How to install WXP in an External HDD (USB)

[Juan]

Hi everyone,

Do you know how to install WXP in an USB External HDD? I've tried to do it
(it finishes the 1st part of the installation without any problem, but when
it re-starts to continue with the installation, a blue screen appears with an
error message.

Thanks,
Juan

 

[R. McCarty]

Not possible ( without doing hacks ). To Windows XP all USB drives
are considered removable. XP requires drives to be fixed. If you use
eSATA to connect the drive then it is possible to load/boot XP from it.

 

[Juan]

Thanks for your answer. But please let me understand: what's the MoBo
feature "USB bootable" for if you cannot install (and therefore cannot run
either) Windows in a USB disk?

 

[Juan]

I have a related question: can I install WXP in an internal disk and then
turn it into an USB external disk (using the special devices available in the
market to do it) and boot from it without any problem?

Thanks

 

[John Barnett MVP]

I'm quite surprised that you even managed the 'first' part of installation.
Usually you get an error message saying you cannot install to a removable
USB Drive. This message is specific to 'all' versions of Windows. Microsoft
simply do not allow the operating system to be installed on a USB drive.

--

--
John Barnett MVP
Windows XP Associate Expert
Windows Desktop Experience

Web: http://www.winuser.co.uk
Web: http://xphelpandsupport.mvps.org
Web: http://vistasupport.mvps.org
Web: http://www.silversurfer-guide.com

The information in this mail/post is supplied "as is". No warranty of any
kind, either expressed or implied, is made in relation to the accuracy,
reliability or content of this mail/post. The Author shall not be liable for
any direct, indirect, incidental or consequential damages arising out of the
use of, or inability to use, information or opinions expressed in this
mail/post..

 

[Frank Holman]

Thanks for your answer. But please let me understand: what's the MoBo
feature "USB bootable" for if you cannot install (and therefore cannot run
either) Windows in a USB disk?

There are lots of OTHER bootable options. XP is hardly the only one.

Do you think before you post, or do you just flail away on the
keyboard?

 

[R. McCarty]

The USB Boot is more geared to Windows 9X/ME type boots.

You wouldn't want to run XP from a USB drive anyways. The
average data throughput would be less than 30-Meg-per-Second.
About the same speed as an Optical drive. The performance lag
would be very slow.

The web has all kinds of articles and "Workaround" processes on
the USB boot setup. Personally I'd forget USB and as I said get a
SATA PCI or PCIExpress card with an eSATA port on it. Using
that with an external drive allows booting and also speed at or near
60-80 Meg-per-Second.

 

[Juan]

I've read a lot of comments in the Web of people saying they could do the
1st part (just like me). For what you said, I think it must have been (and
still is) a deep point of disagreement between Microsoft and the MoBo
manufacturers (which have the feature since several years ago).

I understand the limitation applies also to Windows Vista, right?

 

[Juan]

I think I just fly away (I guess you've tried it to). Thanks for your
kindness.

 

[Anna]

(Juan later adds)...
I have a related question: can I install WXP in an internal disk and then
turn it into an USB external disk (using the special devices available in
the
market to do it) and boot from it without any problem?

I'm quite surprised that you even managed the 'first' part of
installation. Usually you get an error message saying you cannot install
to a removable USB Drive. This message is specific to 'all' versions of
Windows. Microsoft simply do not allow the operating system to be
installed on a USB drive.

Juan & John...
There's certainly no problem involving installing the XP OS onto an internal
HDD, then removing it and installing the disk to a USB external HDD. But as
John points out, booting the OS from that USBEHD is another matter. While
there have been reports from various sources that using this or that
registry hack or using some other process the OS can be booted from a
USBEHD, we have never been able to successfully do this in an XP OS
environment, the "Boot from a USB device" setting (should that setting or
similar one be available) in a motherboard's CMOS notwithstanding.

Juan, if you wish to pursue this further here are some links in which
there's info purporting to accomplish this capability"...
Take a look at this Fred Langa article where Fred purports to have come up
with a process to achieve this "bootability". See...
http://www.informationweek.com/shared/printableArticleSrc.jhtml?articleID=177102101

Also, a poster to one of the MS XP newsgroups claimed that he too has come
up with a methodology to do this as well. See...
http://www.ngine.de/index.jsp?pageid=4176

And here's another one...
http://www.vandomburg.net/installing-windows-xp-from-usb/

(Please note I haven't checked the above links in some time to determine if
they're still active.)

No doubt a Google search will reveal a good deal of information on this
issue.

As John also points out assuming a user is working with a PC that has SATA
capability, what we recommend to achieve boot capability via an external HDD
is to use a SATA external HDD that provides SATA-to-SATA connectivity
(between the external enclosure/SATA HDD and the PC). Naturally the system
must have SATA capability to begin with and a connection must be made to one
of the motherboard's SATA connectors or through a SATA or eSATA port on the
PC, or through a SATA adapter on the desktop PC's case.
Anna

 

[John Barnett MVP]

Yes Juan the limitation applies to Windows Vista and Windows 7

--

--
John Barnett MVP
Windows XP Associate Expert
Windows Desktop Experience

Web: http://www.winuser.co.uk
Web: http://xphelpandsupport.mvps.org
Web: http://vistasupport.mvps.org
Web: http://www.silversurfer-guide.com

The information in this mail/post is supplied "as is". No warranty of any
kind, either expressed or implied, is made in relation to the accuracy,
reliability or content of this mail/post. The Author shall not be liable for
any direct, indirect, incidental or consequential damages arising out of the
use of, or inability to use, information or opinions expressed in this
mail/post..

