Is it bootable through the BIOS? If I plug in a hard drive to be my primary could I install Windows?
200488
There are many positive reports on this card. But my experience was very negative. I only gave this product a 1 star rating because it completely disrupted my machine (Windows 7). It provoked serious errors and prevented my machine from booting, and the boot drive was not installed on this card. I had to remove the card and restore my machine from a backup. I don't know your reasons for wanting to use this for the boot drive but I would put my boot drive on the motherboard controller.
200489
Yes. That is what I did on a Dell PC.I also connected an SSD (solid state drive) as my boot drive.Works great !
200490
Yes I am using this as my Windows 8.1 boot drive. I was able to do a clean install of Windows 8.1 without having to do anything special. However to use both of the SATA ports on this card plus the 4 SATA ports on my motherboard I had to load the specific drivers for the card, plus the motherboard drivers. I checked the date and version of the drivers on the disk, they are the same as the ones on the website.
200491
Yes. You can boot from the drive connected in this card from the Bios. You just have to select the drive type/description from the menu.
200492
If you're using a 'boot device selectable' bios like on most @sus boards then it does just fine. Stick it on a 'bought' PC you would have to experiment. Bit it's a very cheap gamble as price is fantastic.
2166810
You can boot into the familiar blue on gray American Megatrends (2011) BIOS (some variation or other of which I've been using for the past 25 years or so lol) by hitting the F2 key when the Vizio graphic displays on power-up (hitting the DEL key gets you to a DOS level boot options screen, where you see a Windows 7 choice, and at which point you can also choose to go into the more traditional F8 boot options if you wish ...like Safe Boot, for example). Interestingly though, in the BIOS boot option section, there's a UEFI boot choice, I'd never noticed before. So, I reset Boot Option 1 to UEFI, restarted ...and all that you could do - still - was go into BIOS, go to the boot option choice screen, or go directly to the Windows start up screen. So. No pretty UEFI to play with. Great question though.
736710
Thanks Terence!This is exactly the info I was looking for! One more question, do you know if the copy of Windows 7 that is factory-installed comes already activated or do you have to activate it on first-boot? If I am to replace the hard drive with a new one (that being the only change) I don't want to face potential activation lock-out because Microsoft thinks I'm trying to install it on an entirely different machine.
1837746
yes, you can if you choose. you'd just have to set the boot order correctly in the BIOS
1790050
Yes, one can press "F12" just after powering on to show a BIOS boot screen and choose the USB to boot from. (one has to press "F12" a couple of times quickly!"
1053923
I had issues with at least two major PC brands whereas depending on the USB port I use USB flash drives, the unit is not recognized by the BIOS/UEFI, or it detects but later can't be open by the install application/boot loader. Sounds silly, but try to use a different USB port and see if that works for you.
785215
What are you trying to install??? Have u tried booting directly from cd??? As soon as it boots on hit f2, f11, f12, or del one of those keys will bring u to bios or a boot menu option from there u should boot from cd :)
1353566
Yes it will boot to it. Just remember to set it as your boot drive in bios. You can also select it at boot up. Some motherboards it's the F12 key to choose which drive to boot from.
1625420
You can install it but it may not boot on the first try. If it does not wrk initially, you can boot from a USB or network, then you go to preferences and set the drive as your default boot drive and it will be fine. The boot time though is faster using ssd on a sata connection than on this card!
1429800
Yes.... BUT you will have to take a few steps: 1. Befor you insert the win7 hard drive go into the bios and change the UEFI boot over to LEGACY boot... Save settings then shut down. 2. Insert the win7 hard drive and start the computer. 3. Go to MSI.com and get all the windows 7 drivers for the MSI GT70 Dominator (NOT MSI GT70 DOMINATOR PRO) 4. Install drivers restarting between each driver install. 5. After last restart you should be good to go with all devices working properly! Hope I helped... Note: When I first got this computer I did the same thing. But due curiosity I gave win8.1 a try if you have patience with learning your way around a little different version of windows its actually a really good OS so long as you set it to boot to desktop of course :) Not pushing you to try it but just a thought... now Im using win8.1 and its my preference. Enjoy this machine if you get its awesome!
785903
Yes, it is bootable.You need to format it appropriately though.Intel Mac: GUID partition.PPC: HFS+
1548172
Depending on the type of computer, u will have to set the bios, and format the hard drive, if windows 7 is a new install and it was previous windows 8 u can set the bios to install from your disk and it should work.
984276
Well, Ryan, one of the pamphlets does indicate that it has Windows 8 Bio Boot. I not a computer expert so you might want to speak to someone more experienced. I have windows 7 ultimate operating system and I love it.
296446
Yes, I've got the Windows 7 Home Version and it works just fine. It booted right up upon plug-in to the USB port...Didn't even need to load the disk that came with it.
620850
Probably not. I doubt you could even do an installation thereof with confidence due to the relationship between Windows 8 and the bios. If I were you I'd wait until September for Windows 10
1732686
I wouldn't know ... I have yet to get mine to boot up in windows. Buy something, anything else.
341472
I always build my own computers so I always buy Windows myself and always have the CD to install it with. So I don't know for sure. It's worth a shot, it's just that I never have done it before. You're best bet is to try an clone the hard drive over (there is software avalible for that). But if that hard drive is damaged, try the backup disk first. If that doesn't work then you'll have to buy the Windows CD to install it that way.