HI i just picked up a external usb maxtor 3200 200 gig hard drve. i got it working fine and everything so i dont want to use the internal hard drive for xp cuz its small. is there a way ican instal windows xp on the usb drive ive tryed but it wouldnt alow me to for some reason so is there another way i can or am i doing something wrong
Instaling xp on usb drive
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RealBlackStuff
Posts: 6,450 +3
Theoretically, if your PC allows you to boot from a USB drive, you could try the following:
Put that Maxtor in your PC as your main C-drive, and using Disk Management, make it the active one. Install XP on it.
Take it out again, back in the USB-case, don't connect it yet.
Put the old harddisk back in, and using Disk Management, remove it being the Active one, and change it's driveletter (which would be C) to the next free letter, after your CD/DVD etc.
Connect the USB drive, switch on, set BIOS to boot first from USB, and keep your extremities crossed.
Put that Maxtor in your PC as your main C-drive, and using Disk Management, make it the active one. Install XP on it.
Take it out again, back in the USB-case, don't connect it yet.
Put the old harddisk back in, and using Disk Management, remove it being the Active one, and change it's driveletter (which would be C) to the next free letter, after your CD/DVD etc.
Connect the USB drive, switch on, set BIOS to boot first from USB, and keep your extremities crossed.
D
DelJo63
booting USB depend entirely upon USB support in your BIOS.
if you have that option, then -- it's propable that it will work.
nice part is, you can select the device (after the install) and if it fails,
there's no loss -- just go back to your C:
if you have that option, then -- it's propable that it will work.
nice part is, you can select the device (after the install) and if it fails,
there's no loss -- just go back to your C:
RealBlackStuff
Posts: 6,450 +3
My IBM Thinkpad T23 boots from a USB device, and that lappy is nearly 4 years old!
So why would a (probably) more modern PC not do the same?
So why would a (probably) more modern PC not do the same?
D
DelJo63
well, are we speaking from first hand experience or a conjecture from detail
we know and implications we conjecture?
My laptop has BIOS USB support and here's what I just did;
mount my USB thumb drive
go to bios and set the boot order
expanding [2] I expected the thumb drive to show up, but rather
it was listed as one/two HDs, so I ordered them USB, followed by the HD
save and continue ....
what happened?
Access to the CD, pause
access to the USB Thumb and a full stall
no progress into the HD
the stall on the USB was due to no bootable image being thereon and
once an HD is optioned for boot, other drives are not successively searched.
If I had a bootable image on the thumb drive, I am certain I would have gotten
it to run.
SO, I'll move the question, are we guessing here or does someone have a
a bootable drive for an emperical test ???
Anxiously awaiting your feedback
we know and implications we conjecture?
My laptop has BIOS USB support and here's what I just did;
mount my USB thumb drive
go to bios and set the boot order
- CD Rom
- Removeable Devices
- HD
- Network Boot
expanding [2] I expected the thumb drive to show up, but rather
it was listed as one/two HDs, so I ordered them USB, followed by the HD
save and continue ....
what happened?
Access to the CD, pause
access to the USB Thumb and a full stall
no progress into the HD
the stall on the USB was due to no bootable image being thereon and
once an HD is optioned for boot, other drives are not successively searched.
If I had a bootable image on the thumb drive, I am certain I would have gotten
it to run.
SO, I'll move the question, are we guessing here or does someone have a
a bootable drive for an emperical test ???
Anxiously awaiting your feedback
Windows XP cannot boot or even be completely installed on a USB drive. That's a fact based on experience. Perhaps there is some sort of modifcation that can be done? I've tried both using an imaged drive and the regular install directly onto a USB drive - sadly without positive results.
It certainly should be possible though. Apple's OSX and many flavors of Linux support booting from a USB device, but Windows was never designed for this apparently.
It certainly should be possible though. Apple's OSX and many flavors of Linux support booting from a USB device, but Windows was never designed for this apparently.
D
DelJo63
Now that's a complete statement and give the state of MS, fully understandable
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