usb enclosures for hard drives/Windows XP question

[SoxFan in VA]

I removed a hard drive from a laptop and installed it in a usb enclosure to
be used as an external storage device. This was the only hard drive in the
laptop originally and was the primary boot drive. I upgraded the laptop
with a larger hard drive and want to use the old boot drive as a secondary
storage drive. I have left the old hard drive's file structure and file
system intact in case I want to place it back in the laptop as the primary
boot disk. I did this just in case the Ghost image restored to the new hard
drive proves to be buggy, that way I have a fall back. Before I plug the
drive into the usb port of the laptop, I just want to know if Windows XP
does anything to this hard drive's file system that would render it
unbootable should I decide to remove the drive from the enclosure and
install it back to the laptop as the primary boot drive.

Hope that makes sense. Any insight would be welcome.

Thanks,
Tom

 

[ElJerid]

I removed a hard drive from a laptop and installed it in a usb enclosure to
be used as an external storage device. This was the only hard drive in the
laptop originally and was the primary boot drive. I upgraded the laptop
with a larger hard drive and want to use the old boot drive as a secondary
storage drive. I have left the old hard drive's file structure and file
system intact in case I want to place it back in the laptop as the primary
boot disk. I did this just in case the Ghost image restored to the new
hard drive proves to be buggy, that way I have a fall back. Before I plug
the drive into the usb port of the laptop, I just want to know if Windows
XP does anything to this hard drive's file system that would render it
unbootable should I decide to remove the drive from the enclosure and
install it back to the laptop as the primary boot drive.

Hope that makes sense. Any insight would be welcome.

Thanks,
Tom

There is no reason why Windows should change anything on this drive, as long
as you don't set it up as boot disk in the bios. It will just appear as a
new partition in your explorer.

 

[Michael C]

There is no reason why Windows should change anything on this drive, as
long as you don't set it up as boot disk in the bios. It will just appear
as a new partition in your explorer.

You might even be able to boot from in within the external closure if the
laptop supports it. Not that I've ever tried that but it might work.

 

[SoxFan in VA]

OK, that's what I thought, just being cautious since it's not my drive or my
computer. Don't want bad things to happen to a partner of the firm's stuff!

Thanks,
T

 

[SoxFan in VA]

Good thought, might have to check the BIOS and see what I can find.