Installing XP on an external drive

  • Thread starter Thread starter Guest
  • Start date Start date
G

Guest

Not wanting to get into a yes you can ,no you can't scenario can I say
my m/board and computer manufacturer says I can boot from USB
My usb disc shows as a local disc in XP (not removable)
when I run XP setup from the CD and it gets to ask which drive I want to
install to my external drive is listed no problem but when I select it and
press enter it says it can't install cos the drivers are not present
anybody know if i can get a set of USB drivers that would install using the
F6 option and if so where they might be?

I might add I only want to start this machine so I can get some info off
before the whole thing is reset to factory using the restore system after a
Win XP system file has been corrupted and its taken umbridge at system repair

Thanks for any info in advance
 
Local disk - Does it have a Policy option for "Optimize for Quick
Removal" ? The driver prompt is probably due to the phase the
installation is in (Pre-Environment). Supposedly, Bart's PE Builder
has some info on booting from USB. It's a frequent topic here and
I won't get into the "Yes-or-No" it can or cannot be done.
 
I'm sure I have read somewhere that you can make a bootable USB drive, I
think your BIOS would have to have a setting to allow you to boot from USB
but perhaps an easier way is to use a friends computer to download and burn a
copy of Knoppix to CD, this is a version of Linux that boots from CD.

Once booted you could then burn your documents to CD before restoring it
back to factory settings.

Sorry if thats a bit to advanced, its just a way I would tackle the problem,
otherwise search for making a bootable USB drive in MSN or Google.

Last of all not to state the obvious, in the future make yourself backup
every Friday or a set day in the week then if your computer crashes you won't
have to go through this awkward problem.

I also found the following link, it might help :

Link : Create a bootable USB Drive :
http://support.gateway.com/s/USB/5502664/5502664faq18.shtml

Hope that helps ?

Andy W
 
Andy said:
I'm sure I have read somewhere that you can make a bootable USB drive, I
think your BIOS would have to have a setting to allow you to boot from USB
but perhaps an easier way is to use a friends computer to download and burn a
copy of Knoppix to CD, this is a version of Linux that boots from CD.
Click to expand...

While as a Linux user I second that, I think the OP (if he is going to
stay with Windows) would be better off with Bart PE:

http://www.nu2.nu/pebuilder/
 
You could clone the current XP to the USB drive.
Then, take the USB drive to another computer and check if the info is
accessible.
If the info is accessible, reset your computer to factory.

I take it that you don't have the XP CD to do a repair install?
 
Hi Gordon,

Yeah thats another way of solving the problem and probably easier if your
not used to Linux, thanks for the link by the way for pebuilder I've been
looking for something like that, as I say I use a bootable Linux disc but
having a bootable Windows environment as well is the best of both world's.

Andy W
 
Andy said:
Hi Gordon,

Yeah thats another way of solving the problem and probably easier if your
not used to Linux, thanks for the link by the way for pebuilder I've been
looking for something like that, as I say I use a bootable Linux disc but
having a bootable Windows environment as well is the best of both world's.

Andy W
Click to expand...

I've got (and use) both! (Belt and braces........)
 
Not wanting to get into a yes you can ,no you can't scenario can I say
my m/board and computer manufacturer says I can boot from USB
My usb disc shows as a local disc in XP (not removable)
when I run XP setup from the CD and it gets to ask which drive I want to
install to my external drive is listed no problem but when I select it and
press enter it says it can't install cos the drivers are not present
anybody know if i can get a set of USB drivers that would install using the
F6 option and if so where they might be?

I might add I only want to start this machine so I can get some info off
before the whole thing is reset to factory using the restore system after a
Win XP system file has been corrupted and its taken umbridge at system repair

Thanks for any info in advance
Click to expand...

As stated before (hundreds of times), XP will not allow itself to be installed
as a bootable system onto most external drives, with SCSI and eSATA being the
only exceptions. SCSI and eSATA drives are not treated as removable external
hard drives but as internal system drives.


However, all is not lost. Apparently, people have successfully "cloned" a
working internal hard drive onto an external hard drive which booted.
 
Back
Top