Can you install Windows 7 to a SD card?

[Christopher]

I have looked around the net a bit to see if this was possible, and I have received mixed feelings after my findings.

I recently purchased a new Toshiba Satellite that came with Windows Vista, and a free upgrade to Windows 7 on release.

I am wondering if I am able to put a 32GB SDHC card into the read slot and have it be considered my main hard drive that Windows is on, and use the internal drive (which I swapped out for a Scorpio Black) as storage.

Why, or why not?

Thanks guys.

 

[Antman]

No. Because the flash card is addressed via USB.

But, you can try. There might be a vhd trick.

Search the forum. PM ChuckR. You're welcome, Chuck.

http://www.sevenforums.com/installa...windows-7-portable-hard-drive.html#post219079

http://www.sevenforums.com/installation-setup/4772-win7-installed-sdhc-how.html

 

[SquonkSC]

Through usb it won't, through pcmcia maybe.

Better question, what's the point?

It will be terribly slow, because flash doesn't take simultaneous read/writes very well.
And SD has limited write cycles, so it will get bad quite soon, with all the reading writing being done by the OS.

 

[Antman]

Alas, you address the flaw. Even when successfully executed in a prior OS, the performance was substantially sub-standard.

Christopher - the speed limit is the USB, not the flash memory.

 

[Christopher]

That makes sense.

My inquiry was more so for the future. Meaning the launch of SDXC ... having a 128GB SD card run as my OS based HD would be nice, and the transfer rates are supposedly going to be over 100mps. Seems promising, hence my questions.

 

[Christopher]

Just a side note as well ... but this would not be a USB drive, it would be the card inserted into the onboard card reader.

 

[Antman]

Just a side note as well ... but this would not be a USB drive, it would be the card inserted into the onboard card reader.

Which is on the universal serial bus.

 

[chuckr]

No. Because the flash card is addressed via USB.

But, you can try. There might be a vhd trick.

Search the forum. PM ChuckR. You're welcome, Chuck.

http://www.sevenforums.com/installa...windows-7-portable-hard-drive.html#post219079

http://www.sevenforums.com/installation-setup/4772-win7-installed-sdhc-how.html

The w7 to SD answer is: NO (not yet, anyways)...

Thanks, Antman.
That was a quick plus one to the count....

 

[Night Hawk]

That makes sense.

My inquiry was more so for the future. Meaning the launch of SDXC ... having a 128GB SD card run as my OS based HD would be nice, and the transfer rates are supposedly going to be over 100mps. Seems promising, hence my questions.

The one thing you could try to see 7 on a memory card would be the same program used to see 7 as well as a few Linux go on a usb flash drive. A flash drive would actually be the preferred for this however. Portable VirtualBox 64bit

Portable VirtualBox

 

[chuckr]

That makes sense.

My inquiry was more so for the future. Meaning the launch of SDXC ... having a 128GB SD card run as my OS based HD would be nice, and the transfer rates are supposedly going to be over 100mps. Seems promising, hence my questions.

For the "Here and Now", you might want to play with this:

http://www.sevenforums.com/70337-post29.html

(I personally haven't tried it.)

The 'future' might be USB-3, requiring different drivers, and Windows 9...

In which case, with w7 you'd be playing with a 'dead horse', so to speak...

Better question, what's the point?

"Because it's there..."

 

[Antman]

Better question, what's the point?

Because it's there...

Oh, hell yeah!

A properly motivated individual can accomplish anything.

 

[chuckr]

Better question, what's the point?

Because it's there...

Oh, hell yeah!

A properly motivated individual can accomplish anything.

lol

 

[Night Hawk]

Besides having 7 installed on any external drive or device you can simply have 7 as a boot option when attaching a vhd in the Disk Management tool. Once 7 goes afterwards it will become a new boot entry. http://www.sevenforums.com/tutorials/2953-virtual-hard-drive-vhd-file-create-start-boot.html

For external usb hard drives one thing found out about installing any OS onto those even when removed from the external housing for use inside the case ia that the OS installed will run right into problems. When they say "storage" that's precisely what the drives are good for while programs you install will either run into snags or won't perform there like you expect to see with a regular internal model.

The model series is the main problem. With WD the Green Power drives removed and installed internally serve well for storage and run poorly for Windows especially. For portable VM apps by way of usb you lose out on access to your main drives with the exceptions of floppy and the dvd drive used there unless you can attach the vhd itself in the DM.

 

[Christopher]

Great, thanks for the feedback. Looks like it is time for an SSD then.

 

[Night Hawk]

Glad to have some to pass your way! It's also one reason why I like having a second monitor for things like that!

 

[Christopher]

I used to do the dual monitor thing too, not just running on a 40" Toshiba 1080p setup ... HTPC at it's best.

 

[SquonkSC]

Better question, what's the point?

"Because it's there..."

Good answer.

 

[Night Hawk]

I have a tendency to invent it if it's not there just to see what happens!

When the XP mode was first seen I simply had to find out if Vista and later the upgrade to 7 would work as well on the new Virtual PC.

 

[Christopher]

If you build, they will come.

If you don't build it, they will still come and then take credit for building it.

 

[Night Hawk]

And just think, that's only an understatement there! :roflmao: