Booting from external usb3 drive

Hi, I am trying to boot Linux from an external USB3 drive.
Here are the symptoms.
1. I have uefi boot disabled.
2. I connected a Toshiba USB3 drive to an USB2 port. The device is NOT recognized as a bootable device under Legacy Boot Devices list hence I cannot boot from the USB drive.
3. If I boot from internal HDD, then I can access the USB3 drive without any problems.
4. Plugged in an external USB3 Docking Device to the USB2 socket.
5. Then the USB3 Docking Device is recognized as a Legacy Boot Device and I can boot from the Docking Device.
6. Installed USB3 PCIe card.
7. Connected the USB3 Docking Device to USB3 port.
8. Now I the Docking Device fails to appear as a Legacy Boot Device.
9. Connected the USB3 Docking Device back to the USB2 port and straight away it is now recognized as a Legacy Boot Device.
I would appreciate if any one can give some hints on how to get the USB3 devices recognized as legacy boot devices.
Many thanks.

gdesilva wrote:
Hi, I am trying to boot Linux from an external USB3 drive.
Here are the symptoms.
1. I have uefi boot disabled. (did you mean secure boot?) Did you enable Legacy support?
2. I connected a Toshiba USB3 drive to an USB2 port. The device is NOT recognized as a bootable device under Legacy Boot Devices list hence I cannot boot from the USB drive
3. If I boot from internal HDD, then I can access the USB3 drive without any problems.
4. Plugged in an external USB3 Docking Device to the USB2 socket. This won't help
5. Then the USB3 Docking Device is recognized as a Legacy Boot Device and I can boot from the Docking Device.
6. Installed USB3 PCIe card.
7. Connected the USB3 Docking Device to USB3 port.
8. Now I the Docking Device fails to appear as a Legacy Boot Device.
9. Connected the USB3 Docking Device back to the USB2 port and straight away it is now recognized as a Legacy Boot Device.
I would appreciate if any one can give some hints on how to get the USB3 devices recognized as legacy boot devices.
Many thanks.
Help us to help you by posting the following information.
1. The full Model No. and Product No. of the desktop PC - see This HP web document if you don't how to locate the model number and\or product number.
Enter the BIOS after you have setup the bootable Linux hard disk as shown in the following video andenable usb 3.0 configuration in Pre-OS if it is available in the BIOS. That will enable you to use the USB 3.0 port to boot your usb3 external hard disk with Linux installed.
Which flavor of Linux? The video explains how to do this with Ubuntu.
****Please click on Accept As Solution if a suggestion solves your problem. It helps others facing the same problem to find a solution easily****
2015 Microsoft MVP - Windows Experience Consumer

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LowLuster wrote:
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Operating system loaders are a class of the UEFI applications. As such, they are stored as files on a file system that can be accessed by the firmware, called EFI System partition (ESP). Supported file systems include FAT32, FAT16 and FAT12, and supported partition table scheme is GPT only. UEFI does not rely on a boot sector, although ESP provides space for it as part of the backwards compatibility.[26]
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Can UEFI Secure Boot be adopted and implemented by a variety of operating systems?
UEFI specifications are platform-independent, supporting multiple platforms and architectures. In addition, UEFI specifications are designed to promote cross-functionality, as well as to support broad adoption across multiple operating systems, including Windows as well as Linux-based operating systems. The specifications are robust and can potentially complement—or even advance—other distributions, such as Linux-based distributions.
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MacBook Air, Mac mini: How to use Remote Disc to share DVDs or CDs from a Mac or Windows-based computer
Mac OS X 10.6 Help - Using Remote Install Mac OS X
Have fun

Booting from external usb3 drive

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