Can Windows be installed on external USB drive?

[eman6]

The story started like this:
I replaced my laptop's hard disk with a new one and installed VISTA and then upgraded to Windows 7.
Then I put back my original XP Pro in the laptop, hoping I could sometimes boot from the other hard disk externally.
It did not work. The bbot screen asks me to choose from where to boot (so BIOS supports this option) but when I select the USB drive, boot fails. I also tried to inverse the operation putting W7 internally and trying to boot from XP Pro externally. Same problem, except that this time it just starts Windows XP and fails (reboots again), while when W7 is external it just gives a boot error.
My notebook is an HP Compaq 6715b. I tried the same with my daughter's VISTA notebook. Same problem.
So I contacted HP Tech support and they told me that when Windows is installed internally, the system cannot boot from it externally.
The support person gave me an alternative to install Windows externally, but this alternative involves i386 which does not seem to exist in VISTA nor W7.
Here is what he suggested (my laptop HD is C: and D:, the CD is E, and the external is F: and G

E:\I386\winnt32.exe /syspart:F: /tempdrive:F: /makelocalsource /noreboot

This line would supposedly install Windows from the CD drive into the external hard disk connected via USB.

My question is, if this works for XP, using i386, what would it be for Windows 7 (I think VISTA is the same).

______________________________________
Eman
Technical User

 

[linney]

See if some of the links coming from this help.

Windows 7 install on USB drive

http://social.microsoft.com/Forums/en-SG/msrgeneraladdin/thread/412519e3-488c-49c9-91cf-73b62f63dd85

 

[eman6]

This link talks about USB flash memory.
My question was about an external S-ATA hard drive connected to the laptop via USB.

The method might (just might) be the same, or similar, so I'll give it a try, if I don't receive a different opinion meanwhile.

Thanks

eman

______________________________________
Eman
Technical User

 

[kjv1611]

The method should work the same over the USB connection, regardless of the storage media, I think. The only difference might be that your USB hard drive might perform a little better than a USB flash drive.

What I'd be interested in along those lines would be whether it possible to get Windows to install to and run from a hard drive via USB and eSata. Now that'd be pretty nifty. That way, if you connect it to your machine via eSata, it'll work, and if you connect via USB it'll work, but I don't suppose Microsoft was going for portability when they designed Windows either.

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"If to err is human, then I must be some kind of human!" -Me