Is it possible to install (and run) Windows on an SD card or a USB stick (USB3), and then use the inbuilt hard-drive for data storage only? I'm using a VAIO S15 and was thinking about a fast (50-100MByte/s) 64 or 128GB card or memory stick. Besides, some people ask how to boot from SD card. In this case, you will use this slot. If this slot is broken, you buy an SD card reader and then connect the SD card to the USB slot. When you ask how to boot from SD card, I guess you want to: Make a bootable SD card to install Windows on another PC. Make a bootable Windows on the SD card. The steps to make a bootable SD/ SDHC card on Windows 10 or its previous versions comprise some similar steps. This involves the complete formatting of the SD card and then uploading the OS files to make a bootable SD card or SDHC card. Follow the below steps to make a bootable SD card or USB flash drive for Windows operating system.
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- Solution 1: Transfer files from PC to SD card by Cut/Copy and Paste
- Solution 2: Copy files from PC to SD card using CMD
- Solution 3: Transfer files from PC to SD card via a powerful freeware
When to transfer files from PC to SD card?
SD (Secure Digital) card is a non-volatile memory card format. With high memory capacity, fast data transfer rate, great mobility and good security, it is favored by plenty of people. It is commonly used in portable devices like mobile phones, music players, cameras and so on. You can store photos, music, movies and games on an SD card and transfer them easily. There are some occasions when you want to transfer files from PC to SD card:
Move needed files from PC to SD card so that you have access to those files everywhere without taking the computer with you.
Move rarely-used files from PC to SD card in order to release space on your computer hard drive.
You have learned the advantages of transferring files from PC to SD card. Then, how to do file transfer efficiently?
How to transfer/copy files from PC to SD card in Windows 7/8/10?
I'm going to show you three different solutions to transfer files from PC to SD card in Windows 7. These solutions apply to Windows 10/8 as well. If you have a large number of files to be transferred, then Solution 3 is recommended.
How To Install Windows 7 From Sd Card Without
Solution 1: Transfer files from PC to SD card by Cut/Copy and Paste
These are simply operations and are familiar to most computer users:
1. Connect the SD card to your computer and make sure it is detected.
2. Press 'Win + E' to open 'Computer'. Locate the files you want to move from your computer.
3. Cut/copy and paste the desired files from your computer to your SD card. You can also drag and drop items.
4. Safely disconnect your SD card.
Tips: If you use 'Cut and Paste' method, the files you choose will only be saved on your SD card, thus releasing space on the local disk; if you use 'Copy and Paste' method, you will get a duplicate of chosen files, thus keeping a backup on your computer.
Although it seems easy, it will be a tough work to transfer a large number of files by 'Cut/Copy and Paste', especially when the files are located in different folders.
Solution 2: Copy files from PC to SD card using CMD
Some users prefer Command Prompt operations. Follow the guidance below: How to get photoshop.
1. Connect the SD card to your computer and make sure it is detected.
2. Press 'Win + R' to open the Run dialogue. Type cmd and press Enter or click 'OK' to open Command Prompt.
3. Type cd c:Pictures and press Enter. 'c:Pictures' indicates the location of the files to be transferred.
4. Type copy tulips.jpg f: and press Enter. 'tulips.jpg' indicates the file name with file extension and 'f:' is the drive letter of the SD card.
Tips:
• To transfer more than one file, you can repeat the 'copy' command.
• If there are spaces in the file's name, you need to put quotation marks around them. For example, a file named 'tulips in spring.jpg' would be tulips' 'in' 'spring.jpg in Command Prompt.
5. Type exit and press Enter to exit Command Prompt. Safely disconnect your SD card.
Solution 3: Transfer files from PC to SD card via a powerful freeware
AOMEI Backupper Standard, the best free backup software for Windows 10/8.1/8/7/Vista/XP, can help you with fast file transfer from PC to SD card. It offers you multiple practical features:
✧ Backup and Restore: Create an image file for the operating system, disk, partition, or files and restore the backup image whenever you need.
✧ Sync: Synchronize files or folders from one place to another.
✧ Clone: Make a duplicate of a disk or a partition, such as clone NTFS drive.
Learn how to transfer files from PC to SD card using the 'Sync' functionality in AOMEI Backupper below:
Step 1. Connect the SD card to your computer and make sure it is detected. Download, install and launch AOMEI Backupper.
