External USB HDD with Win XP OS

Gumshoe

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Oct 5, 2010
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I have an old HDD with Win XP OS operating properly and have recently converted it to an external USB HDD....how do I set up my new computer to allow the external HDD to boot to Win XP....my current computer OS is Win 7?? thanks
 

COLGeek

Cybernaut
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In your BIOS (if supported) set your boot order to include USB storage or HDDs (BIOSes will list variations but you'll figure it out once there).

If the XP install is intact, you may be able to boot from the device. It will, however, be much slower than if connected via IDE or SATA.

Also, you should also have an option to manually select the boot device when the system is booting up, simply select the USB drive.

Good luck!
 

Gumshoe

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Oct 5, 2010
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COLGeek,
Thanks for the response, and I have tried this with no joy....I get an error message when booting up saying "OS not located" ...when I first plugged in the external HDD I was asked if I wanted to use it for storage, I responded affirmative...could this be why it is not recognized by my new computer??? is there any way to get back to that selection screen??
 

COLGeek

Cybernaut
Moderator
This indicates to me that you changed the format/partition of the now USB drive. You may need to restore the MBR/boot sector on the drive itself. The easiest way to do this may be to re-install the XP HDD as your primary disk and execute a repair with the XP CD. Be sure to remove your Win 7 from the system (just pulling cables will work) when you do this.
 

Gumshoe

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Oct 5, 2010
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I expect when I selected "storage" it made a register change and won't allow access to the MBR....I will have to get a hold of the guy I gave the old computer to, it has a HDD drawer, and plug this old HDD back into its original MoBo......hopefully I can restore the MBR and then put it back into the external housing and NOT select "storage" when I plug it into the new computer....I really don't want to open up my new ACER ASPIRE mini CPU to do this.....thanks for the help......I'll let you know how it turns out......