moving an OS to external hardrive

madman1812 · 01-08-2009, 06:09 AM

I have a windows XP home edition with SP 2. i want to move the whole operating system to an external hard drive is this possible to do safely without reinstalling the OS. and how to do it

Ascendancy · 01-08-2009, 06:30 AM

If you are thinking of literally copying and pasting every single file over from one HDD to the other, that probably won't out too well...

**raptor_pa** · 01-08-2009, 08:27 AM

A couple of issues, you can't 'move' the OS from it's install point since all the paths and registry information will become invalid. Also without some reworking of the Windows installation disk Windows will not install to an external drive.

**linderman** · 01-08-2009, 03:41 PM

windows operating systems are designed not to boot from a USB drive ........... you can back-up the entire contents of your boot drive to the external drive but it wont be bootable .............. to overcome this obstacle is doo-able ............. however you better have a propeller coming from your beanie and you better be one hellva accurate typist for all the registry editing you will need to perform ............ I strongly suggest you forget that adventure ........................................... I did !

http://www.ngine.de/article/id/8

01-08-2009, 06:09 AM	#1 (permalink)
madman1812 Registered User Join Date: Jan 2009 Posts: 1 OS: windows xp pro SP3	moving an OS to external hardrive I have a windows XP home edition with SP 2. i want to move the whole operating system to an external hard drive is this possible to do safely without reinstalling the OS. and how to do it

01-08-2009, 06:30 AM	#2 (permalink)
Ascendancy Registered User Join Date: Jul 2006 Posts: 161 OS: Windows XP Professional SP3	Re: moving an OS to external hardrive If you are thinking of literally copying and pasting every single file over from one HDD to the other, that probably won't out too well... __________________ I really don't know

01-08-2009, 08:27 AM	#3 (permalink)
raptor_pa Mod Hardware Team Join Date: Dec 2008 Location: Central PA Posts: 4,840 OS: XP	Re: moving an OS to external hardrive A couple of issues, you can't 'move' the OS from it's install point since all the paths and registry information will become invalid. Also without some reworking of the Windows installation disk Windows will not install to an external drive. __________________

01-08-2009, 03:41 PM	#4 (permalink)
linderman Moderator, Hardware Team Join Date: May 2005 Posts: 20,437 OS: win 2000 pro / Win XP pro My System	Re: moving an OS to external hardrive windows operating systems are designed not to boot from a USB drive ........... you can back-up the entire contents of your boot drive to the external drive but it wont be bootable .............. to overcome this obstacle is doo-able ............. however you better have a propeller coming from your beanie and you better be one hellva accurate typist for all the registry editing you will need to perform ............ I strongly suggest you forget that adventure ........................................... I did ! http://www.ngine.de/article/id/8 __________________ I still know nothing and I respect that fact, striving to improve and, along the way, help anyone that comes from the place that I used to be! Power Supply Selection LEARN TO BACK-UP YOUR DATA FREE & EASY YouTube - Runtime Software DriveImage XML tutorial Last edited by linderman; 01-08-2009 at 03:42 PM. Reason: speeling