Boot from USB-Harddisk ?

  • Thread starter Thread starter Bjarne Duelund
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Bjarne Duelund

Is it possible to install Windows XP on, and boot from, USB-harddisk ?
The motherboard BIOS support "Boot from USB-HDD".
 
The thing to do is to try it. Then report back here with your finding to
help others with the same question. I suspect that, if it works, it will
only be good for the computer that installed the O/S on the USB hard drive.

Try to use it on another computer (this is your ultimate intention, right)
and the hardware will be incorrect and prevent booting.

--
Regards:

Richard Urban

aka Crusty (-: Old B@stard :-)
 
Good in theory, very slow performance will be the result. So don't impede
the performance of your computer.

If you want to have a 'portable' Windows environment, get a removable hard
disk caddy. This will connect to the IDE interface on the motherboard.

They cost about $10.00.


Richard Urban said:
The thing to do is to try it. Then report back here with your finding to
help others with the same question. I suspect that, if it works, it will
only be good for the computer that installed the O/S on the USB hard drive.

Try to use it on another computer (this is your ultimate intention, right)
and the hardware will be incorrect and prevent booting.

--
Regards:

Richard Urban

aka Crusty (-: Old B@stard :-)
Click to expand...
 
Bjarne Duelund said:
Is it possible to install Windows XP on, and boot from, USB-harddisk ?
The motherboard BIOS support "Boot from USB-HDD".
Click to expand...

It maybe possible but I have tried and have not been able to do so. Based
upon what I have tried, including disconnecting my fixed disk drives to make
the USB-HDD the only HDD on the system, I think the only way it can be done
is to mount the HDD as a fixed drive, load XP onto it then remove the drive
and instal it into an enclosure. Think it should be OK then. I suspect
WINXP is coded to prevent it installing on a removeable drive. If anyone
has installed it on a USB HDD I'd very much like to know how.
 
Richard Urban said:
The thing to do is to try it. Then report back here with your finding to help others with the
same question. I suspect that, if it works, it will only be good for the computer that
installed the O/S on the USB hard drive.
Click to expand...

I can not try it, since I don't have the MB (yet).
Try to use it on another computer (this is your ultimate intention, right) and the hardware
will be incorrect and prevent booting.
Click to expand...

Actually not - It is my experience that external USB drives are more silent than internal
harddisks, and I would build a total silent PC with a fanless mini-Itx motherboard.
 
Edward W. Thompson said:
I suspect WINXP is coded to prevent it installing on a removeable drive. If anyone has
installed it on a USB HDD I'd very much like to know how.
Click to expand...

Probaly so. But why can you select "Boot from USB-HDD" if it's not possible ?
 
I can boot from the USB-HDD but not WINXP. I can boot to DOS and I am
pretty sure all the DOS based Windows versions, but not WINXP. If I could
load WINXP onto the external HDD it would boot but I can't even load WINXP
onto the external drive, the loading sequence gets to a point when it
reboots and promptly crashes.
 
What you want to do is totaly possible as long as your Motherboard
supports it. My ASUS P4P800 is one of them that does. As for running
things more quietly, you can buy or make sound proof casings for your
hard drive inside the case. Personally, I use foam packaging material
and have my drive standing upright. I can barely hear it when I am
defragging or other things that make a lot of HD noise.
 
I am unsure to whom you are responding but if you are responding to the
effect it is totally possible to boot from a USB HDD to WINXP (provided your
HDD allows booting from an USB-HDD, as does mine), do you know how to load
WINXP onto the USB-HDD directly? While I would agree that it seems possible
to boot into WINXP from a USB-HDD, the problem is, at least for me, how to
load WINXP onto the external drive directly. What I mean by directly is
without having to install the HDD as a fixed drive then after loading WINXP
remove it and reinstall it to an external enclosure.

If you have actually achieved this I, and others I am sure, would like to
know how it is done. I think I have tried 'very trick in the book'
including trying to install from the i386 folder on the fixed HDD but
without success, that is the installation proceeds to a certain point thern
the system crashes with a 'protection' error (BSD).



Edward W. Thompson said:
I can boot from the USB-HDD but not WINXP. I can boot to DOS and I am
pretty sure all the DOS based Windows versions, but not WINXP. If I could
load WINXP onto the external HDD it would boot but I can't even load WINXP
onto the external drive, the loading sequence gets to a point when it
reboots and promptly crashes.
Click to expand...
 
