[SOLVED] Curiosity about HDDs

Oct 12, 2019
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I apologize right away if this IS discussed somewhere on this forum but i have searched for a while, using both vague and specific search terms. So question is, could an old HDD be used to run a single program? No OS. With the goal of, if an example pc with this single HDD were turned on it would focus solely on said program. Thank you in advance.
 
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No, "this system" doesn't exist yet. I'm simply wondering if it's possible to have a hdd, without an os, that when you turn on the system, instead of loading up any os would load into a simple program. Or is the fault with this that any given program NEEDS an os in order to run?

What this is would not be really a "PC" as you know it, there are plenty of system that only do one thing, say industrial control devices that boot off a ROM chip that is programmed to do one thing. Those don't need a full operating system to do what they do, but they are built to handle specific hardware. You need to do a bit more research on how computers and such work, there is a lot of info out there on single function systems, as well as actual...
Oct 12, 2019
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Of course.
You can install as many HDDs as are supported by your motherboard (even more with additional storage controller card). You can install single program on each of your additional drives.

I'm aware of installing X amount of drives. How would I put a single program on a drive without having to put an OS on it? If possible.
 
Oct 12, 2019
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Are you saying there is NO operating system on any drive in this system?
No, "this system" doesn't exist yet. I'm simply wondering if it's possible to have a hdd, without an os, that when you turn on the system, instead of loading up any os would load into a simple program. Or is the fault with this that any given program NEEDS an os in order to run?
 

USAFRet

Titan
Moderator
It needs some sort of operating system.
This is what handles the interaction between the user, the applications, and the hardware.

That operating system can be very minimal, but it needs something.

The "program" does not know how to talk directly to the hardware.
 
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Oct 12, 2019
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It needs some sort of operating system.
This is what handles the interaction between the user, the applications, and the hardware.

That operating system can be very minimal, but it needs something.

The "program" does not know how to talk directly to the hardware.
So i just need a very minimal os then that is compatible with whatever program i'm attempting this operation with?
 
No, "this system" doesn't exist yet. I'm simply wondering if it's possible to have a hdd, without an os, that when you turn on the system, instead of loading up any os would load into a simple program. Or is the fault with this that any given program NEEDS an os in order to run?

What this is would not be really a "PC" as you know it, there are plenty of system that only do one thing, say industrial control devices that boot off a ROM chip that is programmed to do one thing. Those don't need a full operating system to do what they do, but they are built to handle specific hardware. You need to do a bit more research on how computers and such work, there is a lot of info out there on single function systems, as well as actual computers that boot into a single program. You can make it so the end user is not interfacing with the operating system and it just starts up the program automatically. Look up things like "kiosk mode" and "locked down computer".
 
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