Bootable external HD

  • Thread starter Thread starter PVR
  • Start date Start date
P

PVR

I have been mucking about with PCs since about 1982. However, I know
very little about them. My question:

Is it possible to format and make an external hard drive bootable? I
would like to check out another OS without causing problems of any
kind to the OS on my desktop PC.

Many thanks,

Peter
 
PVR said:
I have been mucking about with PCs since about 1982. However, I know
very little about them. My question:

Is it possible to format and make an external hard drive bootable? I
would like to check out another OS without causing problems of any
kind to the OS on my desktop PC.
Click to expand...

It entirely depends on the operating system. OS X can boot from any bootable
device - USB key, external hard drive, etc. Windows can't. I don't know
offhand if Linux or Unix can boot from an external hard drive. Of course,
you'd need to use a third-party boot loader because XP's boot loader won't
work in this case.

If you want to check out another operating system, here are some ways to do
it. Since you forgot to tell us *what* other operating system you want to
play with and whether you have a laptop or desktop computer, naturally I can
only give you generalizations. The suggestions are in no particular order.

1. Use third-party partitioning software to create a partition for the new
operating system and dual-boot.

2. Add a second internal hard drive and install the new operating system on
it.

3. If you want to play with Linux, there are lots of Linux Live CDs out
there. A Live CD runs the operating system from the CD (running in RAM) and
doesn't touch the hard drive. You can experiment as much as you want without
harming your Windows install.

4. Run the other operating system in a virtual machine using virtualization
software such as MS Virtual PC (free), VMware Workstation (not free but
better IMO), or VirtualBox (free but I've not tested it).

For more focused help, provide more details.

Malke
 
PVR said:
I have been mucking about with PCs since about 1982. However, I know
very little about them. My question:

Is it possible to format and make an external hard drive bootable? I
would like to check out another OS without causing problems of any
kind to the OS on my desktop PC.

Many thanks,

Peter
Click to expand...

Probably not. It will depend on how XP sees the external drive and
whether the BIOS has an entry for setting it to be the boot device. If
you can't select it in the BIOS you won't be able to boot from it.

HTH,

Twayne`
 
I have been mucking about with PCs since about 1982. However, I know
very little about them. My question:

Is it possible to format and make an external hard drive bootable? I
would like to check out another OS without causing problems of any
kind to the OS on my desktop PC.

Many thanks,

Peter
Click to expand...

If the external device require drivers to be loaded to access it (like
USB drivers), you will have to come up with the method that is best
suited for your unspecified device. No drivers loaded = no access
(makes sense).

Plus your BIOS and motherboard must support booting from a device
other than a HDD, floppy, CD, etc. Some don't

So, you have some research to do.

Surely, this highly desirable feature would not be a new question to
the device manufacturers, so I would start with their Technical
Support or user forums after your verify your hardware is even
capable.

Somebody has probably already figured it out.
 
Many thanks to those who replied. My PCs which I could consider for
this activity are a Vista laptop and, more likely an XP3 desktop. I
shall contact the external hard drive manufacturer.

Bottom line is I shall likely go the bootable CD route. It is probably
good enough to allow me to play with Linux without undue commitment.

Peter.
 
Somebody has probably already figured it out.
Click to expand...

I hope somebody has.

I have been following this thread with great interest as the owner of
a Netbook with no optical drive.

I have cloned my Windows XP Home, SP3 to an external drive connected
by USB to my Netbook and have reordered the bios to put the external
HDD at the top of the list and when I do so, it just boots to a black
screen with a blinking cursor and will accept no keyboard input.

I have to shut the machine down, reorder the bios, put the internal HD
at the top and restart.

Major PITA. I backup my Macintosh once a week by cloning it and start
it from the clone each time to be sure I have a "valid" clone, and
each time it starts.

Just one more major annoyance from the Redmond boys.

Carl
 
I hope somebody has.

I have been following this thread with great interest as the owner of
a Netbook with no optical drive.

I have cloned my Windows XP Home, SP3 to an external drive connected
by USB to my Netbook and have reordered the bios to put the external
HDD at the top of the list and when I do so, it just boots to a black
screen with a blinking cursor and will accept no keyboard input.

I have to shut the machine down, reorder the bios, put the internal HD
at the top and restart.

Major PITA.  I backup my Macintosh once a week by cloning it and start
it from the clone each time to be sure I have a "valid" clone, and
each time it starts.

