From internal to external without formatting/diskpart

[Setesu]

I can't seem to find an answer or word the question right (doesn't help that I've only used hdd).

If I take an internal hdd (boot drive rated at 500gb), turn it into an external,
can I use it as a data drive AND keep the OS? Would my laptop not recognize it until formatting the external?

The reason why I ask is... I'm doing a swap with a Samsung 850 Evo (turned into a boot drive), and would like to use the externally enclosed hdd as a date drive + boot drive (to troubleshoot the internal ssd, just in case, in the future). And I can't seem to find an answer anywhere on the net.

 

[Calculagator]

The answer is "sort of." You can copy everything over and the computer will recognize it without any need for formatting.
BUT--windows will not boot from a USB drive without some serious hacking. If you want to boot into windows, it needs to be installed as an internal drive. If you are running OSX or Linux, it should work without any trouble.

 

[Setesu]

The answer is "sort of." You can copy everything over and the computer will recognize it without any need for formatting.
BUT--windows will not boot from a USB drive without some serious hacking. If you want to boot into windows, it needs to be installed as an internal drive. If you are running OSX or Linux, it should work without any trouble.

I see. Then there is no point for the OS to be on the external hdd (unless I plan on swapping it back in).

What about making two separate partitions for the external hdd?
1 for data and 1 for recovery drive?
Is that even possible?

 

[Calculagator]

It's definitely possible. I'm not sure that it would make anything easier. Microsoft's Disk Manager can do some basic partition creation and resizing.

 

[ArtPog]

Well, there is a workaround so that you can boot a viable HDD/SSD from a USB external connection.

The first requirement is that the OS on the drive is Win XP, Vista, Win 7, or Win 8/8.1. AFAIK, you cannot boot a USB external HDD/SSD containing a Win 10 operating system. At least I haven't found a way to do so.

If you clone the contents of an internal HDD/SSD containing the above mentioned OSs to a USBEHD (or SSD), you will be able to boot the system from the USB connection. Now I cannot say that every disk-cloning program contains this capability. Some programs have this capability, others do not.

The disk-cloning program I use is the Casper program (http://www.fssdev.com) and has this capability which I use routinely. Casper, however, is a commercial program that sells for $49.95; it is not a "freebie". As I've indicated I'm reasonably certain there are other disk-cloning programs that also have this capability but I'm not familiar enough with them to point them out. Perhaps users of those programs coming upon your query will indicate them. You might also run a Google search.

 

[Setesu]

Well, there is a workaround so that you can boot a viable HDD/SSD from a USB external connection.

The first requirement is that the OS on the drive is Win XP, Vista, Win 7, or Win 8/8.1. AFAIK, you cannot boot a USB external HDD/SSD containing a Win 10 operating system. At least I haven't found a way to do so.

If you clone the contents of an internal HDD/SSD containing the above mentioned OSs to a USBEHD (or SSD), you will be able to boot the system from the USB connection. Now I cannot say that every disk-cloning program contains this capability. Some programs have this capability, others do not.

The disk-cloning program I use is the Casper program (http://www.fssdev.com) and has this capability which I use routinely. Casper, however, is a commercial program that sells for $49.95; it is not a "freebie". As I've indicated I'm reasonably certain there are other disk-cloning programs that also have this capability but I'm not familiar enough with them to point them out. Perhaps users of those programs coming upon your query will indicate them. You might also run a Google search.

You know what? I'm starting to think it'll be easier to just format it and use it as a data drive instead (external hdd). I'll be running Win10 Pro on the internal ssd.

The main reason why I started this thread is to see if I could use the external as a data + emergency troubleshooter, but if I'm not using the above mentioned OS from your post, then there's no point.

Just trying to figure out a best way to emergency troubleshoot... get a separate internal M.2 ssd and put Linux for dual boot + emergency troubleshoot, or flat out make a recovery drive out of a USB flash drive...

Thank you guys for your help.

 

[ArtPog]

Your last post is a bit puzzling...

You now indicate you plan to use your Samsung SSD as your primary internally-connected boot drive containing Win 10. You didn't indicate the size of that disk so I'll assume it's also 500 GB, the same as your present HDD - in any event of sufficient size to hold the contents of your present 500 GB HDD.

So why not then use the 500 GB HDD as a secondary drive connected as a USBEHD? You would then utilize that disk for backup/storage purposes - possibly the recipient of the cloned contents of your boot SSD for comprehensive backups of your system. Would that not give you a "way to emergency troubleshoot"?

The fact that the USBEHD probably would not be a bootable device would be immaterial for your purposes since all data on that disk would normally be accessible. Should the boot drive become defective or system corrupted that it could not properly function, it would be a relatively simple matter to internally install the external drive in its place.

 

[Setesu]

Your last post is a bit puzzling...

You now indicate you plan to use your Samsung SSD as your primary internally-connected boot drive containing Win 10. You didn't indicate the size of that disk so I'll assume it's also 500 GB, the same as your present HDD - in any event of sufficient size to hold the contents of your present 500 GB HDD.

So why not then use the 500 GB HDD as a secondary drive connected as a USBEHD? You would then utilize that disk for backup/storage purposes - possibly the recipient of the cloned contents of your boot SSD for comprehensive backups of your system. Would that not give you a "way to emergency troubleshoot"?

The fact that the USBEHD probably would not be a bootable device would be immaterial for your purposes since all data on that disk would normally be accessible. Should the boot drive become defective or system corrupted that it could not properly function, it would be a relatively simple matter to internally install the external drive in its place.

It's actually 250gb for the ssd. And really, like you guys purposed it'll be easy to clone it and use it as a data drive as well.

Now I just need a sata to usb cable as the magician software isn't detecting the external enclosure for the ssd. Trying to secure erase it first and change it to "ready to enable" for encryption before installing in internally. It seems a lot of people having same issues with the magician software not recognizing the Samsung 850 Evo for the first time if it is in an enclosure.