Booting from external hard drive

Okay, this is new territory for me so I have lots of questions. I've got an
XP machine (Dell) that's dying (motherboard) and a new Vista Preminum machine
(HP). Can I take the drive out of the Dell, put it in an enclosure, choose
it to boot from in the boot menu, and then be using the old hard drive as if
it IS the new computer?
I want to install/make some changes on the old machine/old drive but it
requires a re-boot, which I can't do on the old machine (I can't turn it off
or it won't start again.)
Same question, but maybe clearer - when you boot from an external drive, are
you working completely from that drive as if that drive is now the internal
one?

No. You cannot boot into an operating system
if the drive is installed in an external drive enclosure.
Also, if the Windows XP O/S is an OEM preinstalled
by Dell, its license will only be valid with a Dell computer
having a Dell motherboard having a Dell BIOS.

--
Carey Frisch
Microsoft MVP
Windows Desktop Experience

---------------------------------------------------------------------

"operaflute" <> wrote in message news:3A3144D9-B762-4DD2-9931-...
Okay, this is new territory for me so I have lots of questions. I've got an
XP machine (Dell) that's dying (motherboard) and a new Vista Preminum machine
(HP). Can I take the drive out of the Dell, put it in an enclosure, choose
it to boot from in the boot menu, and then be using the old hard drive as if
it IS the new computer?
I want to install/make some changes on the old machine/old drive but it
requires a re-boot, which I can't do on the old machine (I can't turn it off
or it won't start again.)
Same question, but maybe clearer - when you boot from an external drive, are
you working completely from that drive as if that drive is now the internal
one?

Vista or XP won't boot from USB, and most of the external drive enclosures
you are likely to see nowadays are USB.

--
Earle Horton --

"operaflute" <> wrote in message
news:3A3144D9-B762-4DD2-9931-...
> Okay, this is new territory for me so I have lots of questions. I've got
> an
> XP machine (Dell) that's dying (motherboard) and a new Vista Preminum
> machine
> (HP). Can I take the drive out of the Dell, put it in an enclosure,
> choose
> it to boot from in the boot menu, and then be using the old hard drive as
> if
> it IS the new computer?
> I want to install/make some changes on the old machine/old drive but it
> requires a re-boot, which I can't do on the old machine (I can't turn it
> off
> or it won't start again.)
> Same question, but maybe clearer - when you boot from an external drive,
> are
> you working completely from that drive as if that drive is now the
> internal
> one?

Probably as good a place to start as any:

'Booting - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia'
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Booting)


--
MilesAhead

"How come we don't know the I.Q. of the guy who invented the test?"

Oh, I forgot about the OEM catch... And yes, my enclosure is indeed USB.
Dangit!
Grr - everything is so DIFFICULT!

"Earle Horton" wrote:

> Vista or XP won't boot from USB, and most of the external drive enclosures
> you are likely to see nowadays are USB.
>
> --
> Earle Horton --
>
> "operaflute" <> wrote in message
> news:3A3144D9-B762-4DD2-9931-...
> > Okay, this is new territory for me so I have lots of questions. I've got
> > an
> > XP machine (Dell) that's dying (motherboard) and a new Vista Preminum
> > machine
> > (HP). Can I take the drive out of the Dell, put it in an enclosure,
> > choose
> > it to boot from in the boot menu, and then be using the old hard drive as
> > if
> > it IS the new computer?
> > I want to install/make some changes on the old machine/old drive but it
> > requires a re-boot, which I can't do on the old machine (I can't turn it
> > off
> > or it won't start again.)
> > Same question, but maybe clearer - when you boot from an external drive,
> > are
> > you working completely from that drive as if that drive is now the
> > internal
> > one?
>
>
>

In article <>,
Carey Frisch [MVP] <> wrote:
>No. You cannot boot into an operating system
>if the drive is installed in an external drive enclosure.

That's not true. (Almost?) Every modern X86 BIOS supports
booting into at least external USB if not 1394 and SCSI also.

In article <>,
Earle Horton <> wrote:
>Vista or XP won't boot from USB, and most of the external drive enclosures
>you are likely to see nowadays are USB.

Ummmm AFAIK all you need to do is change the boot sequence
in BIOS. It's not designed to work that way but it does.

On Mon, 24 Nov 2008 17:35:16 -0600, Carey Frisch [MVP] wrote:

> No. You cannot boot into an operating system if the drive is installed
> in an external drive enclosure.

Sure you can. Linux does that quite easily.

No . You cannot boot Windows from an external Hard drive

--
Peter

Please Reply to Newsgroup for the benefit of others
Requests for assistance by email can not and will not be acknowledged.

"operaflute" <> wrote in message news:3A3144D9-B762-4DD2-9931-...
> Okay, this is new territory for me so I have lots of questions. I've got an
> XP machine (Dell) that's dying (motherboard) and a new Vista Preminum machine
> (HP). Can I take the drive out of the Dell, put it in an enclosure, choose
> it to boot from in the boot menu, and then be using the old hard drive as if
> it IS the new computer?
> I want to install/make some changes on the old machine/old drive but it
> requires a re-boot, which I can't do on the old machine (I can't turn it off
> or it won't start again.)
> Same question, but maybe clearer - when you boot from an external drive, are
> you working completely from that drive as if that drive is now the internal
> one?

In article <>,
Peter Foldes <bounce@bounce> wrote:
>No . You cannot boot Windows from an external Hard drive
>

That's just the official Microsoft line.

http://www.ngine.de/article/id/8
http://guides.macrumors.com/Boot_Cam...External_Drive
http://www.scribd.com/doc/13257/Boot...SB-Flash-Drive
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zQu7HUmcSLo