Boot from USB on External HD

[CoolMaster]

So I have a friend who has a toshiba with a bad harddrive, and I kinda need it because it has s-video.

is there any way i can use my seagate 250gb freeagent and put windows on it....or a copy of my windows drive, then boot from usb to the toshiba?........while still being able to access my external drive contents.......

thx

 

i know the toshiba is around 2-4 years old

and the seagate is a sata ii 250gb drive

 

thanks guys.

[Nemo]

So I have a friend who has a toshiba with a bad harddrive, and I kinda need it because it has s-video.

is there any way i can use my seagate 250gb freeagent and put windows on it....or a copy of my windows drive, then boot from usb to the toshiba?........while still being able to access my external drive contents.......

thx

 

i know the toshiba is around 2-4 years old

and the seagate is a sata ii 250gb drive

 

thanks guys.

You can boot off an external USB hard drive but I don't think it'll work in your situation.

 

1) Does the laptop's BIOS even support booting from a USB device? A 4-year laptop may not have this option.

 

2) To install Windows on the external drive would require you to use an imaging utility like Acronis True Image. But this option would most likely overwrite anything on the external drive. You need the MBR from the image to boot up off the hard drive. Perhaps you could use a repartitioning tool to create a second partition on the external drive and move all your data over.

 

3)The copy of Windows on the external drive is not a legal copy for use on a second PC and would probably have a fit trying to boot on a completely different hardware setup.

 

Sounds to me as if getting a replacement drive for the laptop is the better solution here.

[Boggs30]

Try booting the laptop to a "live" OS such as Helix or Knoppix. Those OS's will recognize the USB external HD and you can transfer files that way.....

[LoArmistead]

I agree with both of the above. Use a LiveCD to get whatever you need now, but go ahead and be searching around for another hard drive. It'll save some heartache.