Installing Windows XP to External Hard Drive

[Guest]

I run XP Home on a Dell Dimension 9100 for home use and XP Professional on my
HP work laptop. The hard drive on my home system has blue screened with an
unmountable boot volume error. I have tried Dell support (whose suggestion
was format), the Microsoft support system (chkdsk /r etc) all to no avail.
The Windows Repair utility is not recognising the drive. I have bought a
Philips external 160GB hard drive with the intention of (i) installing XP
Home on this (ii) connecting external hard drive to crashed desk top (iii)
adjusting settings to boot from external hard drive (iv) recovering 4 years
of family photos from crashed internal drive. I can't get past stage (i) and
don't want to pay £1000 for somebody else to recover this data. Would this
work if I installed a second internal hard drive or am I just completely off
the mark. All help much appreciated.

 

[Nepatsfan]

(e-mail address removed),
frustratedoflondon

I run XP Home on a Dell Dimension 9100 for home use and XP
Professional on my HP work laptop. The hard drive on my home
system has blue screened with an unmountable boot volume
error. I have tried Dell support (whose suggestion was
format), the Microsoft support system (chkdsk /r etc) all to
no avail. The Windows Repair utility is not recognising the
drive. I have bought a Philips external 160GB hard drive
with the intention of (i) installing XP Home on this (ii)
connecting external hard drive to crashed desk top (iii)
adjusting settings to boot from external hard drive (iv)
recovering 4 years of family photos from crashed internal
drive. I can't get past stage (i) and don't want to pay
£1000 for somebody else to recover this data. Would this
work if I installed a second internal hard drive or am I
just completely off the mark. All help much appreciated.

It's a little late for the external drive. You won't be able to
install XP on it. It may have come in handy earlier as the
place where you would have backed up those family photos. I
guess we can call your situation a lesson in why it's a good
idea to backup important files.

Try this instead:

Take the problem drive out and put it in a working XP system as
a slave drive. If the only other computer you have is the
laptop, you can put the old drive in a USB enclosure.

To gain access to the files on your old drive, you'll probably
have to follow the procedure outlined in this article:

How to take ownership of a file or folder in Windows XP
http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;en-us;308421

Note: If you are running Microsoft Windows XP Home Edition, you
must start the computer in safe mode, and then log on with an
account that has Administrative rights to have access to the
Security tab. To start in Safe Mode, reboot your computer and
start tapping the F8 key as soon as you see anything displayed
on the screen. Keep hitting F8 until the Advanced Startup
Options menu appears. Use the up and down arrow keys on your
keyboard to select Safe Mode. Hit Enter.

Good luck

Nepatsfan

 

[Guest]

Windows XP cannot be installed on an external drive.
What you need to do is purchase a new internal drive,
install Windows XP on it, then mount the old drive
in the external drive enclosure and recover your files.
You may need to "take ownership" of the files:

HOW TO: Take Ownership of a File or Folder in Windows XP
http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;en-us;308421

 

[Guest]

thank you

Windows XP cannot be installed on an external drive.
What you need to do is purchase a new internal drive,
install Windows XP on it, then mount the old drive
in the external drive enclosure and recover your files.
You may need to "take ownership" of the files:

HOW TO: Take Ownership of a File or Folder in Windows XP
http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;en-us;308421

 

[Guest]

thank you

(e-mail address removed),
frustratedoflondon


It's a little late for the external drive. You won't be able to
install XP on it. It may have come in handy earlier as the
place where you would have backed up those family photos. I
guess we can call your situation a lesson in why it's a good
idea to backup important files.

Try this instead:

Take the problem drive out and put it in a working XP system as
a slave drive. If the only other computer you have is the
laptop, you can put the old drive in a USB enclosure.

To gain access to the files on your old drive, you'll probably
have to follow the procedure outlined in this article:

How to take ownership of a file or folder in Windows XP
http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;en-us;308421

Note: If you are running Microsoft Windows XP Home Edition, you
must start the computer in safe mode, and then log on with an
account that has Administrative rights to have access to the
Security tab. To start in Safe Mode, reboot your computer and
start tapping the F8 key as soon as you see anything displayed
on the screen. Keep hitting F8 until the Advanced Startup
Options menu appears. Use the up and down arrow keys on your
keyboard to select Safe Mode. Hit Enter.

Good luck

Nepatsfan