can an external hard drive be used as the primary master?

Question

I want to buy a hard drive but instead of installing an internal hard drive i just want to use an external one. can i use an external hardrive as my primary master?

also reason i want to get a new hard drive is becuase when i start my computer it says " SMART failure predicted on primary master " can i fix this instead of having to buy a hard drive?

Answer 1

Some motherboards with built-in USB ports will allow you to boot from USB device, but it wouldnt be radically common.

What you should be able to do is create a boot disk (either a CD or floppy) that will otherwise instruct the PC to then boot from USB.

But in short, yes, its possible to run from a USB hard drive.

Answer 2

to do this, you'll need some sort of software that intercepts the startup sequence and lets you choose to boot from an alternative place. [The BIOS will only allow booting from the A: (floppy), C: (harddrive), and your CD drive (if detected).]

Alas, afaik, all software that'll let you boot from anywhere else resides in the boot sector of the primary harddrive and so the moment your primary drive fails, you're dead in the water.

fortunately, replacing the internal hard drive on a desktop is fairly easy. after the new one is in place, you formet it and install the o/s and your major programs.

then i'd install the old drive as a secondary drive in the same machine. this should let you access your data on the old drive -- your task is to move it to the new drive.

and, "NO". I know of know way to fix the potential failure your computer is predicting other than to install a new drive.