Step 2. Click 'Sync' on the left pane, and select 'Basic Sync'.
Step 3. Click 'Add Folder' to select the folder(s) you want to transfer from PC to SD card.
Step 4. Click to select the SD card as destination location.
Step 5. Click on 'Start Sync' button to perform the operation. When the sync process is complete, safely disconnect your SD card.
✎ Notes:
If you want to run regular file transfer from PC to SD card, you may resort to the 'Schedule' feature. As for 'Real-time Sync', please upgrade to higher editions of AOMEI Backupper.
'Sync' is a folder level data transfer. If you want to transfer files without folders, you can do 'File Backup' in AOMEI Backupper and then restore the backup image to your SD card.
Summary
Now you know how to transfer files from PC to SD card in Windows 7/8/10 efficiently. Compared to 'Cut/Copy and Paste' and Command Prompt, AOMEI Backupper provides you with a faster way to do file transfer. What's more, it can help you solve the problem that cloned to new computer Windows 7 won't boot and it works as CompactFlash card copier if you own a CompactFlash card. Give AOMEI Backupper a try and you will be surprised by all the wonderful features it has!
Summary :
How To Install Windows 7 From Sd Card Software
Do you want to boot from SD card to install/run systems? Then, you should know whether you can do that and how to do that. In this post, MiniTool Partition Wizard will give you a step-by-step guide.
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Why Need to Boot from SD Card?
SD card, whose full name is Secure Digital Memory Card, is a memory card widely used in portable devices, such as digital cameras, personal digital assistants, and multimedia players. Moreover, it is also used in most laptops.
Most laptops may come with SD card slots. But in most cases, you don't need to use SD cards in PC. Only if you are engaged in work related to photos and design, this slot brings a lot of conveniences.
Besides, some people ask how to boot from SD card. In this case, you will use this slot. If this slot is broken, you buy an SD card reader and then connect the SD card to the USB slot.
When you ask how to boot from SD card, I guess you want to:
- Make a bootable SD card to install Windows on another PC.
- Make a bootable Windows on the SD card.
As for the detailed steps on how to boot from SD card, you can refer to the following contents.
How to Boot from SD Card?
Stage 1: Make a Bootable SD Card
To boot from SD card, you should make a bootable SD card in advance. According to your needs, ways to make a bootable SD card are different. Please refer to the following 2 methods:
Method 1. Create an SD Card Windows Installation Media
Step 1: Connect the SD card to PC and format it to NTFS file system. There are many methods for you to format the SD card. You can use the Windows built-in tools like Explorer, Disk Management, and Diskpart. How to screen capture on pc. You can also use third-party software like MiniTool Partition Wizard.
Step 2: Download Windows 10 Installation Media Creation Tool from Microsoft's official website. Run this tool and you need to do some options:
- Choose installation media creation method. Please check the option Create installation media (USB flash drive, DVD, or ISO file) for another PC.
- Choose Language, Windows Edition, and Architecture according to your needs.
- Choose which media to use. You can try choosing USB flash drive to see whether the SD card is listed under the USB flash drive. If not, please go back and choose the ISO file
Don't know what Windows 10 Media Creation Tool is? Don't worry. This article will tell you what it is and how to use the tool to create installation media.
Step 3: Follow the on-screen instructions to make an SD card installation media or create an ISO file. If you have chosen the ISO file option and made an ISO file on PC, you should use burning software like Rufus to burn the ISO file into the SD card. Here is the guide on how to burn the ISO file with Rufus:
- Install and launch the Rufus program.
- Under Drive Properties, select the SD card as the Device, select the ISO file as the Boot selection, and choose Standard Windows Installation as the Image option. Then, leave the other options at their default values and click the Start
Through this method, you can make a Windows installation media with the SD card.
Method 2. Install a Complete OS on the SD Card
To install a complete OS on the SD card, you can also use Rufus. You just need to change the Image option to Windows to Go. But if you want to clone your computer OS and apps (installed on C drive) to the SD card, you can try migration tools like MiniTool Partition Wizard.
If your SD card is large enough to hold all data, you can even clone the whole computer onto it. Here is the tutorial:
Step 1: Connect the SD card to the PC. Launch MiniTool Partition Wizard and open this software. Go to its main interface and click on Migrate OS to SSD/HDD in the action panel (the OS migration feature is not free).
