External USB Hard Drive

J

joinerjohn

Just a quick question.... Is it possible to install an operating system on a USB hard drive and make the computer boot from that drive instead of C ? :?: :?:

Only asking as my HDD is almost 80% full now and I can't be a**ed to delete a lot if things on it.
 
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I don't quite understand, your HD with the OS on is about 80% full, so you have, or are getting an external HD to put the OS on.

Why not just put the data files from the almost full hd onto an external one and work from that setup.
 
Sorry I should explain further.. I'm thinking of installing a different operating system on it. I have Win XP atm and was considering either win7 or perhaps even Linux as an operating system.
My present computer has had 3 or 4 factory resets now and so when you open C/documents and settings there are 3 or 4 user accounts which contain either duplicated files/data on them and I can't delete the whole user accounts as I get warnings that all of them contain files needed by windoze.
When I open up C/Documents and settings I see several folders:_
Administrator.
All Users.
HP_OWN~1.
HP_OWN~1~YOU.
HP_Owner.
HP_Owner.John.
HP_Owner.Your D65BBC6695.

Now I know that one of these folders contains the actual operating system, but when I try to delete a folder (lets say HP_OWN~1~YOU) I get the warning that it contains files used by windows.
It doesn't matter which folder I select. they all contain files used by windows. TBH It would be a long laborious process to go through all of these folders deleting files one at a time until I come across files that need to be kept.
When I bought the computer (when new) Win XP was pre-installed, so I can't format C and start again.
Any computer buffs out there have any suggestions (Apart from binning it) ? ;) ;)
 
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The Folders that you have listed are user profile information. It has information relating to user accounts and all your data for them.

You could:

1. logon as normal
2. Attach an external USB and backup your data
3. Create a new account and setup your profile from new importing settings like email and internet favorites etc...
4. When happy you have setup your new profile and all your data is safe, logon to your pc as administrator and delete the old user accounts.
5. Logon as your new account and copy the data from your USB HDD back to your PC
 
If these folders only contain user information, then why can't I just delete the profiles I don't use?? As stated I have tried to delete some of them but I always get a popup telling me that this folder contains files used specifically by windows and that I cannot delete the folder.
BTW I cannot log on to a specific account as I only have the one profile set up on the computer. These are the folders from when I did the factory reset's Surely some of these old accounts are capable of being deleted ???
 
From Control Panel > User Accounts

What is listed?

You should to do step 2 regardless or JohnD will be along shortly :LOL: :LOL:
 
Doc Lenny said:
From Control Panel > User Accounts

What is listed?

You should to do step 2 regardless or JohnD will be along shortly :LOL: :LOL:
Click to expand...

The only thing that's listed is
HP-Owner (Administrator account)
Guest (user account is turned off)

So it follows that the other accounts stored under C/Documents and Settings , could be deleted, but Windoze won't let me delete them ???

I'm assuming that the computer knows I'm logging on as Administrator anyway as that's the only account under users that there is.
 
Are you Win XP Home or Pro??

Can you delete an unwanted profile in Safe Mode?

Are the profiles a significant size that is contributing to you disk space problems?

It would also be worth running a disk clean-up utility and then defrag the HDD.

Thanks
 
Doc Lenny said:
Are you Win XP Home or Pro??

Can you delete an unwanted profile in Safe Mode?

Are the profiles a significant size that is contributing to you disk space problems?

It would also be worth running a disk clean-up utility and then defrag the HDD.

Thanks
Click to expand...

OK Win XP Home.
The only profile it will list in control panel/users are.
HP-Owner (Administrator account.
Guest. (user account is turned off)

There are no other accounts I can delete. Yet under C/Documents & Settings, there are all these other profiles, (saved when I have done a full reset apparently) But When I try to delete these ones, I always get a popup window telling me I can't delete these as they contain files used by windows and can't be deleted. I suppose The only thing to do now is get a copy of WinXP Home Edition, reformat the HDD and install again. When it asks for the registration code I will enter the one on the side of my computer. (Win Xp pre-installed from new)

Does this sound feasible??

Edit, Just had a look at 2 of the folders I can't delete and one is 2.59gb
The other one is 29.8gb
The profile I use is 11.9gb


Just had a thought,,,, Perhaps the ones I can't delete contain windows updates and service packs??? etc??
 
Instead of going to all the effort of trying to find an XP disk and install it, then download all the updates and SP3 to install, as you want a dual boot with Win 7, why not just install Win 7 as a clean install and forget XP because it will be out of Microsoft updates shortly.
 
Hi

Can you post the exact error message when trying to delete.

In Control Panel > System > Advanced Tab - Select Settings under User Profiles - What is listed? Can you delete an unwanted profile from here?

Try creating a new user account with administrator permissions then
try this

Did you try removing the profiles in safe mode?
 
Regarding ditching XP altogether, it's not always pratical to do that. I've got a dual boot (Win7 Ultimate / XP Pro) system, largely because of hardware that I can't find Win7 drivers for or software that's not supported by Win7. Hardware and software all work fine under XP, so why should I pay to upgrade them as well as upgrading the OS when I can easily set up a dual-boot. I might one day replace the hardware when it comes to the end of it's natural, but I'm not going to be forced to when there's an alternative.

If you want to dual-boot, it would be better go use an internal hard-drive. Easy enough to install and Windows 7 will handle the dual-boot set when you run the OS install. External drives should really only be used for removable data that you'd maybe use on more than 1 PC - an operating system doesn't fall into that category. Don't think you can actually install Win7 on an external drive, as that would go against the whole notion of the operating system licence covering an installation of the OS on 1 specific PC. Seem to recall that you can install some versions of Linux on external drives tho', but haven't done it myself.
 
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