Can I make my computer boot from SD Card if the BIOS doesn't support it by installing a third party bios or is this not possible?

Question

I have Windows XP on my SD card for my laptop. It's pretty cool because I can just switch the slider to turn off the SD card so it's convenient. The alternative USB is bulky and can get lost so I am wondering if there's a workaround?

Answer 1

There is a way. There is a small Linux Distro called PLOP Linux. It's original purpose was to allow older computers that don't have the ability to boot from a USB stick, to load up and boot from a USB stick. So how worked back then, is you would burn it to a CD ROM, boot it, Insert the Live USB, select it, and then it would run. It's basically a live bootloader that runs other bootloaders. So you could use PLOP to boot an SD card no problem. But you would have to boot it up from a USB Drive or even an CR/DVD drive first, in order to mount the SD card. But yes. It's possible. 

Answer 2

You can't boot an operating system by using an SD card. I never saw any BIOS giving an option to boot from an SD card, so I don't think it's possible to boot an operating system from an SD card.

I have various USBs, and I never lost one yet. I bought something to put my USBs in, and I am able to organize my USBs too.

Answer 3

there likely is no third party BIOS made, just newer versions from the maker of your computer -- see their support pages under your model number

Answer 4

Biotech can write a boot manager to your ad card that will make it appear as a floppy drive alternatively you can install the boot manager on a floppy disk and boot to the floppy disk and when the boot manager loads up from the floppy disk you can point it at the SD card

Answer 5

3rd party BIOS? i don't think you understand what the BIOS is/does.

the BIOS is specific to that model, and was written by the manufacturer. only they know how to do that.

if you want a computer that boots to SD Card, you need to buy that, though there are not many.

instead, why not get a Sandisk Fit USB drive. they are smaller than a pinky nail when plugged in.

Answer 6

The Bios needs to support it.  The problem is a 3rd party bios don't exist for most laptops that would add such a functionality.  I'm not sure what you are doing with Windows XP, but perhaps you should try setting up a virtual machine or a dual boot. 

Answer 7

Unless there is an option to boot from an SD card in the BIOS there is nothing you can do. We have no idea if there is a 3rd party BIOS as you haven't specified the make, model or BIOS of the computer. It would be unlikely though