- There are two possible configurations for the operating system on an e-SATA drive that will allow a user to boot from an external hard disk drive. The first and most commonly utilized configuration is that of a cloned hard drive. In this case, the user has cloned a hard drive using software such as Acronis to make an exact disk replication of an internal system drive. The second option for operating system configuration is to install the operating system onto the external device while the main internal system drive is offline. Taking the internal system drive offline helps avoid operating system conflict should you need to boot from the e-SATA hard disk drive in the event of a main drive failure.
- In order to boot from any external hard disk drive, your BIOS must be capable of booting from an external disk drive. To ascertain whether or not your motherboard is capable of this feature, you should refer to your manufacturer's original documentation. Further, when actually attempting to boot from an e-SATA drive, it is important to set your BIOS boot configuration so that it boots from external devices first, instead of internal disk drives. Failure to set your e-SATA drive as a higher priority for booting within the BIOS will result in your main internal hard drive's system booting.
- While it is possible to boot from any e-SATA hard drive, it is important to understand that the majority of e-SATA drives are manufactured with capacity and mobility in mind, as opposed to speed and efficiency. If you intend to run an operating system off your e-SATA drive, it is important to ensure that the drive is capable of at least 7200 rpm, and that it is not simply an EIDE drive converted to an e-SATA drive in an external enclosure, as this will reduce the external drive's transfer speeds to that of an EIDE drive.
