LabView on U3 USB thumb drive

[MRedRaider]

Okay, so Option 1 is probably your only option.

I have a very small (physically, not storage space) USB hard drive (has a laptop disk in it) ~40GB. On this drive I have installed a regular copy of Windows XP. (Most current computers allow you to boot from a USB hard drive as if it were part of the computer). Basically, it is as if the internal drive was a secondary drive and MY external disk is the primary. On this copy of Windows I have installed Dev suite and ALL drivers. When I need to work on a station, I plug up the USB Hard drive and boot the computer to this copy of windows, not the one on the hard disk in the computer.

Now I have MY copy of windows, with MY registry! I also still have access to the Computer's internal hard drive. I build my application, test it at the station, and move the executable over to the computers internal disk.... tada! When I unplug my USB drive and reboot, the computer comes up normally and the application works like a charm, having already installed the Runtime and all the required drivers to that copy of windows.

I know that it would be MUCH nicer to carry a small Pen drive with me, but this drive is not that much bigger and saves me a ton of time.

I have successfully done this, and enjoyed not having to Install and Uninstall dev suite on a computer that was going to a manufacturing floor.

[MRedRaider]

@Paul:

Also: great points about the registry... it is a mess and I would VERY MUCH encourage anyone who is not 100% familiar with it to stay out. You are absolutely correct that you cannot install LabVIEW to one computer's second drive and use the second drive on another computer.

I hope my previous post clarifies what I meant about the external device. In reality I could use it as my main computer's only disk, but I tend to leave it clean with only windows and dev tools on it.

[PaulatSTL]

MattH, ok, this sounds interesting. So, you loaded an OS to the external drive and even though the computer has a C: drive in it with an OS loaded to it also. The install didn't try to access the registery on the computers drive. Did you by chance disable the internal drive while doing all of this?

I can see that one would have to configure the BIOS to boot from the external drive. Then once you are done and remove the external drive to have the configuration set to look for the internal drive. Ok, this sounds like a good work around for what I am trying to do. Like you said abet larger device than the USB Thumb Drive.

Thanks MattH, will give this a try next week.

Still would like to see NI do the Thumb Drive. So NI if you are monitoring this thread, lets do it!

Paul Vogler

[MRedRaider]

Alot of new computers has a "Boot Menu" option on bios boot. It is F12 on my PC. This allows me to select the USB disk drive.

I didn't have to disable the internal, its like having a second drive and to the external OS it just looks like a D:.

Good Luck!

[Paul N STL]

MattH, right I have had a few of the newer computers with the F12 during boot-up. Though have not had to use it much and still have not committed to memory all of it's virtues. After thinking "ALL RIGHT"!  A fix for what I am wanting to do, wore off. I started thinking back to some of my early days with computers. I had a motherboard go belly up and bought a new one, but due to the fast pace of computers back then. I also had to get a new sound and video card. Well I put the old hard drive in and had a mess on my hand with all of the old drivers not being compatible with the new hardware. End result is that I ended up reinstalling the OS and building back up the system and programs.

So, I have to ask, how did you do this? More specifily how do you go from computer to computer and not have issues with drivers for different hardware per each computer? Even though we have Dell and some are componet computers (Mutts I have built) at work. Not all of the Dells are the same models so the hardware within them will be different.

I am still hoping that this will work, but my experience from the past says that there will be trouble with the drivers that will be missing on the portable USB hard drive. How did you work around this issue?

Thanks

Paul Vogler

[MRedRaider]

While XP handles this alot better than previous OSs, yes, this can still be an issue on a few of the REALLY old boxes that I have to support. I am fortunate enough that most of our computers are the same model Dell or close enough that it doesn't make a difference.

Probably your only bet is to try it and see if it works.

Good luck!

[Paul N STL]

Ok, Thanks MattH

Hope you have a good weekend.

Paul Vogler

[PaulatSTL]

Hi MattH,

Well I have been trying on and off for the past 2 days. Tried several different ways of doing this (install XP) and boot up. I have only been able to get to the black screen with the words "Windows XP" and the scrolling bar at the bottom of the screen indicating that the OS is loading. About 15 seconds later I get a blue screen saying something about a recent hardware or software change and that there is a problem. I rebooted and then chose to boot in safe mode with prompts. I can see that the last item to load is Windows/system32/Mup.???

So, what hardware are you using for your USB drive? I have a external USB Case made by Startek and maybe this is an issue in itself?

Just a bit of info, I tried to load XP from the computer with and without the internal hard drive. Both times It fail while loading files. My best results and last was when I Ghosted the internal drive to a second computer in the form of an image. Then removed the Hard Drive in the USB case and restored the image to the hard drive. Reinstalled in the USB Case and tried to boot from it, with the internal drive disconnected. To make sure the computer was booting from the external USB drive.

Sure could use some suggestions, running out of hair. lol

Paul

[MRedRaider]

Paul:

I didn't think about this detail, there may be an issue depending on your copy of the OS. We have a Volume License and get the "no activation required" software from MS.

My PC is a Dell Optiplex GX620. Upgraded ram and Video. My external drive is a cheapo case from Ebay (says "Avio" mocking Sony) with a Western Digital Laptop HDD installed.

Unfortunatly I didn't really have any issues, so I don't have any troubleshooting tips for you.

[PaulatSTL]

MattH,

Thanks for taking the time to reply. Well I am not sure if you are familiar with the Ghost program. But either way you do it, be by an image or a clone of the original drive. The second drive will look like the original, to include the activation code that is stored in the registery. In essence, you have a mirror copy of the original drive.

Ok, well some people are luckier than others, I always say that my uncle's name is Murphy. lol  I also contact the manufator of the USB Case. They suggest to just to make sure the drive in the external case is good. Is to put it in the computer as the boot drive and see if it will come up. So, suppose that is the next attempt. 

Oh, the computer in question is a build up that I did. Foxconn MB using the common Intel 915 chipset. But in the bios, there is not boot-up via USB HD, only Bootable Device is listed. Maybe I shoud check out other computers to see if they actually mention a USB HD as a bootable option.

If I make a break through, will post what I found / did.

Paul