Outside operating system ?

[The Cobra]

Is it possible to set up a computer with a stand alone SSD with the Windows operating system on it and only use the drive in the machine for storage ?

 

Is it just a matter of changing the boot sequence ? and if done will the Operating system on the internal drive clash in anyway with the external drive ?should it be deleted from the internal disk ?

 

Please do not deflect into "why" I want to do it, thanks.

Edited May 9, 2023 by The Cobra

[KhunBENQ]

8 minutes ago, The Cobra said:

and if done will the Operating system on the internal drive clash in anyway with the external drive ?

That's what I can tell. I installed an SSD (internally) and did a complete reinstall of Windows on it. It in no way clashes with the Windows still on the harddisk ("dead space").

Just a matter of boot options in the BIOS. I once accidentally started the old one and needed a moment to realize (why is it so slow again).

 

External: as you can boot from external USB sticks (quite popular), I am quite sure it should work with an SSD connected via USB.

Of course: even with USB 3 this might not be lightning fast.

[Stocky]

So long as the new SSD disk is bootable all you need do is change the boot sequence in the BIOS as you suggested.

[Crossy]

As above, you can boot and run Windoze on an external drive.

 

BUT

 

What is the interface for the external, you may find things are really S-L-O-W ???? 

[patman30]

51 minutes ago, The Cobra said:

with a stand alone SSD

assume you mean external SSD via USB
yes you can, be sure it's USB 3.0 or above is supported
latest preferred obviously for external device and port
as speed of USB will determine how fast windows will run
i run windows from a USB stick on a few machines with USB 3.2

[OneMoreFarang]

Be careful. Sometime Windows is "smart" and mixes things up.

If you have Windows already on the internal disk then I suggest you physically remove that disk when you install Windows on a memory stick or external drive.

If you keep the disk inside then maybe the new Windows will use it for temp folders, swap files, etc.

If you won't use the Windows on the internal disk anymore then I suggest remove it. Then you won't have any trouble with Windows being "smart". 

[RayWright]

10 minutes ago, OneMoreFarang said:

Be careful. Sometime Windows is "smart" and mixes things up.

As others have said, using USB you can boot from that device. However, not all code / Apps are written to use the environmental variables, by that, as opposed to recognising what device or Drive letter you booted from, the software is hard coded to use C:\ for your boot / system drive, so if your old Windows hard drive is recognised as C:\ when you boot from your USB, then as the Windows directory structure exists, you might find Data & Applications are referenced or stored on that old drive.

As OneMoreFarang says, if you don't need to access the old drive, then physically disable it (can be done in the BIOS) or remove it.

[JayClay]

22 minutes ago, OneMoreFarang said:

Be careful. Sometime Windows is "smart" and mixes things up.

If you have Windows already on the internal disk then I suggest you physically remove that disk when you install Windows on a memory stick or external drive.

If you keep the disk inside then maybe the new Windows will use it for temp folders, swap files, etc.

If you won't use the Windows on the internal disk anymore then I suggest remove it. Then you won't have any trouble with Windows being "smart". 

He's already said that he wants to use the internal drive for storage.

 

If he installs windows correctly to an external drive there's zero chance of it starting to use the internal drive for temp folders.

 

It might be worthwhile disconnecting the internal drive while he is installing windows on the external drive, just to make sure he doesn't accidentally re-install Windows on that drive (either over the top or as a double installation) as opposed to the usb drive, but other than that he'll face no issues with the internal drive being misused in the manner you suggest.

[JayClay]

3 minutes ago, RayWright said:

so if your old Windows hard drive is recognised as C:\ when you boot from your USB

It won't be

[tuktuktuk]

It's generally rather trivial (with a few exceptions) to change the internal hard drive and just swap things around.  Almost certain to be faster, especially with an SSD.  The only time I ever met any challenge was with an all-in-one.

[JayClay]

5 minutes ago, tuktuktuk said:

It's generally rather trivial (with a few exceptions) to change the internal hard drive and just swap things around.  Almost certain to be faster, especially with an SSD.  The only time I ever met any challenge was with an all-in-one.

