Install Windows 7 from SSD

[swaaye]

I had a Vertex 2 on the desk doing nothing. Using the nice USB3->SATA adapter that came with my Intel 320 SSD, I formatted it, dumped the Win7 x64 install files on it. Next I hooked it to the mobo's SATA, booted it and installed 7 to the HDD in the system.

That HDD was just writing data for all it was worth. I'm imagining SSD->SSD now... I usually do this with a USB2.0 flash stick and that's pretty fast too but yeah this is faster.

Well except that for some reason the HDD wouldn't boot up afterwards. I think the installer put the boot sector on the SSD instead of the HDD.

I'm eager for when USB3 ports are widely bootable on mobos and I can grab a silly fast $5 8GB USB3 flash stick.

 

[Bludd]

The system should still boot if you keep the SSD connected. So when you get into Windows you can do this:

http://www.hanselman.com/blog/SwitchingMyWindows7BootDiskFromDToCWithBCDBootRatherThanBCDEdit.aspx

 

[I.S.T.]

I had a Vertex 2 on the desk doing nothing. Using the nice USB3->SATA adapter that came with my Intel 320 SSD, I formatted it, dumped the Win7 x64 install files on it. Next I hooked it to the mobo's SATA, booted it and installed 7 to the HDD in the system.

That HDD was just writing data for all it was worth. I'm imagining SSD->SSD now... I usually do this with a USB2.0 flash stick and that's pretty fast too but yeah this is faster.

Well except that for some reason the HDD wouldn't boot up afterwards. I think the installer put the boot sector on the SSD instead of the HDD.

I'm eager for when USB3 ports are widely bootable on mobos and I can grab a silly fast $5 8GB USB3 flash stick.

Man, you're gonna be waiting forever. Spend about 50 and then maybe you'll get that speed in a few years...

 

[swaaye]

Some cheap USB3 sticks are already breaking 80MB/s.

I don't know if any boards can boot USB3 though because they are using separate USB3 chips that need drivers.

 

[AlphaWolf]

Some cheap USB3 sticks are already breaking 80MB/s.

I don't know if any boards can boot USB3 though because they are using separate USB3 chips that need drivers.

Claimed or observed? I've seen devices hit those speeds and more, but nowhere near cheap.

 

[swaaye]

I just looked through some Newegg buyer reviews with benchmarks. I have a few 2-3 year old USB2 sticks can max out that bus on sequential reads of large files so I'd expect there has been improvement past that. Installing Vista/7 is primarily a huge sequential read so it should be best case.

ex
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820233209

Some of these USB3 sticks sound like they are doing 20-30MB/s writes and that is pretty exciting too. I'm used to 5MB/s...

 

[AlphaWolf]

ya it does less than 70 in real tests.

 

[swaaye]

Really, 70MB/s does sound adequate! Not gonna take long to dump that 7 install onto a drive at that rate.

 

[Npl]

actually I tried (re-)installing 7 on a laptop from USB3 port, it went as far as the stage where available drives are scanned, then the USB3 port ceased to exist. worked fine from a USB2 port.
seems like you`d need to integrate an USB3 driver for that to work?!

 

[swaaye]

Yeah since the OS doesn't have standard USB3 drivers I guess that's what's needed. Maybe Windows 8 will come with them stock.

I do hope all USB3 controllers will work with some standard driver like older USB standards.