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20th January 2009, 05:55 PM
|  | TST Member | | Join Date: Jul 2008, 129 posts. Location: Michigan Reputation:  | | | Is it possible to boot from a USB External Hard Drive?
I'm hearing a lot about Windows 7 and I want to try it out. I don't have access to a spare hard drive to throw it on, but I do have a 320 GB external hard drive. I was wondering if there is a way to configure my computer to boot from the external hard drive so I can run Windows 7 from that hard drive instead of my main hard drive. Also, if it were possible to boot from the external hard drive, as soon as I reconfigure my computer to boot from my main hard drive, it will still load XP correct? Sorry if I asked any dumb questions, but I'm not very knowledgeable in this department of computers. Thanks  .
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20th January 2009, 06:01 PM
|  | TST Oracle | | Join Date: Jul 2008, 8,171 posts. Location: UK Norfolk ..... Reputation: | | |
Try this
install windows 7 to your external
make sure you keep your USB external drive turned on and connected, go into your bios, use del or F2, it will usually say at the bottom of your screen what to press to get into it
once in bios look for a boot or startup section, and look at your boot device priority, you should see USB device as an option, move it to the top of the list
next save and exit bios
It should boot from your external
Well i will try it later
__________________ Life should NOT be a journey to the grave with the intention of arriving safely in an attractive and well preserved body, but rather to skid in sideways, chocolate in one hand, wine in the other, body thoroughly used up, totally worn out and screaming...
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20th January 2009, 06:09 PM
| | TST Member | | Join Date: Jul 2008, 129 posts. Location: Michigan Reputation: | | |
Thanks for the response. Booting from my external hard drive will not effect the contents of my main hard drive correct? As soon as I change the boot order it will load XP and the contents on my main hard drive?
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20th January 2009, 06:11 PM
| | TST Oracle | | Join Date: Jul 2008, 8,171 posts. Location: UK Norfolk ..... Reputation: | | |
I am not sure
I think if you want to dual boot both os have to be on the same drive
Please wait for someone with a bit more knowledge please
__________________ Life should NOT be a journey to the grave with the intention of arriving safely in an attractive and well preserved body, but rather to skid in sideways, chocolate in one hand, wine in the other, body thoroughly used up, totally worn out and screaming...
Damn, What a ride!! |
20th January 2009, 06:21 PM
| | TST Member | | Join Date: Jul 2008, 129 posts. Location: Michigan Reputation: | | |
Well I just want to be able to boot Windows 7 from my external hard drive and then once I want to go back to XP just unplug my external hard drive and reconfigure my computer to boot from my main hard drive.
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20th January 2009, 06:38 PM
| | TST Oracle | | Join Date: Jul 2008, 8,171 posts. Location: UK Norfolk ..... Reputation: | | |
That should be simple then
Installing windows7 on the external will not affect your main harddrive
__________________ Life should NOT be a journey to the grave with the intention of arriving safely in an attractive and well preserved body, but rather to skid in sideways, chocolate in one hand, wine in the other, body thoroughly used up, totally worn out and screaming...
Damn, What a ride!! |
20th January 2009, 06:59 PM
| | TST Member | | Join Date: Jul 2008, 129 posts. Location: Michigan Reputation: | | |
OK thanks very much.
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20th January 2009, 08:38 PM
| | TST Oracle | | Join Date: Jul 2008, 8,171 posts. Location: UK Norfolk ..... Reputation: | |
On further reading it will be too slow
you would be better to follow this and install on a partition http://lifehacker.com/5126781/how-to...th-xp-or-vista
However remember its a beta
__________________ Life should NOT be a journey to the grave with the intention of arriving safely in an attractive and well preserved body, but rather to skid in sideways, chocolate in one hand, wine in the other, body thoroughly used up, totally worn out and screaming...
Damn, What a ride!!
Last edited by Blackmirror; 20th January 2009 at 08:57 PM.
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20th January 2009, 09:28 PM
|  | TST Oracle | | Join Date: Dec 2007, 8,001 posts. Location: Market Haemorrhoids, Middle England Reputation: | | |
If you install the O/S on your USB drive I can confirm it will not affect your hard drive but you may not be able to access the files on it. Just have to do it and see - I have tried this and it did work!
You can dual boot from two different hard drives in your system.
You can set you hard drive as your second boot device so the system will boot from it if there is not USB device present.
Hope this helps.
__________________ Confuse and Prosper. |
21st January 2009, 06:57 AM
|  | Modding Expert | | Join Date: Dec 2007, 848 posts. Location: Northern Ontario, Canada Reputation: | |
dude... just give Microsoft Virtual PC 2007 a try. | |  Only registered members can participate in forum threads. You must register or log in to contribute.
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