Unable to get my PC to boot from a USB drive

Scott · Aug 9, 2025

TAILS booted to my computer just fine. It's ahhh...interesting.

QuicktellPro · Aug 9, 2025

spapakons said:
Just create a USB flash drive using the Ubuntu ISO and boot it.

It refuses to run unless I disable RST in my BIOS. If I do that, what effect will it have when using Windows? I'm aware it stands for Rapid Storage Technology which, in itself, sounds like something my PC requires.

QuicktellPro · Aug 9, 2025

Scott said:
TAILS booted to my computer just fine.

How did you handle the graphics card issue, because I note you too are using a Geforce card?

Winuser · Aug 9, 2025

QuicktellPro said:
It refuses to run unless I disable RST in my BIOS. If I do that, what effect will it have when using Windows? I'm aware it stands for Rapid Storage Technology which, in itself, sounds like something my PC requires.

Try booting into Windows with RST disabled. If Windows boots I would leave it disabled.

QuicktellPro · Aug 9, 2025

Winuser said:
Try booting into Windows with RST disabled. If Windows boots I would leave it disabled.

That doesn't sound like a good idea considering my laptop uses RAID in striping mode.

Understanding Intel Rapid Storage Technology for Dell | Dell US

Scott · Aug 9, 2025

QuicktellPro said:
How did you handle the graphics card issue, because I note you too are using a Geforce card?

I didn't need to do anything, it just booted.

QuicktellPro said:
It refuses to run unless I disable RST in my BIOS. If I do that, what effect will it have when using Windows?

You'd have to re-enable RST whenever you wanted to boot into Windows.

QuicktellPro · Aug 9, 2025

Scott said:
You'd have to re-enable RST whenever you wanted to boot into Windows.

Too much hassle, and after reading what RST is for on Dell's site, I fear it would damage my system as I have 2 SSD's running in a RAID 0 configuration. Looks like I'm going to have to stick with Windows after all. Thanks for all your input though.

spapakons · Aug 9, 2025

Forget TAILS OS use Ubuntu or create a Windows-to-Go disk so you have your own Windows system with your apps and data. As far as I know Windows just boot without having to modify your BIOS settings.

DJNelson · Aug 9, 2025

You should be able to solve your problem by changing secure boot mode from deployed to audit.

Marie SWE · Aug 9, 2025

QuicktellPro said:
Too much hassle, and after reading what RST is for on Dell's site, I fear it would damage my system as I have 2 SSD's running in a RAID 0 configuration. Looks like I'm going to have to stick with Windows after all. Thanks for all your input though.

Hi there

First i wonder.. Why do you use Raid 0 on a laptop with SSD's?
Then i wonder Why tails of all Linux distributions out there, and why do you consider Linux?

spapakons · Aug 9, 2025

As far as I understood from TAILS OS website, it is supposed to boot from a USB (using it Live, without installation) and offers you privacy to do whatever you want without leaving usage traces in the host computer. As I explained in another reply, this is absolutely BS because you can do the same with any other Linux distro or even with a Windows Live USB such as Strelec WinPE. Booting from a USB leaves absolutely no usage traces to the host computer. An alternative to a WinPE environment is to create a Windows-to-Go disk. This is an external USB hard disk (or flash drive if at least 64GB) that runs a full Windows system complete with your drivers, applications and games and you won't notice any difference from running the same system installed in the internal SSD. The only difference is that is cannot be upgraded to the next version unless you modify some Registry key to make it "standard" Windows installation. To do that you must place the hard disk internally, since it won't be able to boot from USB if you do it. So you have to remove the (usually SATA) hard disk from the USB case, put it inside, switch it to "standard", upgrade it and then switch it to "Windows-to-Go" again before you can put it back to the USB case and boot it.

Bree · Aug 9, 2025

QuicktellPro said:
Dell ... I have 2 SSD's running in a RAID 0 configuration.

Marie SWE said:
i wonder.. Why do you use Raid 0 on a laptop with SSD's?

Dell laptops typically use DRAM-less SSDs (rather than SSDs with their own internal DRAM buffers) such as the Kioxia BG4 in my system below. The bios default is RAID, even for a single SSD. This means that Intel RST will be providing a Host Memory Buffer (HMB) using a little of the PC's own RAM.

