Can you instal xp on a usb drive?

Phil2008 · 19 Jun 2006 at 00:37

Im thinking about getting a 400 or 500gb drive and putting my old 200gb seagate drive in a USB External Enclosure and use it as my backup drive

But can I install and run xp ok frrom the usb drive? Cos I will need xp to restore partitions

celliott · 19 Jun 2006 at 01:21

Dont see why not if your mobo supports USB boot and you've got the drivers

Dutch Guy · 19 Jun 2006 at 10:48

Quite possible you can boot from USB but check the boot options in your BIOS to see if USB is in the list.

You can also connect the new drive alongside the old drive and use Acronis TrueImage or Norton Ghost to clone the old drive to the new drive including partition sizes you want.

xtreme.BIN · 19 Jun 2006 at 11:41

It's a lot more complicated then just having a mobo that supports USB boot!

See:

http://forums.overclockers.co.uk/showpost.php?p=7264432&postcount=18

Phil2008 · 19 Jun 2006 at 12:27

I use Acronis TrueImage to backup my partitions,, thats why I want winxp on my backup drive so I can use Acronis TrueImage to do my partition backing up. I tried using my main drive with Acronis TrueImage but it needs to reboot into dos mode to restore the partiton, but Acronis TrueImage cant see my sata drive.