Is this even possible?

[Katalysis]

I was talking to someone about ram disks and SSDs, and started thinking...

Can you get a USB -> SATA converter, install an OS onto a flash drive, plug it into the mobo with the adapter, and have it as the primary boot-up operating system? Would it be faster than a traditional SATA hard drive?

I don't even know if such a thng exists, but it seemed like an interesting idea to simply have the hard drive as data storage, or for multiple OS management.

 

[Lazn_Work]

USB flash drives are on the order of 20-30MB/s

Most newer motherboards support booting from USB, so you don't even need the converter to do this, but no they are not faster than normal HD's.

 

[sondo2121]

I was thinking that on my newest newegg order (placed yesterday) I would try to implement an eSata 3.0GB/s drive as my C:\ drive. This would allow me to save space inside my case....

I have never tried to install an OS on a flash drive, but it has always interested me.

 

[Skud]

Yes, but you'll probably kill the flash drive in little time.

AFAIK, USB flash drives don't have an implementation of "wear leveling".

Riley

 

[Concentric]

You can do this on most motherboards from one of the USB ports, no adapter needed. It wouldn't be faster though; about 1/2 the sustained transfer bandwidth of a regular HDD.