The OP has stated that he doesn't want to do that.

[patman30]

36 minutes ago, JayClay said:

just to make sure he doesn't accidentally re-install Windows on that drive

he can also just change the drive letter prior

 

8 minutes ago, tuktuktuk said:

It's generally rather trivial (with a few exceptions) to change the internal hard drive and just swap things around.  Almost certain to be faster, especially with an SSD.  The only time I ever met any challenge was with an all-in-one.

Yes this would be the best approach,
maybe the OP has a reason for the desired setup
i have rgs that run Win10 from USB
as i am using the sata ports for 3.5" drives
i expect the OP may have 3.5" drive, so it would need an external power source to use externally
whereas a 2.5" SSD will be fine over USB
saying that, i dont see why the MB would not have 2 SATA ports for the OP to use
i think i have only ever seen one maybe two motherboards that only had a single SATA port

[patman30]

2 hours ago, The Cobra said:

Please do not deflect into "why" I want to do it, thanks.

not deflecting
but the why would help others advise on your options

[OneMoreFarang]

2 hours ago, JayClay said:

He's already said that he wants to use the internal drive for storage.

 

If he installs windows correctly to an external drive there's zero chance of it starting to use the internal drive for temp folders.

 

It might be worthwhile disconnecting the internal drive while he is installing windows on the external drive, just to make sure he doesn't accidentally re-install Windows on that drive (either over the top or as a double installation) as opposed to the usb drive, but other than that he'll face no issues with the internal drive being misused in the manner you suggest.

Sorry, after 30 years' experience with Windows I know what I am writing about. Sometimes strange things happen, also with new versions. even if they shouldn't happen. 

 

[OneMoreFarang]

1 hour ago, patman30 said:

he can also just change the drive letter prior

No

[JayClay]

1 minute ago, OneMoreFarang said:

Sorry, after 30 years' experience with Windows I know what I am writing about.

It doesn't sound that way to me but I don't want to get into a geek-off about it.

 

"Sometimes strange things happen, also with new versions. even if they shouldn't happen"

 

That is a very broad statement and I agree whole heartedly. The claim you originally made, however, is incorrect.

[OneMoreFarang]

3 minutes ago, JayClay said:

That is a very broad statement and I agree whole heartedly. The claim you originally made, however, is incorrect.

So it seems you think because you never had that problem it can't possibly happen...

 

There is a reason why some errors in Windows are only discovered after years. 

[Lemsta69]

3 hours ago, Crossy said:

Windoze

Your not one of those GNU/Linux fanbois are you? Or worse, a crApple fanatic! ????

[JayClay]

2 minutes ago, OneMoreFarang said:

So it seems you think because you never had that problem it can't possibly happen...

No. The reason I said it was because it doesn't happen.

 

The issue to which you are referring to happens when somebody tries to change the assigned driver letter when installing windows to, for example, D drive.

 

Many older programs are hard coded to install their dependencies in "C:\Windows\..." which can result in odd behaviour.

 

If the OP performs his new install of Windows correctly, his new install will boot with the drive letter C assigned to it. The old drive will either have a different drive letter or no letter assigned to it at all on boot. There is no way a new install of Windows will start writing system files to a different device unless the OS is installed on a non standard drive letter, and there is another drive assigned to the letter C.

 

[Crossy]

29 minutes ago, Lemsta69 said:

Your not one of those GNU/Linux fanbois are you? Or worse, a crApple fanatic! ????

 

Nah, Apple don't get house room.

 

I'll use whatever OS the job throws at me.

 

Mostly Windows these days but Sun Solaris and several other Unix flavours, QNX for real-time. I run a machine with FreeBSD as a NAS at home.

[OneMoreFarang]

2 hours ago, Crossy said:

 

Nah, Apple don't get house room.

 

I'll use whatever OS the job throws at me.

 

Mostly Windows these days but Sun Solaris and several other Unix flavours, QNX for real-time. I run a machine with FreeBSD as a NAS at home.

