Installing Windows 8 on external HDD - How to?

thedeadp0et

I installed windows 8 on my laptops internal hard drive in January, but unfortunately the hard drive failed about a month ago.

I recently purchased a 250GB external HDD with the intention of installing W8 onto it - formatted to NTFS, partitioned etc - but setup claims it no longer allows windows to be installed onto external media/drives.

I've tried a few things - since I have an OEM copy of the W8 disk I copied all the files from the disk onto the HDD and booted into it to see if that would make a difference; alas no - it doesnt recognise anything on the disk.

I spent 4 hours last night googling possible soloutions and kept running into something about 'bootsect' via command prompt, but command prompt continues to tell me bootsect is not reconised.

REALLY need my system back up and running...is there any way around this?

Thanks.

advertsfox

Easy, take the HDD out of the external case and put it into the laptop and install Windows then (assuming it's a 2.5" external drive). Won't install to a USB drive.

yoyo

Running the OS off an external drive isn't the best idea. If it was to get disconnected suddenly accidentally this could corrupt the data on it. I would replace the internal drive if I were you, not that hard to do generally on most laptops.

Nick

mp22

Have a look here http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1874266

Freddy Smelly

never run an os off an external drive.... 1. usb is not the most reliable (we have all had usb drive corruption at one time or another) 2. its way too slow.. and 3. its more exposed to knocks and bumps which wear out a drive quicker

i'd go with yoyo's suggestion and just buy a new internal drive for your laptop they cost less than a 100 yoyos (pardon the pun) these days for a 1tb drive

thedeadp0et

You're right - I'm going to go ahead and buy a 1TB internal HDD. I let the bloody 250GB external HDD fall this afternoon and now it won't work anyway so I'm just running off an Ubuntu 12.04 Live CD until I can afford the internal drive monday week. For Christs sake...

I actually have a question about that which maybe someone can answer for me; I'll post it in another thread too but while we're on this subject:

My laptops a Packard Bell Easynote TJ68 - I cant seem to find out what size the internal drive is, ie. 2.5", 3.5" etc...cant find out via google anyway. I dont want to go out and buy a 3.5" only for it to be the wrong size obviously, so can anyone give me any info on this?

I'm not at all particularly familiar with the internal workings of laptops but I'm very interested in learning, but I do know enough to be able to install the internal HDD when I buy it.

Any help appreciated - cheers folks.

yoyo

thedeadp0et wrote: »

You're right - I'm going to go ahead and buy a 1TB internal HDD. I let the bloody 250GB external HDD fall this afternoon and now it won't work anyway so I'm just running off an Ubuntu 12.04 Live CD until I can afford the internal drive monday week. For Christs sake...

I actually have a question about that which maybe someone can answer for me; I'll post it in another thread too but while we're on this subject:

My laptops a Packard Bell Easynote TJ68 - I cant seem to find out what size the internal drive is, ie. 2.5", 3.5" etc...cant find out via google anyway. I dont want to go out and buy a 3.5" only for it to be the wrong size obviously, so can anyone give me any info on this?

I'm not at all particularly familiar with the internal workings of laptops but I'm very interested in learning, but I do know enough to be able to install the internal HDD when I buy it.

Any help appreciated - cheers folks.

It would be a 2.5" drive for the laptop. Crack it open, remove the drive so see if its SATA or PATA, it's most likely SATA

Nick

thedeadp0et

SATA it is. Much appreciated Nick.

yoyo

thedeadp0et wrote: »

SATA it is. Much appreciated Nick.

Something like this should do the job

Nick