Windows 10 installation on external HDD

[Human Being]

I want to install windows 10 on external HDD.I have win8 right now,I'll do the reservation via win10 applet(when win8 is successfully installed).Alhough the only obstacle is that I have some of my personal data in external 1TB WD HDD and also I want to install the operating system.So the question will I have to erase my HDD completely for win8 installation or just I can install win8 along with my personal data on it.

 

[GreyCatz]

I want to install windows 10 on external HDD.I have win8 right now,I'll do the reservation via win10 applet(when win8 is successfully installed).Alhough the only obstacle is that I have some of my personal data in external 1TB WD HDD and also I want to install the operating system.So the question will I have to erase my HDD completely for win8 installation or just I can install win8 along with my personal data on it.

Greetings my fellow Human Being:

From your description I gather you are currently running Win8 on your internal disk and now you want to install Win8 on your external WD HDD and upgrade to Win10 when it's released. Did I get that right?

If so, I tried something similar with the Win10 Tech Preview and received an error message that Win10 does not install on USB-based devices (such as my external WD HDD). It's really a USB issue, and if you think about it, Microsoft (or any other OS company) wouldn't want people to move Windows freely around between computers with this kind of ease.

There are ways around this, although they do seem a bit (ahem)... illegal. Also, if you want to move or migrate your Win8 to another disk, the migration utility will disable the Win8 product key on your original disk. And yes, you will need to clean, or reformat, the new disk with the cmd.exe utility thereby losing all data on it.

However, there is an official, portable version called Windows On The Go (if I remember correctly). I don't know if it's anything like the PC version, but if you really need to move Win10 between various devices it might be worth considering.

Best of luck,
GreyCatz.

 

[Human Being]

Yes you get it right.Will wait for win10 complete version on 29th of july.Although what if I want to install only win8 on external HDD then what will happen to my personal data being written on it already.

 

[USAFRet]

Running a Windows OS on an external drive is bad for two reasons.

1. It is non-trivial to actually get it installed
2. It will be dirt slow if you ever do.

Why do you want to do this?

 

[USAFRet]

However, there is an official, portable version called Windows On The Go (if I remember correctly). I don't know if it's anything like the PC version, but if you really need to move Win10 between various devices it might be worth considering.

Best of luck,
GreyCatz.

Win2Go is only available with 8.1 Enterprise version. Not applicable to Home or Pro.

 

[Human Being]

Because My laptop came with pre-installed win8.1 and its not pirated its genuine.Although I've made the reservation for win10 but directly I'm not going to install win10 because I have obstacles in my mind for win10 abends....like if it doesn't support the games I've installed...the drivers and other utilities.That's why I want to install on external HDD and then boot it.

 

[Human Being]

However, there is an official, portable version called Windows On The Go (if I remember correctly). I don't know if it's anything like the PC version, but if you really need to move Win10 between various devices it might be worth considering.

Best of luck,
GreyCatz.

Win2Go is only available with 8.1 Enterprise version. Not applicable to Home or Pro.

Mine is Single Language,so probably its useless.

 

[USAFRet]

Because My laptop came with pre-installed win8.1 and its not pirated its genuine.Although I've made the reservation for win10 but directly I'm not going to install win10 because I have obstacles in my mind for win10 abends....like if it doesn't support the games I've installed...the drivers and other utilities.That's why I want to install on external HDD and then boot it.

As said....Windows on an external drive is not good. At all.
And you can't have your original Win 8, and Windows 10, unless you actually buy Windows 10. You don't get to continue to use both.

Just wait a while for the Win 10. See what reports come out.

 

[Human Being]

Yeah just waiting for win10 full-version.On the contrary if you're acknowledged with "Storages",that if I For Example. Make a parition on external HDD and put some of my data and then unplug the HDD what will happen if I replug it?The partition will still exist including my data or....?

 

[GreyCatz]

Yes you get it right.Will wait for win10 complete version on 29th of july.Although what if I want to install only win8 on external HDD then what will happen to my personal data being written on it already.

Hello Human:

I'm afraid we're not supposed to do this with USB-based external devices. It may be technically possible, albeit rather complicated, but it's definitely not encouraged let alone supported by OEMs.

You can migrate an OS from one internal disk to another internal disk. Microsoft has its own migration utility that you can get from their website. You have to prepare the new disk (CLEAN and FORMAT commands in cmd.exe or use the Disk Management utility under Control Panel) and you lose everything, unless you move it to a USB stick or CD-ROM beforehand.

Cheers,
GreyCatz.

 

[Human Being]

Yes you get it right.Will wait for win10 complete version on 29th of july.Although what if I want to install only win8 on external HDD then what will happen to my personal data being written on it already.

Hello Human:

I'm afraid we're not supposed to do this with USB-based external devices. It may be technically possible, albeit rather complicated, but it's definitely not encouraged let alone supported by OEMs.

You can migrate an OS from one internal disk to another internal disk. Microsoft has its own migration utility that you can get from their website. You have to prepare the new disk (CLEAN and FORMAT commands in cmd.exe or use the Disk Management utility under Control Panel) and you lose everything, unless you move it to a USB stick or CD-ROM beforehand.

Cheers,
GreyCatz.

I've understood that.What about the Example I just gave up.

 

[USAFRet]

Yeah just waiting for win10 full-version.On the contrary if you're acknowledged with "Storages",that if I For Example. Make a parition on external HDD and put some of my data and then unplug the HDD what will happen if I replug it?The partition will still exist including my data or....?

Yes, the partition will still exist.

 

[Human Being]

Alright then I'm summed up I'll just wait for win10,4 days to go.Thanks all of you.