external hard disk

[rookie1010]

Hi
I was thinking of going for an external second disk for my machine.
It woudl essentially serve as a backup drive.
I looked at some drives, and they are USB2, i was wondering if i installed windows xp on it, could i boot up from the external drive. Just in case, my old hard disk fell over, so i would still be in biz till i get a primary hard drive.

i was looking at manufacturers can you guys suggest a good make
came across these names:- freecom, lacie, hitachi,western digital, iomega, ximeta, archos

what do you guys think of this one
http://www.dabs.com/uk/channels/com...harddiskdrives/productView.htm?quicklinx=3446
One Touch 160GB 7200rpm external HDD USB2/Firewire
£125.99 inc VAT (£107.23 ex VAT)

 

[Lone Wolf]

Rookie, i'm not positive about this but I think it can be done as long as your BIOS gives you that option. If you install it successfully and go into you BIOS menu, you could change the boot order so that it searches for your external hard drive first.

 

[drivers93]

rookie:

I'm a novice and I posted a question nearly identical to yours just yesterday (only difference is I run Win 2000).

let me know how it goes when you install the external drive and if you find out how to set your BIOS to boot from it.

As for the reply you received- having the BIOS always boot from the external drive is not what I'm trying to do- I'm trying to use it as a backup boot drive- I think that's what you're trying to do also, correct?

A friend told me he thinks in some cases the BIOS won't recognize an external drive as an option for boot-up, and in other cases it will. I guess if your BIOS does give the option you would make the bootup order C, D (where D is the external drive). If the C drive dies, it would be ideal if the BIOS will then try the next working drive. But I really don't know if that's how the BIOS operates.

http://www.techist.com/showthread.php?s=&threadid=23775

 

[DoinTimeSublime]

When you have an external HHD do you have to load an operating system on it?

 

[rookie1010]

well i was thinking of the time when my main hard disk would go, then i would need a backup solution(to keep me occupied) for a few days till i got a new hard drive.

 

[-AnGuiSh-]

When you have an external HHD do you have to load an operating system on it?

No. Just as long as you got a OS on your internal one, It should work fine.

 

[rookie1010]

but i can load an OS onto an external drive and it would work fine right?

 

[-AnGuiSh-]

I wouldn't reccomend it actually. It can be kinda tricky.

Does your Mobo support booting from other devices? Since i've never tried installing a OS on a External drive i'm not sure. Since you want Windows XP i think Setup gives a option to install on "Other Devices

Anyways...I think USB like the 6th thing to enumerate upon boot..Your best bet is to just get a Internal HD and save that for Back ups and incase.

But...You could probably copy the Windows XP folder on to the External HD from the Set up disk...And if something goes wrong you'll have to run the setup from there.. Thats just another option though...You'll have to make sure your Mobo can support booting from USB first.