Just a quick question. Is it possible to install Windows XP on an external hard drive? Also, would a hard drive with similar specifications as this one ( Newegg.com - Maxtor OneTouch III T01H300 (STM303004OTAB01-RK) 300GB 7200 RPM 16MB Cache USB 2.0 External Hard Drive - Retail ) be practical and fast enough to effectively run XP? Thanks Landon

Welcome to PCHF.

This is a Motherboard/BIOS thing. Most Motherboards/BIOS will not allow a boot up via a USB device. However, there is work being done to provide flash drive boot up of a striped down version of Windows, but I have not seen anything to support a full blow installation of Windows onto an external drive. From what I've read, the initial steps of the install seem to work, but then you are faced with a BSOD.

Recommend you install Windows onto your C: (internal) drive and use the external drive for your personal data files.