Can PXI controller boot from ExpressCard SSD?

[Ken_Winters]

I need a bootable removable hard drive solution for some systems with PXI-8108 controllers. My research indicates that an ExpressCard SSD can boot, if there is the proper BIOS compatibility. Has anyone successfully done this with any PXI controller?

Thanks

[afrowizard]

Hello Ken_Winters,

You shouldn't have any problems booting in this way.  Here's a similar forum post concerning booting from an expresscard:

http://forums.ni.com/t5/LabVIEW/Is-it-possible-to-boot-LabVIEW-Real-time-from-an-ExpressCard-SSD/td-...

The difference is that the person in that forum was using a Real TIme OS which has other restrictions.  Most likely you won't run into a problem if you use an NTFS formatted hardrive. 

Let me know if this helps.

[Josh_KNH]

Are you trying to boot LabVIEW Real-Time or Windows?  Booting Windows is trickier.  The rought requirements for booting from an ExpressCard device are:

1. The ExpressCard uses PCI Express connected to SATA-based storage.  ExpressCard slots also provide USB connections, and some ExpressCard SSDs just use USB, which typically cannot be used for booting an OS.

2. (Windows only) The ExpressCard provides an Option ROM to enable booting from the device.

Finding cards that satisfy #1 is not too difficult.  Requirement #2, finding ExpressCards that are natively bootable, is harder.  This post here provides an overview of some of those issues.

For booting LabVIEW Real-Time, the native booting requirement does not exist because the support for booting LabVIEW Real-Time is directly built into the BIOS.

[Ken_Winters]

Thanks for the help. As soon as funds are available, I'll give it a try.

Ken