:. boot up from SD card in Express Card Slot?

[dmitrio]

Hi,

I'm thinking to install linux on one of TP with boot partition on secure digital card, and encrypt entire hard drive.

So the question is,
would it be possible to bootup from a SD card,
which is in the Express Card adapter (i.e one of those)?

I believe i will be able to bootup from a USB thumb drive, or USB-adapter with SD card, but it would be bulky solution.

[DAH]

What Thinkpad do you have? Is it available in your F12 options? I have a T60p and booting from a PCMCIA card is not a supported option. ( If you have an older Thinkpad this might be an option, I do not believe it is an option on newer machines.

[dmitrio]

I'm doing my homework before getting a Thinkpad, so did not get it yet.

Older laptops does not have that option for sure.
And you just shed some light on the status of the current models...
Thank you very mach.

Are you aware of possibility to use a usb converter for a SD card to bootup? some what like this

[sugo]

No. Current thinkpad models do not support booting from PC/Express card slots.

I boot my T42 from USB SD card reader all the time. Yes it's easy with the HP USB Boot Format utility.

[dmitrio]

I boot my T42 from USB SD card reader all the time. Yes it's easy with the HP USB Boot Format utility.

Thank you for clarification.

[Alexander Heß]

Expresscards can either use a PCIe- or an USB-Connection to the system bus. (AFAIK)

So when using a cardreader which connects using usb in the expresscard-slot, it should be recognized by the bios as an usb-device, so it should be bootable.

[dmitrio]

Expresscards can either use a PCIe- or an USB-Connection to the system bus. (AFAIK)

So when using a cardreader which connects using usb in the expresscard-slot, it should be recognized by the bios as an usb-device, so it should be bootable.

according to this page, and in paticular,

Each slot of the ExpressCard host interface must support a single PCI Express lane. The ExpressCard host interface must also support the low-, full- and high-speed USB data rates. Support of both interfaces is a condition for being a ExpressCard-compliant host platform.

it may boot up. However, is ThinkPad ExpressCard-compliant host platform?

Here is an article for low level.
Gentoo users check out this article HOWTO Gentoo LiveCD and LiveUSB

[brnf]

I read your question and since I recently bought a T61 and had a 2GB xD-Picture-Card lying around I thought booting from the xD card would be neat. My card reader is a SIIG ExpressCard 11-in-1 reader and shows up as a USB device. I used the instructions found on http://www.[censored].org/wiki/inde ... lash_Drive
( Method I: Using GRUB as boot loader) to install [censored] Small Linux on the card. And.. booting from the xD card works perfectly fine , my T61 has BIOS version 1.22. I assume a SD card should work as well.

Encrypting the entire hard drive and boot from a SD card is a nice idea. The only bad thing is that you will have an Express Card reader in the slot and the cover that protects the slot from dust etc. stays open all the time, but this probably isn't a huge problem.

[dmitrio]

I read your question and since I recently bought a T61 and had a 2GB xD-Picture-Card lying around I thought booting from the xD card would be neat. My card reader is a SIIG ExpressCard 11-in-1 reader and shows up as a USB device. I used the instructions found on http://www.[censored].org/wiki/inde ... lash_Drive
( Method I: Using GRUB as boot loader) to install [censored] Small Linux on the card. And.. booting from the xD card works perfectly fine , my T61 has BIOS version 1.22. I assume a SD card should work as well.

Encrypting the entire hard drive and boot from a SD card is a nice idea. The only bad thing is that you will have an Express Card reader in the slot and the cover that protects the slot from dust etc. stays open all the time, but this probably isn't a huge problem.

Thank you for you info, that will improve laptop security significantly.

about open slot, i did not get why.
If we have /boot partition on the SD card (or any removable media) than you have to plug it in just to boot up the OS, then you can take it out and close the port. As per Gentoo Handbook it no nesessity to have your boot partition in mounted state.

[mdtaylor69]

I have the transcend ExpressCard SSD device formatted reiserFS on OpenSuse 10.3 GM on a week old T61p. I had to change the boot order to keep the machine from trying to boot from it before the internal 7k200 Hitachi drive. If you turn off access time updates, it is almost acceptable. With access tim eupdates enabled, it could not play more than a few mp3 files without pausing/hesitations. I am getting 22MB/s on reads and 5-11 MB/s writing to it. Some actions are not very stable like mass directory change ownership or permissions, or doing a kdirstat on the drive. For those reasons, I am still hesitant to run the O/S off an ExpressCard SSD device. When they get to 60 to 100 MB/s for reads and writes, then it will be worthwhile.

[brnf]

If we have /boot partition on the SD card (or any removable media) than you have to plug it in just to boot up the OS, then you can take it out and close the port. As per Gentoo Handbook it no nesessity to have your boot partition in mounted state.

Yes you are right, I didn't think about that. The card can be removed after the kernel has been loaded. Btw, Gentoo works perfectly, I use it on my T61 and all the hardware works (haven't tried the modem though) with open source drivers (mine has Intel integrated graphics, ABGN4965 wifi card, webcam).

[dmitrio]

Gentoo works perfectly, I use it on my T61 and all the hardware works (haven't tried the modem though) with open source drivers (mine has Intel integrated graphics, ABGN4965 wifi card, webcam).

wow, even webcam in business!!!
i could not find any info about web cams on thinkpads.
thats very nice!!!
tnx

[lightweight]

Pardon my ignorance, but how many read/writes can one expect to make on SD before failure?

I read your question and since I recently bought a T61 and had a 2GB xD-Picture-Card lying around I thought booting from the xD card would be neat. My card reader is a SIIG ExpressCard 11-in-1 reader and shows up as a USB device. I used the instructions found on http://www.[censored].org/wiki/inde ... lash_Drive
( Method I: Using GRUB as boot loader) to install [censored] Small Linux on the card. And.. booting from the xD card works perfectly fine , my T61 has BIOS version 1.22. I assume a SD card should work as well.

Man, SD to boot Linux into RAM then save data to SD would be super pimp. How much time can you get on battery with your T61?

[rbrt287]

hi
can i boot from compact flash card on my x31?
i wanna install linux but don't want to mess around with the recovery partition?
btw what is the best software to clone your entire harddrive?

thank you