At least you didn't mention SCO. ???? 

[Crossy]

16 minutes ago, OneMoreFarang said:

At least you didn't mention SCO. ???? 

 

Ah!

[wprime]

When installing windows:

 

Press Shift+F10

Type diskpart

list disk

for every disk on the list that isn't the disk you want to boot from and the usb stick you're installing from, type:

sel # (where # is the disk number in the list)

offline disk

 

Then just install Windows normally.

 

When you're in windows, press Start E

Right click This PC, click Properties

Go to system properties

Click Performance > Advanced

Page File

Set to manually adjusted

Set an amount equivalent to half your RAM capacity on the boot drive, make sure it's disabled on all other drives.

 

This should prevent Windows from using your other disk for anything critical.

 

5 hours ago, JayClay said:

No. The reason I said it was because it doesn't happen.

 

Yes it does. There are many ways Windows will automatically try to use your other disk for system stuff.

 - If the disk you install Windows to is already fully formatted, but there is another drive which has unformatted space, Windows will put the UEFI and recovery partitions onto the other drive.

 - If your boot disk does not have at least 50% of your RAM size as free space when you boot into a default Windows configuration, but you have another disk which does, Windows will put the Page File onto the other disk.

[Adumbration]

I have just bought an new SSD and an external SSD for this very purpose.

 

But I have a few questions.  If you install an OS on the external usb drive, what about all of the required drivers tp run the PC?

 

Can I ghost the SSD inside my PC (with OS and programs) to an external USB SSD?

 

And if yes, could I then take the SSD out of the USB housing and put it back into the PC to use in the event that the current SSD inside the PC fails?

 

 

Edited May 9, 2023 by Adumbration

[wprime]

9 hours ago, Adumbration said:

I have just bought an new SSD and an external SSD for this very purpose.

 

But I have a few questions.  If you install an OS on the external usb drive, what about all of the required drivers tp run the PC?

 

Can I ghost the SSD inside my PC (with OS and programs) to an external USB SSD?

 

And if yes, could I then take the SSD out of the USB housing and put it back into the PC to use in the event that the current SSD inside the PC fails?

 

 

The required drivers when installing onto a USB disk are the same as on a normal internal disk. They'll just automatically install if your OS is the latest Windows 11 version. You don't need any additional drivers to install Windows over USB unless you're using an older version or your USB port runs through something that does require drivers (e.g. a Thunderbolt hub).

 

Note that Windows will only install onto a fixed disk over USB and will not install onto removable media like SD cards or USB flash drives (there are workarounds though).

 

Yes you can mirror your disk onto a USB disk, make sure to copy the hidden UEFI partition if you want to be able to just stick it into the PC to boot up.

 

[Adumbration]

13 minutes ago, wprime said:

The required drivers when installing onto a USB disk are the same as on a normal internal disk. They'll just automatically install if your OS is the latest Windows 11 version. You don't need any additional drivers to install Windows over USB unless you're using an older version or your USB port runs through something that does require drivers (e.g. a Thunderbolt hub).

 

Note that Windows will only install onto a fixed disk over USB and will not install onto removable media like SD cards or USB flash drives (there are workarounds though).

 

Yes you can mirror your disk onto a USB disk, make sure to copy the hidden UEFI partition if you want to be able to just stick it into the PC to boot up.

 

If I put my new ssd into my pc and then ghost the orignal sdd (including programs and OS) can I then take the new ssd out of my pc and put it in an external usb drive housing (and will windows and my programs still work) to boot the pc from the external drive?

 

Yes I know poorly worded question but I am in quite a hurry this morning....

[patman30]

On 5/9/2023 at 2:57 PM, OneMoreFarang said:

No

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\MountedDevices

\DosDevices\C:.

right-click, rename.

 

  

On 5/9/2023 at 2:55 PM, OneMoreFarang said:

after 30 years' experience with Windows I know what I am writing about

????

 

Edited May 11, 2023 by patman30