Step 2: Choose the right method to migrate the system disk and click Next. Option A allows you to clone the whole system disk, while option B only allows you to migrate the OS.
Step 3: Choose the SD as the destination disk and then click Next. For option A, please make sure the used space in the PC drive is smaller than the SD card. For option B, please make sure the used space in the C drive is smaller than the SD card. Only in these cases, the OS migration can succeed.
Step 4: Review changes and click the Next button. In this step, you can keep default settings.
Step 5: Read a note on how to boot from the destination disk and click the Finish button. Then, click the Apply button to execute pending operations.
Stage 2: Make the Computer Boot from SD Card
After making a bootable SD card, you should restart the computer and enter its firmware to make the PC boot from the SD card. To do this, you can refer to the following post:
- Restart PC and press the BIOS key during the booting process. You can search online to know the specific BIOS key of your PC model or the BIOS key will appear on the screen. But in most cases, the BIOS key is F2. You can try it.
- When you enter Firmware, please disable UEFI boot mode. You should go to boot option, disable secure boot/UEFI and enable legacy support/BIOS.
- Go to boot order to place the SD card at the first boot sequence.
- Save changes and exit the firmware. The PC will then boot from SD card.
Although the detailed operations may vary depending on the different motherboards, the general guideline is the same: enter firmware > disable UEFI and enable BIOS > change boot order to make the SD card the first boot device.
This post lists Asus boot menu keys and Asus BIOS keys corresponding to different PC models. It also shows you how to make Asus boot from USB.
Why we need to do these operations. The reasons are as follows:
1. Why do you need to change the boot order?
If you insert a bootable SD card into the PC, there are actually 2 bootable devices on the PC. One is the built-in hard drive that has the original Windows system installed and the other one is the SD card. But the PC will boot from hard drive by default. To change this behavior, you should change the boot order in firmware.
If you want to know about the boot process, please read this post: What Is Computer Booting?
2. Why do you need to disable secure boot and enable legacy support?
UEFI has Secure Boot mode enabled. This mode uses keys, and any operating system or hardware driver that wants to be loaded on this motherboard must pass the authentication of these keys. If the software fails, the motherboard will refuse to load it. The purpose is to prevent malicious software from intruding and infecting boot sector.
However, if you want to boot it from other software including some Linux OS, Windows 7 and earlier versions, etc, disabling Secure Boot temporarily is recommended. Please note that you should turn on this feature later, otherwise the original system will not boot.
Problems When Booting from SD Card
1. BIOS Doesn't Recognize SD Card
Some people report that they can't find the SD card option in BIOS. Is there any method to solve this problem?
In general, whether the PC can boot from SD card is determined by BIOS. Most BIOS only has drivers for hard drives, USB drives, and CD-ROM devices and they don't have the driver for SD card. This is reason why BIOS can't recognize SD card.
Therefore, to solve the 'SD card not recognized by BIOS' problem, you can try the following 2 methods:
- Try every boot option in BIOS to see whether there is an option for SD card.
- Update BIOS. If the current BIOS version doesn't offer the SD card boot option, you can search online to see whether the manufacturer of the motherboard has offered a BIOS version that offers the SD card boot option. If this version is for your motherboard model, you can try updating BIOS to this version.
2. What SD Card Should I Use?
If you want to install a complete OS on an SD card, you should choose an SD card that has a good IOPS value, otherwise the boot speed will be very slow. How to screenshot with keyboard. You may know that SD card is divided into several classes, but the class is usually depending on sequential read and write speed. If you want to but an SD card for camera, you can refer to them.
This post shows you how to choose a right memory card for camera and lists some high-performance memory cards as recommendation.
But if you want to buy an SD card for operating system, you should refer to its IOPS. In this case, please refer to this post: A1 VS A2 SD Card: Compare Them and Make a Wise Choice. In general, the A1 and A1 SD cards are used in phones. And therefore, they are capable of running operating systems.
Bottom Line
Is this post helpful to you? Do have questions about this post? Do you have other ideas about how to boot from SD card? Please leave a comment in the following zone. In addition, if you have difficulty in migrating OS, please feel free to contact us via [email protected]. We will get back to you as soon as possible.
Boot from SD Card FAQ