 

[Malke]

I have a related question: can I install WXP in an internal disk and then
turn it into an USB external disk (using the special devices available in
the market to do it) and boot from it without any problem?

No. Once again, the only way you can boot from an external drive using
Windows is with an eSATA drive.

Malke

 

[Daave]

No. Once again, the only way you can boot from an external drive using
Windows is with an eSATA drive.

Although it's not supported, it appears it is possible to do just that
(that is, to boot off a USB stick or hard drive using Windows XP):

http://www.ngine.de/article/id/8

www.cnet.com.au/boot-windows-xp-from-a-usb-flash-drive-339271777.htm

 

[Juan]

Thank you very much for your answer. I thought that maybe the problem in
Windows was the installation itself, but not the booting. That's why I
thought that maybe I could install Windows in an internal drive and after
that, make it external and boot from there.

I have some additional comments:
- I have an EHDD that have both USB and FireWire connections (both 400 and
800). I've read that Mac can boot from a FireWire EHDD. What about Windows?
- My MoBo indicates it has eSATAII (by cable). I guess it means then that I
can install and boot Windows from a Sata EHDD. But, in the boot options, how
is this drive considered? As a regular (internal) HDD? (the USB drives are
considered as "USB-HDD", but there is no a "eSATA-HDD" entry in the boot
options)?
- I'm not very familiar with eSATA drives. From what I've read, it seems to
me that the internal and the external SATA drives are the same (the
difference is that we take the internal connections outside though a bracket.
My MoBo says: "the bracket allows you to connect a External SATA device by
expanding the internal SATA port to the chasis back panel"). Maybe I can take
my internal SATA drive and make it external by connecting it to the eSATA
bracket. Is this correct?

Thanks,
Juan

 

[Malke]

Although it's not supported, it appears it is possible to do just that
(that is, to boot off a USB stick or hard drive using Windows XP):

http://www.ngine.de/article/id/8

www.cnet.com.au/boot-windows-xp-from-a-usb-flash-drive-339271777.htm

Read the whole thread, Daave.

Malke

 

[Anna]

Thank you very much for your answer. I thought that maybe the problem in
Windows was the installation itself, but not the booting. That's why I
thought that maybe I could install Windows in an internal drive and after
that, make it external and boot from there.

I have some additional comments:
- I have an EHDD that have both USB and FireWire connections (both 400 and
800). I've read that Mac can boot from a FireWire EHDD. What about
Windows?
- My MoBo indicates it has eSATAII (by cable). I guess it means then that
I
can install and boot Windows from a Sata EHDD. But, in the boot options,
how
is this drive considered? As a regular (internal) HDD? (the USB drives are
considered as "USB-HDD", but there is no a "eSATA-HDD" entry in the boot
options)?
- I'm not very familiar with eSATA drives. From what I've read, it seems
to
me that the internal and the external SATA drives are the same (the
difference is that we take the internal connections outside though a
bracket.
My MoBo says: "the bracket allows you to connect a External SATA device by
expanding the internal SATA port to the chasis back panel"). Maybe I can
take
my internal SATA drive and make it external by connecting it to the eSATA
bracket. Is this correct?

Thanks,
Juan

Juan:
You have it essentially correct insofar as the external SATA HDD is
concerned.

If your eSATA external HDD has SATA-to-SATA connectivity, that is to say the
device is connected to a SATA or eSATA port on the desktop computer's case
(or an eSATA port - should one exist - on a laptop/notebook), the system
treats the external HDD (for all practical purposes) as an *internal* HDD.
Thus, if a bootable OS is installed on the external SATA HDD (or its
contents had been cloned from the system's internal HDD - the usual
scenario), that external SATA HDD will be similarly bootable and function in
an identical fashion to one's internal HDD.

Should the desktop PC not be equipped with a SATA or eSATA port, this
SATA-to-SATA connectivity can also be achieved by installing an eSATA
bracket to the backplane (back panel) of your desktop's case, just as your
motherboard's manual describes. These brackets are widely available, simple
to install, and usually cost somewhere in the $10 to $20 range. They're
quite effective and we've experienced few, if any, problems with them. We
recommend them highly for desktop PC users when no SATA nor eSATA port is
available. As a matter of fact we notice that more & more manufacturers of
these eSATA external HDD enclosures are including such a bracket with the
enclosure.

Naturally, your BIOS boot priority order (boot preference) must be set so
that the externally-connected SATA HDD is listed as the *first* HDD to boot.
And of course the device should be connected & powered-on prior to
powering-on the PC.

I really can't answer your question definitively with respect to the
Firewire external HDD. We've had limited experience with these devices and
based upon this experience we haven't achieved "bootability" using them.
However, we have seen reports that (again, as in the case of the USB
external HDD devices) purport to indicate that they are bootable devices.
Perhaps someone who has had extensive experience with these devices will
comment further re this issue.
Anna