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    windows 7 on esternal hdd?

    Discussion in 'Windows OS and Software' started by dsproductions, May 2, 2009.

  1. dsproductions

    dsproductions Notebook Consultant

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    hey guys, ive just decided i wanted to reinstall 7 onto my laptop, but when i go to shrink my c: i get told the largest size i can make is 9GB, i've got a 200GB Hdd with90GB free? that seem like its right?

    so anyway, i was thinking i could partition my freeagent and load 7 onto that? would that work? would it come up in the multi boot menu?
     
  2. qhn

    qhn Notebook User

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    At the moment - no! May be after W7 goes full version?

    cheers ...
     
  3. jackluo923

    jackluo923 Notebook Virtuoso

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    You can. You need to mod the Windows 7 installation though. You can also make a PE version of wimdows 7 if you're skilled enough. That way, you can put it on the external hdd and it'll run.
     
  4. dsproductions

    dsproductions Notebook Consultant

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    ok, what would be involved in modding it? im willing to give it a go if its not too deep. i consider myself reasonably competent.
     
  5. jackluo923

    jackluo923 Notebook Virtuoso

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    Refer to this tutorial for windows xp on usb first.
    http://www.ngine.de/article/id/8
    The process for W7 is similar. If you don't get how to install xp on a usb flashdrive, then don't move onto portable w7.
     
  6. qhn

    qhn Notebook User

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    :p Very curious to see/read how this pans out ;)

    cheers ...
     
  7. dsproductions

    dsproductions Notebook Consultant

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    well, ive just had a read through of the tutorial, maybe this is a bit deep lol. ive tried locating the i386 folder, which for all i know might not exist in the win7 setup disc, so cant find it, or any of the files mentioned.

    so, this might pan out a bit quicker than expected ha ha
     
  8. jackluo923

    jackluo923 Notebook Virtuoso

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    The tutorial is for XP. Windows 7 is different, but share many similarities. If you find the tutorial "deep" the "hack" isn't for you.
     
  9. sparkyman2000

    sparkyman2000 Notebook Consultant

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    What exactly do you want? I have the orginal Vista 64 that came with the system and ubuntu installed and just intalled windows 7rc fine. I am tripple booting those 3. I installed the other two in that order.

    I may be able to help. I used Gparted to do the multi-boot because you can edit the flags.....


    **new** not saying you can but maybe try

    http://www.ultimatebootcd.com/

    or

    Easybcd
    http://neosmart.net/dl.php?id=1

    They have so many functions
     
  10. jackluo923

    jackluo923 Notebook Virtuoso

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    He wants to install windows 7 on an esata external HDD, or at least that's what the title says.

    There's 2 option, he can either modify W7 or make a PE out of W7.
     
  11. icehell

    icehell Notebook Evangelist

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    there is tricky way to install windows from iso image without need to burn it on DVD or USB flash.....just google it....
     
  12. dsproductions

    dsproductions Notebook Consultant

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    ok, so im gonna give up on installing it on the external hard drive, and try to dual boot again, which ive done before. however, ive cleaned my drive as much as possible, and have got just over 100GB free, yet i can only shrink the volume by 9GB, anyone have any idea why? and if it can be changed?
     
  13. eleron911

    eleron911 HighSpeedFreak

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    Partition Magic, or if you`re running vista, you can shrink it to however much you want in the Disk Manager.

    Also, the OS should be installed as they were released : Xp, Vista, 7, not in a different order, or you`ll mess up the boot loader.