Disk format for booting

[Yonose]

Hello.

I should probably know this, but an external disk are able to boot a OS right?
My local electronic shop told me that the external disk they had could not boot a OS.

But cant i just format the external disk to NTFS format and im good to go?

 

[i7Baby]

No. An external drive won't work unless its driver is loaded in the PC. You can't load the driver till the OS is loaded.

 

[Yonose]

Well i do already have a computer that work, but i would want an external disk where i have some common programs and a OS on.

So if i buy an external disk, then format it too NTFS format, is it then able to be used as a disk i can boot with?

 

[i7Baby]

No. It can't boot because it won't work without its driver being loaded - as I said above.

 

[hang-the-9]

It's not a driver issue, it's the fact that Windows will not install on an external drive.

You can do it with Linux though, there are plenty of Live Linux disks you can get and make a USB stick or drive with.

If it was a driver issue then you could not install Windows off a USB drive, which you can.

 

[Yonose]

So why do a external disk require these drivers but not a USB stick?