How to install Windows 7 from eSATA?

Question

I want to put a Windows 7 installer on a OCZ Throttle and install from it using eSATA.

Some guy tried it here: http://www.ocztechnologyforum.com/forum/showthread.php?t=58874&highlight=throttle

But it seems Windows wrote the MBR onto his OCZ Throttle.

How do you fix the MBR on the OCZ Throttle and on the computer?

Answer 1

Short answer:

• Format the Throttle (FAT or NTFS - it doesn't seem to matter)
• mark the volume as "active" (bootable)
• copy the contents of the Win7 ISO / DVD to the root of the flash drive
• Boot from eSATA (if it will let you - you might need to have the BIOS think it is USB)

Answer 2

It seems like a complicated issue. The solution to the MBR being in the wrong location would be to boot into the Recovery Console, and run fixmbr.

If that command is incorrect (it was the WinXP method), I've read the following command may also work:

Bootrec.exe /FixMbr

However, the issue here is that, as far as I'm aware with Windows 7, you still need the disc to get into the recovery console. If your Throttle is plugged in during the MBR fix, it may want to write it to the same location. The solution would be to boot from a DVD, which then voids the entire point of installing from the drive in the first place.

I would expect that Windows would write the MBR to the first SATA drive logically ordered in the BIOS. Some motherboards may list the eSATA ports first, while others may list the hard drives first. So, at least according to my theory, the eSATA installation may work on some machines based on the motherboard, and not others.

Answer 3

I would really like an answer to this issue. Yesterday I tried this, and I thought I would share my experience, and from that maybe get a little closer to a conclusive sollusion.

This is what I found out:

Fixing the eSATA drive to boot was not any problem, neither was installing Windows 7 (based on that your motherboard supports boot through eSATA).

I´ve tried disconnecting the eSATA-drive and use my DVD to repair startup, fixmbr, botrec.exe /rebuildbcd, and none seems to help. Although when I run the bootrec.exe /rebuildbcd it finds my Windows installation at C:/Windows, but when I attempt to repair it, the cmd says "No element found".

The problem seems to be that if your motherboard makes the first boot hard drive the primary drive, it will install the MBR there. My drive has the capability of connect with USB 2.0, and when I do so, the MBR gets to the right drive (C:) and all is good.

One solution might be to make the eSATA drive second to primary, and press the key that gives you the choice to boot from another drive.

Sadly, no motherboard except those in laptops has this function.