Windows 10: Can I run Windows 10 on external SSD?

My current hard drive is 4GB and recently I have bought a new external SSD to speed up my laptop. I was wondering if I can install Windows 10 on my external SSD?

:)

 

Windows 10 Tweaks

Pressing “Windows+Pause Break” (it’s up there next to scroll lock) opens the “System” Window.

Windows 10: In the new version of Windows, Explorer has a section called Quick Access. This includes your frequent folders and recent files. Explorer defaults to opening this page when you open a new window. If you’d rather open the usual This PC, with links to your drives and library folders, follow these steps:

• Open a new Explorer window.
• Click View in the ribbon.
• Click Options.
• Under General, next to “Open File Explorer to:” choose “This PC.”
• Click OK

credit to Lifehacker.

 

External SSD recognized as HDD in Windows 10

Hi,



Thank you for writing to Microsoft Community Forums.



I understand your query related to External SSD showing as HDD when connected to the PC using USB 3.0 port. For further clarity on the issue, please respond to the questions below.

1. Have you tried connecting the SSD to any other PC?
   
2. Are you using any converter to connect the SSD through USB 3.0 port?
   
3. Are you using a RAID configuration?
   

I have researched on your query and found that the SSD that you are using is an internal SSD drive, in this case I would suggest you to try updating the Intel Rapid Storage drivers from the

intel website and see if that helps.



In addition, this issue can occur if the SSD is connected to a SATA controller that is identified as RAID (SCSI). I would suggest you to try connecting the SSD to a SATA port that uses AHCI controller such as Intel SATA controller/chipset.



Please get back to us with the detailed information to assist you further.



Regards,

Prakhar Khare

Microsoft Community – Moderator

 

External SSD not recognized as SSD in Windows 10

Hello community!

(this topic applies to Windows 10 and Windows 8.1 equally)

my question concerns an external 240GB SSD drive connected to my laptop via an USB 3.0 port. The SSD works fine, but when using the "Optimize Drives" utility, the drive is listed as "Hard Disk Drive" under media type. As stated by almost all SSD manufacturers,
standard defragmentation on a SSD can actually harm the SSD and over time reduce performance and life-cycle. A test revealed that the optimization for the external SSD is actually performed like on a regular HDD and the TRIM command is not used. This would
also indicate that the regular TRIM commands issued by Windows are not applied to the external SSD drive either. Short of turning off automatic optimization, is there a way to tell Windows that this is an SSD drive and to treat it as such (regardless of
the information provided by the disk- or case-controller) ?

See also picture attached -

Drive C: is a SanDisk SDSSDXP480GR131 SSD drive built in the laptop and recognized properly as an SSD.


Drive F: is Lite-On LMT-256M6M SSD drive attached via one of the USB3.0 ports and classified as regular HDD.