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    Booting from USB

    Discussion in 'Hardware Components and Aftermarket Upgrades' started by MulliganUK, Aug 20, 2011.

  1. MulliganUK

    MulliganUK Notebook Enthusiast

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    Sorry about the dumb question. My old HP laptop just bricked but the harddrive with Vista is intact. I have a Clevo P170HM on order.

    I was wondering, if I attached my old HD with an external enclosure by USB 3.0 to my new machine and set it to boot by usb would my Vista load up? Presumably I'd then have to install the drivers but it would function as normal., right? I just want to check it works this way and I'm not missing an obvious flaw with my plan.

    Thanks.
     
    MulliganUK, Aug 20, 2011
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  2. Tsunade_Hime

    Tsunade_Hime such bacon. wow

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    Newer BIOS will allow you to boot from USB but why would you want to boot Vista on your brand new Clevo? Vista/7 are more forgiving about booting into a completely different machine, XP would either not boot or instantly BSOD.
     
    Tsunade_Hime, Aug 20, 2011
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  3. MulliganUK

    MulliganUK Notebook Enthusiast

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    Thanks for the answer. It'll just be a stopgap measure before I get everything I need installed on the new Win7 machine.
     
    MulliganUK, Aug 20, 2011
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  4. Profy_X

    Profy_X Notebook Consultant

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    If you already have installed the OS on the HDD it could work but you may have some BSOD and have to do a fresh install
     
    Profy_X, Aug 20, 2011
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  5. MulliganUK

    MulliganUK Notebook Enthusiast

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    I'm starting to think perhaps this plan is a waste of time. So instead, if I connect the old hd in external enclosure with usb (but don't change the boot up settings) will I just be able to access the hd as if its a regular external hard drive?
     
    MulliganUK, Aug 20, 2011
    #5
  6. Tsunade_Hime

    Tsunade_Hime such bacon. wow

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    Yes your hard drive contents will literally show up as an external drive on another computer.
     
    Tsunade_Hime, Aug 20, 2011
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  7. tilleroftheearth

    tilleroftheearth Wisdom listens quietly...

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    Don't forget thought that if you need to access anything in Users/"user" you will need to take 'ownership' of that folder and it's contents first.

    Don't be surprised if it shows as Zero Bytes in (right click) Properties if you haven't taken ownership of it first.

    To do that; right click on the folder, select Properties and then the Security Tab, Select Advanced and then select the Owner Tab. Click Edit, Select the Change Owner name to your currently logged in computer name and make sure you check the box underneath that says 'Replace owner on subcontainers and objects' too.

    That should now give you full control to view, edit and copy your DATA to your new HDD.

    Good luck.
     
    tilleroftheearth, Aug 20, 2011
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  8. Tsunade_Hime

    Tsunade_Hime such bacon. wow

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    ^^ Yup and you will need to strip permissions as well as changing the owner.
     
    Tsunade_Hime, Aug 20, 2011
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