file browser and navigate to the USB stick. Select "utils" > "win32" > "makeboot.bat." Double click on "makeboot.bat." Enter "Y" when prompted.

Power off your computer leaving the USB stick inserted.

Connect your portable hard drive to another USB port.

Power on the computer and quickly press "F8" through "F12" to access your boot menu.

Check your computer or motherboard manual for the exact keystroke.

Select the USB stick as your boot source and press "Enter." Allow the Gparted GUI to start.

Select the external portable hard disk drive. Click "Partition" on the menu bar.

Hover over "Format to" and select "NTSF."

If you are unable to create or format the partition, select delete partition.

This will erase all data on the external hard drive. Confirm partition deletion. Select the external drive again. Click "Partition" and hover over "Format to" then select "NTSF."

Select the external hard disk drive again. Click "Partition" on the menu bar and then "Manage Flags." Check the box next to "Boot." Save and apply changes to the drive.

Power off your computer and remove the USB stick.

Install the OS

Insert or plug your OS installer, usually a DVD, CD or USB thumb drive, into the computer. Power on the computer and access the boot manager again.

Select the source containing your OS installer and press "Enter."

Enter your personalization and registration information if required.

When prompted, specify the portable hard drive as the install directory.

Begin the installation normally.

Restart the computer when prompted and access the boot menu again. Select the external hard drive as your boot source and press "Enter" to ensure the installation succeeded.

Use this process to boot from your portable drive on any computer.

hope this helps

Perhaps your bios is set to boot from the 1st device it 'sees'.
When you add the dvd drive, maybe the device order gets shuffled up, making the dvd drive 1st. So, you need to check this by looking at the boot settings on the bios screen and change the boot order if necessary.

Please restart the computer and keep tapping the F8 key on the keyboard once you see the Dell logo unitll you see windows advanced boot menu, choose last known good configuration using your up and down arrow keys on the keyboard. Once highlighted then press enter key. This should take your computer's settings to the last time when your computer was working fine. Also remember to remove any external devices (printers, USB flash memory, memory cards, External hard drive or CD/ DVD drive etc) Also remove CD / DVD present inside the CD/DVD drive.

usb cable and external usb dvd reader. it can be done with a thumb drive with a bit of work also.
There is a setting in bios for install, and you should make sure bios is set to boot from either external cd/dvd or thumb drive depending on how you are installing. once the installation is complete you should on next reboot change the bios setting from install to normal, otherwise the usb port will operate at 1 speed instead of 2 which is annoying.

set the bios to boot from usb external dvd player.

you just mention its set to usb.
yes, copy over to the usb thumb drive

Power on your system, Press F2 on Dell logo. This would take you to system BIOS. Ensure that USB controller is ON, and USB emulation is also set to ON. Save settings and Exit. System would reboot now. Press F12 on Dell logo, and select USB ROM as the boot device. This should boot your computer through your External drive. If it still doesnt work, try switching to a different USB port. If none of these steps work, it may be a problem with the boot sector on your External drive.

Good Luck!
Abhishek

You are going to need an external CD-Rom to fix that problem, there is no way around it. Some people have used their original os CD from asus to make a Thumb drive solution that emulates a CD, but you first need a CD to do this. Try shopping at Geeks.com for the external drive, or try using a spare cd or dvd rom with their external cable kit.

I use a cable like this for my external CD or Hard drive hookups.

http://www.geeks.com/details.asp?invtid=2020-OTB&cat=CDR

Yes you can use a usb external cd/dvd-rom to any operating system as long as the bios allows you to, most bios's have the capability.

When the external usb drive has been connected power up the mechine, in post it should tell what to press to enter your boot menu without entering your bios and choose usb drive to boot.