install plop BM to an external hdd?

[forest]

Dear Elmar,

Pardon me if my question is silly.

Is it possible to install Plop BM to an external USD hdd and make it bootable? I would like then to use that hdd to install to a laptop to boot it (it does not have a CD room or floppy) with Plop BM and then to install winXP using usb pendrive.

In other words: I have an old laptop that has an usb port but there is no floppy or CD drive. I have bought a new HDD. How can I install plop BM and win XP to the new HDD. (for supporting installation: I have another laptop that has both CD and floppy drive and I also have a portable hdd case.)

Many thanks,

Forest

[walterav]

It is possible but it will be useless, because something needs to start the USB-device "with plop in your case" in advance, being it a BIOS or earlier booted plopbootmanager from internal HD, incase of floppy/cdrom missing. There is not really a point to install plop onto a external drive.

Does the laptop you talk about really has no option in BIOS to boot from USB-device?

What OS is working on the laptop right now?
If any, install plop onto the internal harddisk from the current running OS.

Or does it contain a empty harddisk?
Pull out the empty harddisk and put in a removable bay. Format it to FAT, install syslinux bootloader and plopbootmanager to it, put it back into the laptop and boot it.

[forest]

Thanks so much for the reply. I have a new blank HDD and would like to have Plop BM on it so that I can install OS from an USB. I can use the other laptop and a portable HDD case to format the new HDD but do not know how to install Plop BM to it and make it bootable so that when I put it back into the laptop the laptop can boot and I can use Plop BM when it start up.

In the manual it only say we can install Plop BM from dos. But if I get into dos we cannot see the portable HDD anymore. Could you kindly point out to me the detailed steps to get Plop BM install to a portable HDD and this HDD is bootable and run Plop BM when installed back to a laptop?

Thanks again,

Forest

[walterav]

A more quick and dirty way:
Download selfimage1.21 for the Windows machine and use it with the file plpbt.img(floppy 1.4MB) as "source" and use the harddisk in the external bay as "destination" and copy the DATA.

!!!LOOK Careful, WHICH DISK YOU SELECT AS DESTINATION OTHERWISE YOU'LL DESTROY YOUR internal disk!!!

During the Windows install you have to re-partition the whole drive, after install you'll notice plop is gone. Thats okay since it can be installed later to boot.ini, in case you need it again.

http://majorgeeks.com/SelfImage_d5588.html

[forest]

This way sounds great, exactly what I am looking for.
I will try it and feedback on the results.

Thanks so much,

forest