OS booting from Flash Card?

GusGold

New Member
Hello there,

I was just procrastinating about doing my chemistry homework and was thinking about different ways to speed up my computer. As most newer and some older laptops have card reader, I though that maybe booting my computer from a flash card would boost the start up time. I have a 2GB SD card and a 4GB SDHC that I could use and do not need for anything else.

The questions I have are:
Is it possible? (I think it would be)
Will it be faster to boot from the internal card reader?
Which is faster? SD or SDHC?
Will there be issues with program installs?
Any other advice or issues you can think off?

Thanks for your response,
GusGold

My computer specifications are as follows:
Computer:-----HP Pavilion DV6 3204
Processor:-----Intel I5 M480 2.67GHz (boosts to 2.99GHz) Quad Core
OS:-----------Windows 7 Ultimate x64/openSUSE 12.1 x64
Architecture:--64bit
RAM:----------8GB 1333mHz DDR3
Graphics:------1GB ATI Radeon HD 6550
HDD:----------640GB 5200rpm
Card Reader:---SD,MS/PRO,MCC,XD
 

voyagerfan99

Master of Turning Things Off and Back On Again
Staff member
SD cards are slow and don't provide the performance a real SSD would. The only time you'd want to boot an os from an SD card or flash drive is for an Os that can run directly from Ram (aka Linux).
 

voyagerfan99

Master of Turning Things Off and Back On Again
Staff member

GusGold

New Member
Found this helpful blog.

It surprised me to find that there are very few dead-simple guides to creating a bootable USB thumb/pen/flash drive for a Vista and/or Windows 7 installation. I cobbled together the following from VistaPCGuy and another source I don’t remember right now. More...
Related thread: http://www.techyv.com/questions/how...t-program-bootable-usb-and-bootable-pen-drive
Thanks but I know how to boot from Flash devices. I was really wondering whether it would benefit my systems' boot-up speed in any way. Thanks for the comment any way.
 

voyagerfan99

Master of Turning Things Off and Back On Again
Staff member
Thanks but I know how to boot from Flash devices. I was really wondering whether it would benefit my systems' boot-up speed in any way. Thanks for the comment any way.

Refer to my first response in case you didn't see it.
 

GusGold

New Member
Refer to my first response in case you didn't see it.
Sorry, went away for the past five days.

Is it worth me upgrading to SSD from a 640Gb Hard Drives? I am a student with only a small income. If so, a pointer towards a good one for cheap price.

Just to clarify, you said that SD are slower than SSD but what about compared to standard Hard Drives(5200 RPM I think)?

Thanks
 

voyagerfan99

Master of Turning Things Off and Back On Again
Staff member
Sorry, went away for the past five days.

Is it worth me upgrading to SSD from a 640Gb Hard Drives? I am a student with only a small income. If so, a pointer towards a good one for cheap price.

Just to clarify, you said that SD are slower than SSD but what about compared to standard Hard Drives(5200 RPM I think)?

Thanks

SD cards are [a lot] slower than a standard hard drive. So unless you want to spend the money on an SSD, stick with your regular hard drive.
 

GusGold

New Member
Well I am running on 640 Gb at the moment but i reckon that size will be well out of my price range.

What would you say? I play a few games, program and compile Java/C++/Python/PHP, download quite a bit off the Internet and standard school word and excel tasks.
 

voyagerfan99

Master of Turning Things Off and Back On Again
Staff member
How much space are you using at the moment? For me personally I currently I'm using 76GB, but if I got an SSD I wouldn't have so much [Adobe software I don't actually use] installed.
 

GusGold

New Member
I could probably run off a 128GB but I would be pushing it. My previous laptop had 120Gb HDD and I was always having to remove stuff off it to clear up space. I probably have $200 AUD to spend on it but the cheaper I can get it, the better. I don't need the top of the range drive, Just one that will work for at lease a couple of years, preferably more.
Also Multi layered or Single?

Thanks
 
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