bootable external harddrive

[watdahel]

Is it possible to have an external harddrive as your boot drive. I want to install winXP to a harddrive that I can easily plug in to any PC.

 

[FlyingPenguin]

Yes ist's possible IF the mobo supports it.

However it's not practical to make a USB bootable drive to use on different computers. You won't be able to boot XP on a different mobo than the one you installed it on except MAYBE for Safe Mode (and even then probably not unless it's the same chipset). XP won't boot from the partition if it's located at a different hardware address than originally installed to. Also when you swap mobos you need to do a repair install of Windows XP to force it to wipe the device manager and re-install all the motherboard drivers.

WHAT EXACTLY are you trying to accomplish? Maybe a BartPE disc is all you need: http://www.nu2.nu/pebuilder/

 

[Nocturnal]

Originally posted by: FlyingPenguin
Yes ist's possible IF the mobo supports it.

However it's not practical to make a USB bootable drive to use on different computers. You won't be able to boot XP on a different mobo than the one you installed it on except MAYBE for Safe Mode (and even then probably not unless it's the same chipset). XP won't boot from the partition if it's located at a different hardware address than originally installed to. Also when you swap mobos you need to do a repair install of Windows XP to force it to wipe the device manager and re-install all the motherboard drivers.

WHAT EXACTLY are you trying to accomplish? Maybe a BartPE disc is all you need: http://www.nu2.nu/pebuilder/

What he said is correct. You'll encounter multiple blue screens and errors if you try to do it like that. I think you would probably be better off with a BartPE disc.