Difference

[KARL]

I understand that if a supposedly bootable drive won't boot up any computer where it is tried then something is wrong with the boot sector, the drive is not bootable. If on the other hand the drive boots up on one or more computers but not on others (PCs and laptops, all of them 64 bit - Apple equipment excluded), why would that be ? I assume that for the purposes of this question it matters not which operating system is involved, again assuming the OS is correctly compiled. Should which computer is involved not be irrelevant ?

[Buenchico]

Are you sure that the BIOS on each of the computers is configured to boot from an external drive?

[KARL]

Oh, yes, definitely - they all boot up from a good drive but this drive is a problem and the person who set it up claims it is a problem with "some computers", nothing to do with (not the fault of) the drive (for the configuration of which I paid).

[fender62]

perhaps the usb drive is GPT and not MBR format, or If on one machine the drive is assigned "E:" and you then try to add it to another machine that already has an "E:" from some card reader, or network drive, then it will appear to do nothing.

Right click "computer" --> select "manage" and then surf down to storage/disk management and assign it the drive letter "X:"

[KARL]

fender, the point is to be able to move the drive between devices (locations). You are suggesting that the solution to the difficulty I am faced with is to make adjustments to every computer where the drive cannot be used straight off (as the person who configured the drive implied). I have an example of a drive which so far has worked perfectly with every single computer it has been plugged into, and by now there are several, of which many will not work off the errant drive. Both drives have the same 64bit operating system. If it is possible to configure a drive so that it works with all computers (or at least very nearly all), that is what I am asking for (one "adjustment") - I want to avoid the other way around. The example I have is such a thing but I think it must be pride that prevents the person from learning from this one, or perhaps he simply hasn't the skills.

[woofgang]

Karl, if you call it eg an x drive or a Q drive, then that will sort the problem on all the computers unless by some strange quirk of fate they already gave an x or q drive. Been there done that.

[woofgang]

sorry, not clear...you do it once to the drive (name it with an unused letter) after that you should be able to plug it into any computer and it will say "hello my name is X" and the computer will accept it instead of it saying "hello my name is e" and the computer saying "no it isn't, I know e and you are not him"