Installing o/s to externel drive only

chronoman

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Hi
I posted before and some said it can be done but i have had problems creating a disk to install an operating system to externel drive without internell hdd.
Has anyone done this sucessfully and if so could they give me a link to upload.
I have legal xp home and pro keys but have wasted about 7 disks so far trying to create a boot disk modified to allow windows to boot.
I tried Vista but it wont let you boot to externel dive without internel.
If there is an operating sytem that would work please let me know .
the laptop is a compaq presario which is only about 2 yrs old

thanks chronoman
 
It can be done mate but its gonna be REALLY slow!

the speed of everything.

read / write speed of usb 2.0 is considerably slower than of IDE or SATA
 
i read in site usb2 was as quick if not quicker at booting up than ide drive.
But if its a case of that or nothing slower is better than nothing at all.
 
i read in site usb2 was as quick if not quicker at booting up than ide drive.
But if its a case of that or nothing slower is better than nothing at all.

you not got a spare 20quid mate ?? maybe even less nowdays, just buy an internal hard drive and stick it in, even a very small capacity one will do, 20gb's or summit and install windows to that, costs peanuts mate, then use your external drive as backup space,

i know its not the answer you need or want but thats what i would do mate, simple and easy and very very cheap, infact i think they give small hard drives away now in lucky bags, lol.
 
i bought a brand new internel drive,opened and sprayed dusted internels but works between 30 min and 4 hrs then when i restart no media present .it got me baffled at the minute but really quite high spec
 
i bought a brand new internel drive,opened and sprayed dusted internels but works between 30 min and 4 hrs then when i restart no media present .it got me baffled at the minute but really quite high spec

i dont follow you mate ?? what you mean ?? you put a new hard drive in you need to install windows on it and format it too as windows will instruct you to do ?
 
i bought a brand new internel drive,opened and sprayed dusted internels but works between 30 min and 4 hrs then when i restart no media present .it got me baffled at the minute but really quite high spec

sounds like sata/ide controller or cables. Or the harddrive its self - send it back and get a replacment
 
i bought a brand new internel drive,opened and sprayed dusted internels but works between 30 min and 4 hrs then when i restart no media present .it got me baffled at the minute but really quite high spec

I dont get this part - are you saying you bought a new internal HDD and opened it up? Then a short while later, it stopped working?

Regardless, if you really want an external drive to hold your os and you have the capability, use an eSATA drive.
 
i think it sounds like he put in a new hard drive and hasnt realised that an operating system needs to be installed on it, lol, i know that sounds silly but there again, in my lifetime with computer tech you would be amazed the stories ive heard, lol.
 
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