Just one more major annoyance from the Redmond boys.

Carl
Click to expand...

Then what you describe probably makes sense. Mini computers also may
not have an optical drive. They are great until the day it doesn't
boot and you need to fix it.

One I know had an SD card that came with it that was bootable or could
be made bootable. It was in the box, but the guy didn't even know he
had it. But later he had to install something from a CD and needed an
external drive.
 
Then what you describe probably makes sense.  Mini computers also may
not have an optical drive.  They are great until the day it doesn't
boot and you need to fix it.

One I know had an SD card that came with it that was bootable or could
be made bootable.  It was in the box, but the guy didn't even know he
had it. But later he had to install something from a CD and needed an
external drive.
Click to expand...

Hi Jose -
That is exactly my case: no optical drive and I am trying the ounce-
of-prevention vs the pound-of-cure route.

I keep forgetting that there is that SD card slot that I can use in
addition to a USB flash drive.

I ran across this page,
<http://myeeeguides.wordpress.com/2008/11/15/winsetupfromusb-install-
windows-xp-from-usb-flash-drive/>

WinSetupFromUSB – Install Windows XP from USB Flash Drive
Published November 15, 2008
This guide will show you, how to use WinSetupFromUSB to create a
bootable USB Flash Drive including all Windows source files, plus the
following installation of Windows XP. Compare to the different
USB_Multiboot versions, WinSetupFromUSB comes with a Graphical User
Interface (GUI) and is in my opinion easier to use.


Here you can get the latest version of the program and you will also
find many detailed informations about WinSetupFromUSB.

I’ve tested this guide with a 32-bit version of Windows XP and a 64-
bit version of Windows Vista and it worked flawlessly.

Prerequisites:
All you need is:

a USB Flash Drive with at least 1GB of storage
the original Windows XP Setup CD
WinSetupFromUSB

I wonder if this might be a method worth investigating???
 
The in general answer is yes, with a bunch of annoying little details!
The hardware and the BIOS need to support booting from an external device.

Next whatever you need to boot into needs to support the hardware.
Finally, with windows, in general ---
As sold and normally configured, windows was not intended for this type
of use. (It can be done, but--)
Generally, windows once configured, is intended to be processor and
support chip set specific. This is not to say that something like
install or repair/recovery media cannot be made to boot from external
removable media.

Linux has a built in functionality that allows it to configure on the
fly, if setup properly. This assumes that all the required drivers are
present/available, and that linux can properly detect the hardware.
The blessing and curse is that the user often needs to tweak, first
manually, and then have the knowledge to make the needed "tweaks" occur
automatically.



In other words, a lot is possible, it's more a matter of how to do it,
and how much knowledge, time, and effort is required.

I routinely use a linux based bootable cd to host an anti virus/malware
checker, which also contains utilities that can do quite a bit of repair
and hard disk oriented tasks. This works well with XP thru win7 on the
majority of existing systems.

The old timers remember when --

BIOS was virtually nonexistent, and you had to toggle switches to
manually enter a small program that gave a computer enough to start a
boot process. In the really old days, this started a paper tape drive,
which loaded a BIOS equivalent. Then, using the program and data from
the tape load, other things, such as disk drives, displays(terminals)
and keyboards became usable, and a "real" ops system was loaded and started.
 
Who said anything about a PDP-8! (Although PDP-8s were popular at one time!)
Ibelieve Compuserve had a server farm of PDP 11s at one time. (Dial up days)
We used to do this on HP "Technical" systems. For the time, they had one of
the most advanced OPS systems out there.

(Later versions got rid of the paper tape bit for all but low level
diagnostics.) Further, if you knew assembly, on the HP's, you knew assembly
for the Apple II+ computers.
The beasts even had an extensible machine language instruction sets that
were contained in segregated RAM for development, and then in ROM.
Later versions of the system made the transition from a mini to a micro
computer. In our case, they were used to control test systems that included
lab reference grade instruments that were "state of the art" at the time
(70's-90's). (Such things as frequency and power measurement from tenths of
a hertz to 40Ghz,
and the ability to generate signals over the same range.) Add a few
digitally controlled power supplies, a programmable logic tester, and some
other goodies,
topping it off with reference standards for frequency and power that can
only be "calibrated" properly with reference transfer standards that were
sent to NBS for
"calibration and traceability."
 
Back
Top