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Hey to the great folks here, just a how to question , not a problem...


I recently purchased a SimpleTech 160gb external drive for back up and what not .


But now that ive got so much space after backing up all my stuff, id like to have windows Xp on that drive also......would i need to keep it seperate from my back up or just store it somewhere with windows.......


Also, how could i get my computer to run off of this external drive only once i did have Xp on it....im rather confused and all newb like

Viele dank

Hi NimbleSloth,

Regarding installing XP onto your external, the installation process is the same However, if you've only used it for back up files so far, i'll assume you have no partiion set up on it? If you haven't, then an XP installation would wipe your files when it's formatted. I'd suggest copying your files from the external onto another drive/USB/CD and then going ahead with the XP installation, and then copy your files back again. As for booting from it, you can set your boot devices in your BIOS to boot from your external before anything else.

I hope this helps mate, and if you need anything clearing up, please ask!

Awesome, i ve looked at the external drive and i cant tell if its been pre-partitioned, i certainly havent since ive only used it to back up my current drive once....

I shoulda thought about that , just like making your CDrom drive first in the boot config,....

Viele dank

ps.s Do i need another valid copy of Windows Xp, or Can I install it on my external drive with no problems>>

Ok things were going good, I was able to Partition my external drive into 2 seperate parts, wonderful.....


So I try to install Xp on it and it says the computer is unable to access the drive for installation and that Xp couldnt complete ????

Also, I cant get my external drive to show up in my boot configuration in BIOS .....


Any info would really would help

Ok i called simpletech , and they said it was impossible to install an OS on an external , so I guess this is done.

Hi Nimblesloth,

I think you could be right mate. The more i've looked into it, the more it appears that USB is only detected through windows - therefore, It wouldn't be able to detect itself on the external. It's a strange one, as I thought it would've been a straight forward install. If anyone else has any info on this, please add.

Well, there are BIOS possibilities to boot from USB.
I once restarted with a USB pen in a laptop and it said OS not found.
It somehow only checked the USB stick.
So, there must be possibilities?