How to check NVME driver for HBM capability?

Many of the new budget DRAM-less NVME drives use HBM - Host Buffer Memory - to set up a cache in host memory DRAM in a bid to approach performance of the more costly DRAM NVME drives. I'm right now awaiting one such drive to be delivered but I'm not sure exactly how this works. A few questions...

www.elevenforum.com

Marie SWE · Aug 9, 2025

Bree said:
Dell laptops typically use DRAM-less SSDs (rather than SSDs with their own internal DRAM buffers) such as the Kioxia BG4 in my system below. The bios default is RAID, even for a single SSD. This means that Intel RST will be providing a Host Memory Buffer (HMB) using a little of the PC's own RAM.

View attachment 141831 View attachment 141832

The question still stands, why Raid 0 on two SSD's in a laptop.

It is twice the risk to lose data if one disk fails.. and the speed gain on Raid 0 on SSD.. some do need an extra high write/read speed, but that is only a few

So even if they are DRAM-less they are still faster then any HDD's
So if not using Raid0 then one disk can be for windows and the other for Linux and then use Bios boot menu for dualboot to not mess with windows bootloader.
Running Linux from an USB drive is possible... but its way slower and you also can get some system crashes now and then if you get an USB port hiccup

Winuser · Aug 9, 2025

QuicktellPro said:
That doesn't sound like a good idea considering my laptop uses RAID in striping mode.

Understanding Intel Rapid Storage Technology for Dell | Dell US

That is why I said "Try booting into Windows with RST disabled. If Windows boots I would leave it disabled." I have the option on my desktops but don't need it so it is turned off.

Winuser · Aug 9, 2025

QuicktellPro said:
Too much hassle, and after reading what RST is for on Dell's site, I fear it would damage my system as I have 2 SSD's running in a RAID 0 configuration. Looks like I'm going to have to stick with Windows after all. Thanks for all your input though.

I wouldn't have suggested not using RST if I knew your system was using it. You really need to give us all the info about your system so we have a better understanding of what you need and don't need.

QuicktellPro · Aug 10, 2025

Marie SWE said:
The question still stands, why Raid 0 on two SSD's in a laptop.

Because that's how the laptop came when I bought it.

spapakons · Aug 10, 2025

If you don't have too much data to backup and too many applications to reinstall, I would separate the disk (undo RAID) and reinstall Windows. Set storage to AHCI for maximum compatibility before installing. Use one disk for Windows and the other for Linux or data.

QuicktellPro · Aug 10, 2025

Winuser said:
You really need to give us all the info about your system so we have a better understanding of what you need and don't need.

In my last post to Marie SWE, I displayed the main components of my laptop. After reading what RST does, it seems to me that I absolutely need it because disabling it could ruin the striping and corrupt my data. I know very little about these things so that may be total nonsense, but at this stage, I'm unwilling to take the risk.

I initially went for TAILS because the video I linked to earlier explained how you could surf the net without being tracked. With free speech under constant attack, that seemed to me to be a wise choice. That said, if I dare post replies to anything, I would instantly become visible anyway. Then there's the question of storage. If I could have gotten TAILS to run, I would have been able to unplug it after a session, but it seems to me that anything I download, which is usually documentaries, would need to be stored locally because the USB drive would not have enough space. Ergo, I lose the advantage of having been invisible, no?

QuicktellPro · Aug 10, 2025

spapakons said:
If you don't have too much data to backup and too many applications to reinstall, I would separate the disk (undo RAID) and reinstall Windows. Set storage to AHCI for maximum compatibility before installing. Use one disk for Windows and the other for Linux or data.

Not doable. I do have plenty of programs to reinstall. I am not looking to create a dual boot system. I was only looking to maximize privacy.

QuicktellPro · Aug 10, 2025

Marie SWE said:
Then i wonder Why tails of all Linux distributions out there, and why do you consider Linux?

I have never used Linux, however TAILS is Linux based. I chose TAILS purely after it had been recommended in this video. Right now, I get the feeling I'm chasing rainbows.

Unable to get my PC to boot from a USB drive

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