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Resolved Question

Booting laptop from alternate drive?

Jul 31, 2016 11:10AM PDT

Greetings, all -

I picked up a Lenovo Thinkpad E545 a while back and it's been terrific, especially after I plugged in some more memory and swapped the stock hard drive for a Samsung EVO 800.

The one thing I really miss from the desktop computer days is the ability to boot from different hard drives. After doing some research, it appears it can be done. Someone in a forum was talking about a system called Ultrabay that allowed for it.

So, any thoughts on this or links to a how-to site?

Thanks,
Chuck

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Best Answer

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Sorry no but for 10 bucks you may want to try it.
Jul 31, 2016 11:24AM PDT
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Looks good!
Jul 31, 2016 12:10PM PDT

Very nice! That fact that it mentioned by model specifically is always a plus. What was fun was that it took me a whole minute to figure out that it's replacing my ROM drive. I was originally thinking of something that would attach to the SATA bus and then have two wide, flat cables running outside the unit, ending up in SATA connections like the SATA -> USB cable I have now for the second drive. As far as I can tell, hitting the F12 key at boot-up should allow me to choose between the drives.

And, as far as playing DVDs goes, I have a dandy little 5-slot unit plugged into the USB 3.0 slot on the laptop, which should work just fine.

Much thanks,
Chuck

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Care to share that 5 slot device make and model?
Jul 31, 2016 12:24PM PDT

It's something I haven't seen for years. I have resisted the 100 ODD DVD carousel as time passed and almost everything I have is digitized.

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Er, uh...
Jul 31, 2016 12:45PM PDT

Hi back -

Er, I hope I didn't mislead you with the wrong terminology. It's just a USB hub. What I like about it is that it has an on-off switch, so I can leave the permanently-plugged-in old HD plugged in and not have it burning itself out except when I want it. The three other USB devices on the system (keyboard, mouse, 2-unit docking bay for old-style 3½" HDs) are plugged into the three USB 2.0 jacks on the unit.

Also, it's a 4-port hub, my mixtake. It's here.

As for DVD carousels, I had seven 150-disc units a year ago, then moved into an RV and didn't have the room for them, so I kept one and digitized all the remaining DVDs into ISO files, although the first thing I did after that was buy a terabyte drive as a backup. They're certainly more of a pain when stored as DVDs, but at least a capacitor burning out won't wipe out 800+ movies, heh.

Thanks again for the solution to my bootable problem. It looks like it should work perfectly and the Amazon reviews were mostly positive.

Chuck

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On second thought...
Jul 31, 2016 1:20PM PDT

Actually, on second thought, I don't see any need to buy an external ROM drive. Since both the stock ROM drive and the HD unit just slide in and out without a qualm, I'll just swap them on the odd occasion I want to boot up with a second drive. What got me to thinking is that a couple of the external ROM drives on Amazon come with a note that says to plug it directly into the laptop, rather than a hub, or the unit (or the disc) might not be recognized, and since the existing ROM drive works so well, it quickly boils down to one of those "If it ain't broke, don't fix it" stories. Just thought I'd pass that along.