I am purchasing new laptop which comes with DOS and I dont want to open screws etc of laptop to change Harddrive into SSD.
I have Samsung 840 PRO SSD. So, is it possible if I install Windows 10 on SSD and boot it from Caddy instead of Harddrive?
Edit: Purchasing Lenovo Ideapad 130 (15) or Lenovo V330 (15)
Regards.
Last edited by jk22; 07 Oct 2018 at 13:02.
Yes and no. Windows won't nativly alow you to install it to removable media. Not without using Windows To Go. Thats an Enterprise Install, the official version anyway.
Win To USB is one way to do it. Best Free Windows To Go Creator to create portable Windows 10, 8, 7! < Not 100% sure thats the official link? Just do a search for Win To USB.
no it was in at least 1803 enterprise. now with the above said make sure you bios does see your usb drive. i say this cause i gave two usb drives. one a wd elements, and the other a standard sata on a usb adapter that the bios sees just fine. i also have a usb 3.0 cable plugged into the usb 3.0 on the mobo and if i plug into it the bios won't read it, but windows will. if i unplug the cable and plug the drive directly into the usb 3 port the bios sees it just fine.
It used to only show up in Control panel in the Enterprise Edition. It's now there in Pro, Pro Workstation and Education. It will only accept an Enterprise ISO as a source for making your Windows To Go drive though. It won't let you make a Pro Windows to Go etc. I believe I have to use my My Visual Studio Windows 10 Business ISO. I did it a while back to a spinner laptop drive in a USB enclosure.
If I change to CD/DVD boot first from boot menu in BIOS than may it work ?
No. You need to put USB first. Then it will work.
Assuming you have T400 like in your specs it is going to be slow as molasses as you have USB2. I have X201 and while booting from USB2 works it is painful. Your limitation will not be SSD it will be the USB2 transfer rate. Even SD card is (much) faster.
I'd suggest you see if you can get a docking station (or ExpressCard/54 USB3) from ebay. Both, especially docking station, are cheap.
I bought a docking station for my X201 ThinkPad and running the same drive at normal SATA speed compared to USB2 is far better. I guess T400 docking station have the same passthrough for drives/DVD etc.
The answer is the same. You must put USB not DVD first (or change it each power-up)
Depending what you buy (you didn't say but anything with DOS must surely be old) you need to consider the speed of your USB interface and that USB3 or SATA will be far faster than USB1 or 2.
If you are buying something with native USB3 then don't worry about it - just make sure the USB is top of the list in BIOS.
Perhaps if you say what laptop you are thinking of getting we can give a more tailored response.
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