Boot (T61p) from SD card?

Has anyone here successfully booted from SD card in either the
integrated card reader or a USB reader? I've successfully created
Recovery Media on 8GB SDHC card with Rescue & Recovery 4.3, but haven't
been able to get the BIOS Boot to recognize it with "+USB HDD" (instead
of "-USB HDD") or in the F12 list of boot devices. USB BIOS is enabled,
and Windows 7 shows the partition as Active Primary. Thanks.

--
John You are cordially invited to participate in the
official ThinkPad group news:comp.sys.laptops.thinkpad

On Sat, 07 Aug 2010 08:14:57 -0700, in
<>, John Navas
<> wrote:

>Has anyone here successfully booted from SD card in either the
>integrated card reader or a USB reader? I've successfully created
>Recovery Media on 8GB SDHC card with Rescue & Recovery 4.3, but haven't
>been able to get the BIOS Boot to recognize it with "+USB HDD" (instead
>of "-USB HDD") or in the F12 list of boot devices. USB BIOS is enabled,
>and Windows 7 shows the partition as Active Primary. Thanks.

UPDATE: The T61p will boot from a USB flash drive, but not from an SD
card, either in a USB reader (SanDisk MicroMate) or in the integrated
reader, which I would prefer as a matter of convenience, hence my post.

--
John You are cordially invited to participate in the
official ThinkPad group news:comp.sys.laptops.thinkpad

John Navas wrote:

> On Sat, 07 Aug 2010 08:14:57 -0700, in
> <>, John Navas
> <> wrote:
>
>>Has anyone here successfully booted from SD card in either the
>>integrated card reader or a USB reader? I've successfully created
>>Recovery Media on 8GB SDHC card with Rescue & Recovery 4.3, but
haven't
>>been able to get the BIOS Boot to recognize it with "+USB HDD"
(instead
>>of "-USB HDD") or in the F12 list of boot devices. USB BIOS is
enabled,
>>and Windows 7 shows the partition as Active Primary. Thanks.
>
> UPDATE: The T61p will boot from a USB flash drive, but not from an SD
> card, either in a USB reader (SanDisk MicroMate) or in the integrated
> reader, which I would prefer as a matter of convenience, hence my
post.

Correct me if I'm wrong, but I don't think that *any* SD-reader-
equipped ThinkPad is capable of booting from an SD card.

A shame too, as I've come across a couple situations in which it would
be quite handy to have.

Cheers,
Rob

On Sun, 08 Aug 2010 23:04:29 -0400, in
<i3nr7t$no5$>, Robert Tomsick
<robert+> wrote:

>John Navas wrote:
>
>> On Sat, 07 Aug 2010 08:14:57 -0700, in
>> <>, John Navas
>> <> wrote:
>>
>>>Has anyone here successfully booted from SD card in either the
>>>integrated card reader or a USB reader? I've successfully created
>>>Recovery Media on 8GB SDHC card with Rescue & Recovery 4.3, but haven't
>>>been able to get the BIOS Boot to recognize it with "+USB HDD" (instead
>>>of "-USB HDD") or in the F12 list of boot devices. USB BIOS is enabled,
>>>and Windows 7 shows the partition as Active Primary. Thanks.
>>
>> UPDATE: The T61p will boot from a USB flash drive, but not from an SD
>> card, either in a USB reader (SanDisk MicroMate) or in the integrated
>> reader, which I would prefer as a matter of convenience, hence my post.
>
>Correct me if I'm wrong, but I don't think that *any* SD-reader-
>equipped ThinkPad is capable of booting from an SD card.

It would seem to be a limitation (bug IMHO) in the BIOS, since a USB
card reader emulates a storage device in the much same way as a USB
flash drive, except for some apparent difference that prevents booting
from it.

>A shame too, as I've come across a couple situations in which it would
>be quite handy to have.

Indeed.

I've got a support ticket open with Lenovo.

--
John You are cordially invited to participate in the
official ThinkPad group news:comp.sys.laptops.thinkpad

On Sat, 07 Aug 2010 08:14:57 -0700, John Navas
<> wrote:

> Has anyone here successfully booted from SD card in either the
> integrated card reader or a USB reader? I've successfully created
> Recovery Media on 8GB SDHC card with Rescue & Recovery 4.3, but haven't
> been able to get the BIOS Boot to recognize it with "+USB HDD" (instead
> of "-USB HDD") or in the F12 list of boot devices. USB BIOS is enabled,
> and Windows 7 shows the partition as Active Primary. Thanks.

I'm not sure in how far this might apply here, but I distinctly
remember that not every PC can boot from every flash/ pen/ key drive
either, even if there's a basic BIOS support for booting from USB
devices - it depends too on the format of the USB stick (re:
superfloppy, MBR etc...) - maybe that might be an additional factor
here too...

....one link that came up fast on Google looking for bootable
USB-sticks was http://www.bootdisk.com/pendrive.htm - maybe something
like that will help here too...

Thinking twice, I'd expect R&R to take care of applying a suitable
format for booting to be possible, but then again: it wouldn't be the
1st time I'd be negatively surprised - if I'd have an SD card, I'd
simply try to put some simple bootable OS like DOS on it for testing
purposes (next would probably be a Linux live CD), just to check if
there is any basic chance to boot from the SD...

Good luck

T.C.