Windows 10: Could I boot windows from an external usb caddy

Hello, 2 general questions to help out my fault finding.

Q1. Hypothetically if I did this would it work please?

Remove my hard drive from laptop1
Put it in an external usb caddy and plug this into laptop2
Create a fresh partition on it and mark the existing os partition inactive
Boot laptop1with newly created windows installation media
Connect the usb caddy and install windows fresh onto the new partition
The hope is that I would have a fresh install of windows running on laptop1 that will boot using the usb caddy

Q2. If this was possible, if I then took the hard drive out of the caddy and put it back internally, when laptop1 is powered on should windows automatically boot and load the drivers to see the now internal drive (assuming all things being equal and there is nothing wrong with the hardware)
Many thanks, Stuart

:)

 

Laptops can't boot from optical HDD\SSD caddy :-(

Hello
I have been investigating *a lot* and trying to boot a 2015 year HP Pavilion DV7 17-f076no (Serial: J1X05EA#UUW) from a Chinese Ebay optical drive HDD\SSD caddy:
Read multiple forum questions that had the same problem as I: ( Bios can't find a bootable SSD inside optical caddy )
https://forums.lenovo.com/t5/Lenovo...find-caddy-SSD-in-BIOS-boot-list/td-p/3278964
http://www.tomshardware.co.uk/answers/id-2059129/bios-recognize-hdd-hard-drive-caddy.html

Startup:

• Cloned a 1000gb HDD containing 100/1000gb of Windows 10 Home 64-bit to a 500gb SSD with a EZ Gig IV 4.6.2 cloning software and a USB-SATA transfer cable.
• Original 1000gb HDD is still inside the laptop.
• DVD-drive replaced with a 500gb SSD caddy.

So far:

• The SSD (=2018 Samsung 860EVO 500gb) can be used and seen inside Windows 10. ( As a storage only )
• The 2015 Bios F.43 Rev.A American Megatrends Inc. can not see the SSD from the BIOS boot order. Windows Boot Manager sees only the original HDD.
• UEFI Legacy boot-mode is disabled. I don't think enabling it would help since I'm starting up Windows 10.

Solutions:

• Faulty caddy ? Chinese sellers sell many multiple variations of different 9.7mm thick caddys with different micro switches. This one had only a 1 pc of micro switch with 2 position choices.
• Bios is just not flexible enough. Open the 20+pcs of laptop screws and put the SSD to the place of the original HDD.
• UEFI Legacy mode ?
• Modding the caddy. Someone said the caddy is in a "power saving sleep mode" when inside BIOS and it is therefore unseen and shortening some pins would help ? Any experience in soldering the caddy electronics so that it is constantly awake ? This sounds believable ?
• Cloned the HDD twice to minimize errors but no help I doubt it is because of the cloning process and if it is it is because the HDD and SSD were not the same size 1000gb and 1000gb and the partitions don't match or so...?

Laptops are not easy...

 

HDD in a HDD caddy is not showing up in the disk management

Hi,

To assist you better, I would like to ask some questions:

• How are you connecting the HDD Caddy?
• What is the make and model of your computer?

If you are connecting the device using USB, I suggest you to check if other USB devices are recognized as USB devices or Other device. If it is displaying as other device, then the issue might be with the USB port. So, I suggest you to update the USB drivers
by following the steps below:

• Press Windows key + X, select Device Manager.
• Expand Universal Serial Bus Controller.
• Right click on the drive, select Update Driver Software and follow the on-screen prompts.

Keep us posted on the status for further assistance.

 

Installing windows off of a USB stick

Step By Step from vista:
From admin cmd prompt

1. diskpart
1a. list disk
2. select disk 1 (replace 1 with your usb drive)
3. clean
4. create partition primary
5. select partition 1 (replace 1 with your usb drive)
6. active
7. format fs=fat32
8. assign
9. exit

Copy Windows Vista's DVD ROM content to the Flash Drive

xcopy d:\*.* /s/e/f e:\ (d being your vista cd and e being your usb stick)

And that's it, boot off your usb disk