Booting from your ultrabay

[bencampmovim]

I'm getting the 2nd HDD adapter for the Ultrabay slot.. Does anyone know if it's possible to make that drive bootable?

I will be using the computer for Live Audio PAs, so i'd like to be able to boot into a completely stripped down version of WinXP without ANY unnecessary apps loaded (so scrap norton antivirus, etc..)

So for general use i'd love to keep all the standard IBM tools on there, but then when I walk into a gig, I want to be able to swap in my ultrabay 2nd HDD adapter and boot from there.. Anyone know if this is possible and/or how to do it with a T43?

Thanks

[selvan777]

If noone knows and since you're getting the adapter regardless, go into the bios and see for yourself.

[Pop45398]

Yes, your TP should, at least my 770s do. Just include it in the boot order you want in the bios setting. You can aslo boot from a cd, that's sorta why I'm here now. I'm looking to see if it's possible to put XP on a boot cd and not have a hard drive at all.

pop

[MadeInJapan]

Not possible. At least the Swap file has to be flexible....in other words, you have to be able to write to it, so, it being on a CD won't work...besides, XP will not allow installation on anything besides a Hard Drive, in the "C" position. At least this is my understanding.

[kimr]

[quote="bencampmovim"]I'm getting the 2nd HDD adapter for the Ultrabay slot.. Does anyone know if it's possible to make that drive bootable?[/quote]

While cloning the boot disk to an ultrabay disk I discovered that yes, you can boot from the ultrabay disk on a T40. You can set it in the boot order in the bios, then use F12 during boot to select HDD1 instead of HDD0. However, there's a problem with doing this with a cloned disk - Windows XP activation gets confused about the disk signature and when you try to boot off HDD0, you'll get a message to the effect that "XP activation can't be confirmed".

You might try removing HDD0 (the one in the Thinkpad, not the ultrabay), Install the second drive in the Thinkpad, install a new Windows XP on it, then move the second drive to the Ultrabay and replace the first drive. This way each disk will have a unique signature and separate XP activation. The first time you boot off the Ultrabay drive you may need to go into Control Panel->Administrative Tools->Computer Management->Disk Management and reset the drive letters to reflect the drive letters used for the original install. (Since HDD0 is now installed, its. partitions will get drive letters before those on HDD1). If you only have one partition on each drive this probably won't be a problem, since the drive you boot from is always drive "C".

Good luck,
Kim