Hi All. I have been searching for days now so I thought I would ask here. I am currently using BCDW (www.bcdwb.de/bcdw/index_e.htm) on a boot CD. It can boot to the floppy, HD, as well as CD images and Floppy images. There is a easy to use and configure menu to pick which to boot to. I am trying to figure out a way to do the same thing on a USB Hard Drive (not a USB Key, but a 40gig laptop drive in a small external enclosure). Everything I can find indicates Linux is the way to go, but I can find no clear answers, or if it is even possible. I am trying to avoid making dozens of partitions on the drive. Ideally I would like to use the same diskette images used on my CD, but also be able to fire up BartPe and maybe a version of Windoz from a partition. I can't find anything pre-made and everything else seems a long and involved process which I am not sure has even been done successfully. I have come across people asking if it can be done but there does not seem to be any advice that comes up with a solution. Any advice? Mike Walsh

maybe a bit off the topic ... but i see u r using xp/w2k ... ever tried MS wirtual pc 2004 which is now free available. you can mount ISO images as boot disc from any location. Today's subliminal thought is: 'Calm down ... it's only ones and zeros.' icq 10183575

This may help you: http://www.phlak.org/modules/mydownloads/viewcat.php?cid=4 After booting the CD there is a script on the desktop to allow you to install it and boot from USB.

I do run Virtual PC to test cds and floppy images. I now find myself going to a lot of peoples houses and it seems I always forget to bring the right cd. Instead of having a dozen cds I wanted to use 1 laptop drive to boot to WinPE / BartPE, dos based hd utils, my "start everything" boot cd, and about 60 floppy images. As usb keys get larger, and come down in price, I will switch over to that. I know that right now booting to any usb device is not consistent and there is a lot of older machines out there that won't do it at all. I was really trying to get a start to consolidate all the bootable media I use onto one hard drive. Thanks for the link, I will check it out. - Mike