Beta install similar way to OS X?

Hi All,

Not sure if this is possible but will ask anyway
The only machine I have is this laptop and I don't want to change anything on it, but want to try the beta for win 9.
This is how I did things when I beta tested OS X so wondering if the same can be done in windows

I connected an external HD (USB) to my MacBook and installed the Beta to this drive
If I turn on the MacBook with this drive connected it asks which version I want to boot, beta or standard installed on internal HD
If I turn on the MacBook without the drive connected it just boots straight into OS X from HD, it's just like the beta doesn't exist, no sign of it anywhere on internal drive

Can similar be done in windows, put Win 9 on an external drive and if the drive is connected it asks if I want my current Win 8 or Win 9, if the drive is not connected it just boots straight to 8 as it does now

Cheers

I hope we can use VmWare to beta test Win9. When done all you/me would have to do is remove VmWare from our PC's.

Jeff

I don't know if you can even boot up Windows from external USB hardrive. I think I tried once without a success. But assuming that the external drive is connected via eSATA, yes, your PC will scan and boot up the first bootable partition it will find. So, if the eSATA is not connected, it will boot up on the next bootable hard drive.

That's exactly what I do. I boot up from different hard drives (Windows, Linux and Mac OS X). I just pull out the hard drive I don't need and leave the one that I want to boot up with or simply turn of the hard drive power I installed at the back my PC.






....

Thanks for the replies

I need to do some more checking, find the best way to do this

That sounds like what I am trying to do

Off out for the day now so will have a full read through that tomorrow

Cheers

CountMike said:

Might be able to do it this way: How to Create a Windows To Go USB Drive Without the Enterprise Edition ?

That answers the OP's main question and verifies what I said that windows (Win 7/8) don't run on USB. Unless, a tedious workaround is made. I can 't imagine how frustrating the load up speeds would be.







"We confirmed that it still works on Windows 8.1"







Now, the big Q is if it will work with Windows 9.

I want to assume that the spare USB drive is blank and not being used as data drive. Take the hard drive out and install it as secondary hard drive to test the OS.