When I buy the external hard drive (200mb) I am going to transfer all of my important data to the new drive. Then I'm going to try to reload windows xp into the new externalhard drive. My reason for tying this is becuse my internal hard drive is screwing up and failing. I just want to know if it is possible to do this?
2007-01-26 11:33:05 · 8 answers · asked by CASEY F 3 in Computers & Internet ➔ Hardware ➔ Desktops
If the external is reconized on bootup and has a valid drive letter, and if the bios can boot to that drive letter, yes it can work. But it will be slower than a internal harddrive. After all externals were really made for transfers and back up. If you're using external sata plugs, then about the same speed. If usb, it will not work at all, as usb drivers are not loaded by bios, but by windows. If the internal drive is having issues, get a new internal harddrive (and cable just in case) and try again.
2007-01-26 12:05:31 · answer #1 · answered by computertech82 6 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Casey, you can, but the others who have stated warnings of problems are right. Your best bet is to program the external with xp. transfer all of your data, and then make the external drive the master drive, and the internal drive the slave, but get rid of the OS that is on it. You really need to know the "why" your internal drive if having problems. Is it old, and wearing out. Is there some kind of "bug" such as spy ware or a virus that is causing the problem. If the issue is a "bug" it could go onto the new drive and do the same things there. If the problems are hard ware related, such as the controller card on the hard drive, or the motor in it, or the mechanism that drives the heads across the disks, then yes, you need to replace it just as soon as possible. Get the data transferred. and then find out why it is giving problems, but you have to keep the operating system separated from each other.
2007-01-26 11:49:32 · answer #2 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 1⤋
Hi there ...
Very intersting idea. Altho Microsoft suggests that Windows XP is not designed to boot from external hard drives, there are some that says it can be. There are work-arounds u can do, but remember, it all depends if you have the correct stuff and software.
Try this site:
http://digg.com/software/Booting_Windows_XP_from_a_USB_flash_drive_is_simple_And_it_goes_like_this
This part might help also:
To specify an "additional mass storage device" (this means disc drive) for Windows 2000 or XP during Setup, press F6 during the boot into text-mode Setup.
To specify an "additional mass storage device" (this means disc drive) for Windows 2000 or XP during Setup, press F6 during the boot into text-mode Setup. At this point insert a floppy containing the drivers. If the drivers came on a CD, you must copy them to a floppy diskette before this step in order to install them.
You may never have noticed the "F6" option before, since it happens at the bottom of the screen and is visible for only a few seconds during a standard install. What you most likely encountered during the setup process was a screen which came up informing you Setup could not find any drives installed on your computer, and it could not continue,
To be able to hit the F6 button, you must restart the Setup process, and watch the bottom of the screen after pressing Enter on the "Welcome to Setup" screen. There will be some moments of files being loaded, and then you should see a message appear which says "Press F6 if you need to install a 3rd party SCSI or RAID driver". This message will only stay on the screen for a couple of seconds, so press F6 as soon as you see it appear. After this is done, you will see other messages appear, and it will act as though nothing is happening, but eventually a screen will appear which will allow you to install the drivers for the HBA or controller.
Hope this helps
2007-01-26 11:39:08 · answer #3 · answered by iskai 4 · 0⤊ 1⤋
Some computers will boot off of external drives, but they're pretty slow. You'd do better to add a new hard drive while keeping the old one in. Then you can install Windows on the new drive while having all the drivers you need available on the old one, and move your data over.
2007-01-26 12:12:42 · answer #4 · answered by Nomadd 7 · 0⤊ 0⤋
No, this is not possible because the system can only recognize the USB connection only after the operating system(OS) has booted. To boot from the USB you need some OS to recognize the disk.
If you want to do it, the external hard drive contains a hard disk inside it, so open it up and put it in your computer as if it is a regular hard disk, and install Windows XP from there.
Hope this helps you
2007-01-26 11:41:01 · answer #5 · answered by Siddharth 1 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Its possible, but not advised due to the complexity. Sure - keep esstential data on your external drive, but you'll have real problems if you try to use a Windows OS from it. If your internal hard drive is broken, then RMA it or get a new one - they are very cheap!
2007-01-26 11:38:07 · answer #6 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋
I beleive that XP has to run from your C Drive. Transfer everything from C and put it on your external and just run XP from the C drive. This should clear things up.
2007-01-26 11:38:58 · answer #7 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋
why ought to you go with exterior? yet another area to carry arround, Plus it is going to waste battery capacity, And on the different hand if the single interior the pc dies you cant move all of your domicile windows OS to that newchronic. Get a clean inner.
2016-10-16 03:54:51 · answer #8 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