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Portable hard drive that loads cd images
I've seen a device before that is a portable hard drive that you can put ISO images on and it will appear to a computer to be a cdrom drive. I saw it a couple years ago and no longer can find it. Are there still these types of devices out there?
I'm looking for something I can store cdroms on so I dont have to keep burning and losing CDs. Like Windows 7 volume license and VMware ESXi
I'm looking for something I can store cdroms on so I dont have to keep burning and losing CDs. Like Windows 7 volume license and VMware ESXi
Found this to extract contents of a bootable cd to a thumbdrive http://serverfault.com/questions/2952/boot-and-install-windows-from-a-usb-thumb-drive
there is a software program for WinXP that does this:
( not sure that it will run under Win7 though: http://connect.microsoft.com/WindowsServerFeedback/feedback/details/351231/mount-iso-files )
You can download the program from Micro$oft:
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/916902
When you run the program, you will see the attached menu option.
Just click the Add Drive button until you get an available drive, then click the Mount button and load the ISO file.
( not sure that it will run under Win7 though: http://connect.microsoft.com/WindowsServerFeedback/feedback/details/351231/mount-iso-files )
You can download the program from Micro$oft:
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/916902
When you run the program, you will see the attached menu option.
Just click the Add Drive button until you get an available drive, then click the Mount button and load the ISO file.
ASKER
Thanks for the help. I'm looking specifically for a device with firmware and a lcd screen that can quickly change between ISO images to make provisioning bare metal hardware.
ittogo, your solution would work for windows, but I'm also needing to constantly get new cd images and install them, so I'd like to have a device that makes this all seemliess
ittogo, your solution would work for windows, but I'm also needing to constantly get new cd images and install them, so I'd like to have a device that makes this all seemliess
ASKER
to make provisioning bare metal hardware easy* sorry for the typo
If the hardware will boot from a usb drive, extracting the iso to flash drive and using it would be fairly painless. The drives are cheap enough that you could have a few and then recycle them to a new iso when needed
ASKER
ittogo, that would work well but I would like to not have lots of flash drives. I've seen a device that would do this before and just wondering if it still exists.
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ASKER
Thanks for all of your help, but I'm really just looking for the device that fits those parameters. I'm looking to move away from many boot devices/stuff to lose, and moving towards a hard drive based system that can emulate a cdrom.
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ASKER
I've concluded that this hardware device no longer exists. The easyboot/multiboot software is probably my best solution moving forward.