external hard drive. how to make it primary.

[samstock]

Have connected an external hard drive to my older model computer via usb port. . Operating on windows xp home edition. works just fine.  have copied all files and programs  to the external drive successfully.  I want to boot up and operate on the external drive and use the original hard drive only for  backup  file storage. How can I set up to accomplish this?

 :-?

[soybean]

Please clarify.  Have you installed Windows on the USB drive?  Can you boot from it?

As far as I know, this can be done, but why do it?  I don't see the point of using a USB drive as the primary boot drive.  If the hard drive you put in the external enclosure is the drive you want to use as your primary/OS hard drive, then why not install it as an internal drive and put your old/current internal drive in the external enclosure and use the external drive for backup?

[samstock]

Sorry for the delay in reply.

Thank you for your response.

I have installed windows on the external drive.

Your idea of swapping drives is a good one except that I am uncomfortable with opening the thing up and messing with the wiring.

How can I direct the computer to boot on the external drive. It always boots on the internal one?

[soybean]

Access your BIOS and see whether it gives you the option of selecting a USB drive as the first boot device.

[GX1_Man]

Have connected an external hard drive to my older model computer via usb port. . Operating on windows xp home edition. works just fine.  have copied all files and programs  to the external drive successfully.  I want to boot up and operate on the external drive and use the original hard drive only for  backup  file storage. How can I set up to accomplish this?

 :-?

Any particular reason to want to do this backwards? This does not seem like a good plan from the start even IF it can be done.

[samstock]

the internal hard drive is 10 gig and fully loaded. The external is 250 gig. That is why I want to use it as primary.  Why is ity a bad idea?

[soybean]

We're not saying using the new drive as primary is bad.  Indeed, you should use it for your OS.  We're saying it should be installed as an internal drive, not used as a USB drive.

Anyway, if you've never accessed your BIOS, here's a reference which may be helpful: Access/Enter Motherboard BIOS

Installing a hard drive (internally) is not very difficult.  You should have received some instructions with the drive, and can find more info on their website.  Might be time to get immersed in what's inside that computer case.  Be aware of the risks, to computer components, of static electricity.   Here's a good reference: Installing A Hard Drive - Step by Step

[samstock]

After reading about the dire consequences of making an error in editing the bios I think Ill take your advice and install the new drive internally, just to be safer. It looks a lot less risky.  Thanks for your help.

Just for my info why to you object to using the usb buss for primatu drive operation? I would like to understand why you object.  Not that I disagree with you. just want top know what is the disadvantage.?s,

[Zylstra]

This is a USB drive?
You might not want to use a USB hard drive. Instead, if you can, and if the external hard drive has it, use firewire as it allows more signal at once, therefor, faster response.
You should be able to disable the main drive in your BIOS if you cannot set up a boot order...

(Like Soybean said: If you disable your main drive, then you need to enable boot from USB)

[soybean]

I had never heard of this being done.  I did visit some Google hits on boot from external hard drive and the only references I saw talk about bootable USB flash drive, but they do not mean booting Windows; they are referring to an alternative to a bootable floppy disk, and this involves merely loading some DOS commands into the computer's memory.

So, I believe it simply will not work.

[Zylstra]

I had never heard of this being done.  I did visit some Google hits on boot from external hard drive and the only references I saw talk about bootable USB flash drive, but they do not mean booting Windows; they are referring to an alternative to a bootable floppy disk, and this involves merely loading some DOS commands into the computer's memory.

So, I believe it simply will not work.

Oh, it will work.
And external hard drive works just like a flash drive.
If you put DOS and an Autoexec.bat file with the right system files, it will load.
So, if you put Windows with the right system files, it will work as well.

[soybean]

If so, there's surely some info on it.  I'd be interested in any references you can cite.

[Zylstra]

If so, there's surely some info on it.  I'd be interested in any references you can cite.

I was reading about it.
Also, there was a mod that Dead_Reckon posted once that used an external drive to boot Windows XP.

[GX1_Man]

Not really much of a reference though, is it?  

[soybean]

Not really much of a reference though, is it?  

That's what I was thinking.  LOL.

I found a reference which talks about installing Windows on an external firewire drive.  See http://www.windowsusers.org/externaldr.html.  Here's a significant point from it: "The [highlight]down side [/highlight]to Firewire is the same as USB—Windows must be working in order for the drive to be recognized. So if you lose your boot drive, you would have to install Windows and the Firewire drivers before you can restore everything else. Norton Ghost does have USB support but I haven’t been able to verify that it works ..."

Later, he says, "I also tried a USB 2.0 based kit that included the hard drive. My experience was not as smooth. I’ll write another article about that."  I don't know whether he actually wrote such an article.