(inquiry) running win10 from a usb device

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  1. Posts : 1,223
    Windows 10
       #1

    (inquiry) running win10 from a usb device


    I would like to know, on a scale of 1 to 10, for someone such as myself with limited computer knowledge, how hard would it be to run win10 from an external HDD. . or...possibly run another OS within the external
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  3. Posts : 31,465
    10 Home x64 (22H2) (10 Pro on 2nd pc)
       #3

    And you can run Linux from a Live USB flash drive too.
    How-To Geek: The Best Free Tools for Creating a Bootable Windows or Linux USB Drive
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  4. Posts : 1,223
    Windows 10
    Thread Starter
       #4

    I keep hearing how good Linux is. thx for replies guys
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  5. Posts : 31,465
    10 Home x64 (22H2) (10 Pro on 2nd pc)
       #5

    Pathfinder said:
    I keep hearing how good Linux is. thx for replies guys
    I prefer Windows, but I keep a bootable Linux Live USB handy as a useful trouble-shooting tool. You can install Linux from a Live USB, it's good for giving a second life to old XP machines incapable of running Windows 10.
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  6. Posts : 1,223
    Windows 10
    Thread Starter
       #6

    it seems intriguing running win10 from external. the main reason is I want to preserve what memory I have. currently 436GB out of 500GB. maybe I should buy a second external 1TB drive? the one I have now still has 950GB left
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  7. Posts : 31,465
    10 Home x64 (22H2) (10 Pro on 2nd pc)
       #7

    Pathfinder said:
    it seems intriguing running win10 from external. the main reason is I want to preserve what memory I have.
    It's not called 'memory' (that word should only be used for the installed RAM) - what you mean is disk space (or storage). There's a surprising amount of space you get back just by running Disk Clean-Up. Click its 'Clean up system files' button and see how much space old windows update files are taking up, for example. It also has a 'More options' tab where you can delete all but the last Restore Point (these can take up a lot of space).

    Though don't clean up Windows Updates if you feel you'll ever wan to uninstall an update. or delete restore points if you may want to go back further than the most recent one.
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  8. Posts : 1,223
    Windows 10
    Thread Starter
       #8

    thx. ok so just now, after turned on the pc, I went to setup to boot from usb device finally. on the screen,

    >options
    >choose other options
    >use a device
    >UEFI OS

    so iam guessing the usb flash is now ready to be booted whenever I need to access it..otherwise, ill resume win10 normally by not choosing that option. hope I did ok

    also, if wanted to change the boot option from usb flash to external HDD, how do I do that
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  9. Posts : 5,478
    2004
       #9

    Pathfinder said:
    it seems intriguing running win10 from external. the main reason is I want to preserve what memory I have. currently 436GB out of 500GB. maybe I should buy a second external 1TB drive? the one I have now still has 950GB left
    I think you should investigate this issue rather than booting from an external drive. You can indeed boot from external drive fairly easily but it will run slower (somewhere between "a bit slower" and "incredibly almost unusably slow" - depending on if it is USB 2 or 3, the type of drive etc).

    Better would be to run disk cleanup as @Bree said to reclaim some disk space said and then move some big documents onto your existing (nearly empty) external drive or just delete them if you don't want them any more. You may have some old games or videos you don't need on your main drive - they can be quite big.

    Have a look at TreeSize Free to see if you can find any big files you don't want.

    You can do both of course - boot from external drive and tidy up a bit :)
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  10. Posts : 1,223
    Windows 10
    Thread Starter
       #10

    I run wise disk cleaner which does a better job at clearing away a lot of junk files. I do have treesize free, thx anyways mate
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