Edward said:
I am unsure to whom you are responding but if you are responding to
the effect it is totally possible to boot from a USB HDD to WINXP
(provided your HDD allows booting from an USB-HDD, as does mine), do
you know how to load WINXP onto the USB-HDD directly? While I would
agree that it seems possible to boot into WINXP from a USB-HDD, the
problem is, at least for me, how to load WINXP onto the external
drive directly. What I mean by directly is without having to install
the HDD as a fixed drive then after loading WINXP remove it and
reinstall it to an external enclosure.

If you have actually achieved this I, and others I am sure, would
like to know how it is done. I think I have tried 'very trick in the
book' including trying to install from the i386 folder on the fixed
HDD but without success, that is the installation proceeds to a
certain point thern the system crashes with a 'protection' error
(BSD).
Click to expand...

Could you make something like a BartPE boot medium for a USB device?
 
"Edward W. Thompson" <[email protected]> wrote in message:
Click to expand...
It maybe possible but I have tried and have not been able to do so. Based
upon what I have tried, including disconnecting my fixed disk drives to make
the USB-HDD the only HDD on the system, I think the only way it can be done
is to mount the HDD as a fixed drive, load XP onto it then remove the drive
and instal it into an enclosure. Think it should be OK then. I suspect
WINXP is coded to prevent it installing on a removeable drive. If anyone
has installed it on a USB HDD I'd very much like to know how.

I suspect WINXP is coded to prevent it installing on a removeable drive. If
anyone has installed it on a USB HDD I'd very much like to know how.

Bjarne Dueland response:
Probaly so. But why can you select "Boot from USB-HDD" if it's not
Click to expand...
possible ?
-
Bjarne Duelund
Click to expand...

Bjararne:
My experience parallels Ed's. First of all, I've never been able to directly
install XP to a USB external hard drive. Secondly, while I routinely clone
(using Ghost 2003) the contents of an internal fixed hard drive to a USB
external drive, I have never been able to boot with the external drive. I've
used a number of different motherboards that contain a BIOS item with an
option to boot (such as the one you mention) from the USB external hard
drive, but I've never been able to do so. I've communicated with Symantec,
Western Digital, and Maxtor re this issue and was told by each that a USB
external HD is not bootable, period. I might mention that I'm routinely able
to
clone back the previously-cloned contents of an external HD to the fixed
internal HD, and under those circumstances the internal drive is bootable.

Time & time again I've seen postings on various newsgroups as well as
statements on various web sites that a USB external hard drive containing
the XP OS is bootable as long as this capability is supported by one's
motherboard. But I've yet to achieve this "holy grail". If anyone reading
this has PERSONALLY been able to boot from a USB external hard drive
containing the XP OS, or has definitive information that this is possible, I
(and I'm sure others,
including Ed) would be grateful to learn about it.

Art.
 
Some other OS's might be able to boot from an USB HD , but I don't think it
can be done with any Windows.
At least I've _seen_ (as in a demo at school) it done with Mandrake 10


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Tumppi
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I have an Archos 20 GB MP3 Player. This uses a laptop hard drive and is
connected through USB 2.0 to my computer. I am running an ASUS P4P800
(Intel i865 Chipset). I booted off my Windows XP CD, it gave me the USB
Drive as an option to install to. I swear I have done it before on my
friends external drive with this computer before, but I will grab a real
external drive tomorrow and see if I have time to do it again. I will
post back with the results and maybe even pictures :). I will not
install to my MP3's drive because I am afraid it will write over the MBR
and possibly mess up my MP3 Player.
 
I have an 120 Gb Maxtor in in Techsolo Case USB 2.0 that I am trying to boot
from. I've managed to get Windows XP (with SP2 Slipstreamed) to initiate it's
installation, but after the first reboot, I get a Stop error regarding the
harddrive. It seems like the Windows installation doesn't recognize the drive
after rebooting. My thought was to provide extra USB drivers by pressing F6
during hardware inspection, but Windows then requests a disk with at least an
txtsetup.oem file. I've contacted the supplier of the HD casing, but have not
received a response yet. Guess I'm up to building my own .oem file..
 
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