Compaq 730EZ: How to boot from USB disk?

[MacFun]

I bought HP CPQ 730EZ and before playing with it, I would like to make a full backup (bootable) on a second HD connected at a USB port. Installed is Win XP.
The backup was done with Ghost (disk to disk) and terminated successfully. Starting from the internal HD, no problems, the USB disk is visible and accessible.
I tried booting from the USB HD (F9, changed boot device) and XP starts up and in the middle of the boot process it stops and the mini restarts.
No way to boot XP from the external USB HD.

Any ideas which could help?

Summary of my various tries:

- USB memory stick (4GB) with Win98 command line: boot okay
- USB Memory stick with WinPE: boot okay
- USB Memory stick with XP (clone via ghost from original install): doesn't boot
- USB Memory stick with XP (clone via Power Quest drive image): doesn't boot
- USB HD with XP (clone via ghost from original install): doesn't boot
- USB HD with XP (clone via Power Quest drive image): doesn't boot

[mbudden]

I had the same problem when I cloned my drive on my HP 110. It was an exact clone that was boot-able, but when I went to boot it, it didn't do anything. Just hanged as well. I wish there was a solution to this. If I find anything else out, I'll let you know.

[jeffson_243]

I have tried some of your methods as well, none of them works. So how about fresh install XP? Will USB drive be recognizable as HD?

[MacFun]

I did several re-installs and yes, the USB stick appears in the boot menu (F9) as HD and when XP booted, it's visible and accessible as well.

The main question for me, is this issue depending on the OS (in this case XP) or is it HW/Bios related?

Did anybody try it with Win7?

[stuartadair]

I'm struggling with a similar issue (See my post a few above this one).

Download HP USB Disk Formatting Tool, pop in a USB drive and it does the rest. You will need the DOS boot files which aren't part of the install but if you drop me an email I'll forward them on.

Stu