FAQ: Booting XP from a USB or Compact Flash Card

Bugbyte · 06-07-2005, 11:36 PM

****Note - this is a FAQ in progress and may contain errors. All CF users, please feel free to correct and add as necessary!****

Are you interested in booting your computer from a solid state device such as a Compact Flash (CF) card? While there are MANY posts on this topic in the
Operating System Optimization forum, here is a link directly to the definitive post on the topic with step by step instructions from our very own Sfiorito:
http://www.mp3car.com/vbulletin/winnt-based/38484-new-ewf-minlogon-cf-instructions.html

A couple of quick FAQ's:

Does using a CF card make XP boot faster?

Your mileage may vary. http://www.mp3car.com/vbulletin/show...=cf+boot+speed

What is the advantage to booting from CF

Mostly, that your system is not tied to a mechanical disk drive. Disk drives can fail from vibration, heat, cold, shock. CF cards use less power as well.

Are there downsides to CF cards?

CF cards only support a limited number of writes (don't worry, it's "lots"), so you want to ensure that your XP install will write as little as possible to the card.

How does it work?

First, read the message link!

CF cards have a finite number of "writes" that can be made to them. This is the reason that XPe (embedded) is used to write the files to the card. First, MinLogon can optionally be used to help reduce boot times. Thenn a product called nLite is used to strip XP down to a bare minimum to fit on the card and EWF (Enhanced Write Filter) is used to reduce writes to the card. A procedure called HORM (Hibernate Once, Resume Many) is also used to reduce writes to the card.

Wimster · 05-27-2007, 02:55 PM

I'm just about to embark on my first CF Windows system. Before I buy the CF, will this booting XP work with ANY CF or should I buy a specific specification? Right now I have my eye on a Dane-Elec 4Gb one (DA-COMFLASH-4096MB).

Thanks so much in advance!

thumper_svx · 05-28-2007, 07:29 PM

The only real caveat is; how FAST do you want to boot. Oh, and some older cards don't actually support IDE emulation mode (though those would be too small to be considered, anyway).

Myself, I'm going with a 4Gb card as fast as I can get (133X seems to be the max at the moment), and almost to hell with the cost. The faster, the better your boot when using HORM.

Also, it's a good idea to build your machine in a virtual machine to test it perfectly and get everything "in situ" before you move it to CF. This results in minimal changes to the CF filesystem.

chris350 · 11-10-2008, 09:23 PM

ok this thread told me nothing on what to do.
how about what i need ( compact flash card, IDE interface...etc)

can i just get the CF and install it on the carpc, then load windows? or is there something special that I have to do?

MAZDABOY · 11-10-2008, 10:04 PM

This would be baller, so you don't need a hard drive, just get a huge flash card or whatever and take it out when you want.

MichaelPlace · 11-25-2008, 02:59 PM

Don't buy CF cards off ebay, ebays area all fake with slow speeds. Buy off a reputable website and use professional digital photographer speed cards, such as the Sandisk extreme range.

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