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How to Boot a Computer from an External Hard Drive

February 6, 2024 by admin Category: How To

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This wikiHow teaches you how to set up your computer to boot from an external drive instead of the built-in hard drive. This is useful when you need to run another operating system (such as Linux) or install a tool that requires the internal hard drive to stop working.

Table of Contents

  • Steps
    • Installing an external hard drive
    • Boot from an external hard drive on Windows
    • Boot from an external hard drive on Mac
  • Advice
  • Warning

Steps

Installing an external hard drive

Image titled Boot from an External Hard Drive Step 1

Image titled Boot from an External Hard Drive Step 1

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Locate your Windows computer’s BIOS key (skip this step if you’re on a Mac). If you want to set up your computer to boot from an external hard drive, you need to access the BIOS control panel by repeatedly pressing a key (usually function keys, such as F12 ) as the computer boots. Normally, to know which key to use, you need:

  • Open a search engine (Google for example).
  • Enter the manufacturer name, computer model with the keyword “bios key” or “bios key”.
  • Press ↵ Enter , select the match, and locate the computer’s BIOS key.
  • You can also check out the manuals or online documentation for your computer on the manufacturer’s website.
Image titled Boot from an External Hard Drive Step 2

Image titled Boot from an External Hard Drive Step 2

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Connect the external hard drive to the computer. Plug one end of the USB cable into an empty USB port on your computer, and the other end into an external hard drive.

  • On an external hard drive, there is usually an indicator light, which will blink slowly or stay on when the drive is connected.
  • On Mac computers, you may need to purchase a USB to Thunderbpt 3 adapter if there are no USB 3.0 (rectangular) ports available.
Image titled Boot from an External Hard Drive Step 3

Image titled Boot from an External Hard Drive Step 3

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Format the hard drive if necessary. If the hard drive is not compatible with your computer, you may see a message saying the drive is faulty or unreadable. Reformatting the drive to match the file system on your computer ( NTFS for Windows and Mac OS Extended (Journaled) for Mac) will allow you to access the hard drive.

  • When reformatting the drive, you should choose the exFAT file system so that Mac or Windows computers can also access the hard drive.
  • Depending on the type of data to be copied to the drive, you may need to format it again. For example, if you use the Live Linux tool to burn a Linux disk image to an external hard drive, the hard drive will automatically format again.
  • Formatting will erase all data on the drive.
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Image titled Boot from an External Hard Drive Step 4

Image titled Boot from an External Hard Drive Step 4

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You need to make sure the drive has data. The computer cannot boot from an empty hard drive; In most cases, to boot from the hard drive, the drive needs a disk image (or “ISO”) file. The files used to install Linux and Windows operating systems are examples of ISOs.

  • Some other examples of boot disk images include File History backups on Windows and Time Machine backups on Mac.
  • Third-party services like Clonezilla are also starters.
Image titled Boot from an External Hard Drive Step 5

Image titled Boot from an External Hard Drive Step 5

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Copy the boot file to the external hard drive. Usually, you can click and drag the ISO file (or other files) and drop it into the external hard drive’s window.

  • If you are using a program like Windows 10 or LiveLinux installation tool to create an external bootable hard drive, skip this step.
Image titled Boot from an External Hard Drive Step 6

Image titled Boot from an External Hard Drive Step 6

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Create an external boot drive . The final step before you boot from the external hard drive is to ask the computer to treat this as the boot entry. To do this, you can use Command Prompt (Windows) or Terminal (Mac).

  • If you are using a program like LiveLinux to burn the ISO file to an external hard drive, this drive will become the boot point in the process.

Boot from an external hard drive on Windows

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Image titled Boot from an External Hard Drive Step 7

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You need to make sure the external hard drive is connected to the computer. Between the computer and the external hard drive must be firmly connected by cable, and the external hard drive must be placed in a convenient place and not leaning on the cable.
Image titled Boot from an External Hard Drive Step 8

Image titled Boot from an External Hard Drive Step 8

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Open Start

Windows Start

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. Click the Windows icon in the lower left corner of the screen.

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Image titled Boot from an External Hard Drive Step 9

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Click the “Power” icon

Windows Power

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at the bottom left of the Start menu. A menu will pop up.

Image titled Boot from an External Hard Drive Step 10

Image titled Boot from an External Hard Drive Step 10

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Click Restart in the pop-up menu. The computer will begin to reboot.
Image titled Boot from an External Hard Drive Step 11

Image titled Boot from an External Hard Drive Step 11

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Start pressing the BIOS key. As soon as the computer screen turns off, you need to repeatedly press the BIOS key specified by the manufacturer.
Image titled Boot from an External Hard Drive Step 12

Image titled Boot from an External Hard Drive Step 12

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Stop pressing when the BIOS appears. BIOS is usually a minimalist interface with colored or white text on a blue or black background.
Image titled Boot from an External Hard Drive Step 13

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Image titled Boot from an External Hard Drive Step 13

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Find the “Boot Order” entry. Use the right arrow key to navigate to the “Boot Order” tab, or look for the “Boot Order” option in one of the menus on the main page if you don’t see the “Boot Order” tab.

  • You may need to select the Advanced tab first to see the “Boot Order” menu.
  • BIOS on each computer is different, so don’t be afraid to look for the “Boot Order” option somewhere in the menu.
Image titled Boot from an External Hard Drive Step 14

Image titled Boot from an External Hard Drive Step 14

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Select the external hard drive. Find the name of the external hard drive or the type name (such as External Hard Drive ) in the “Boot Order” list, then press the “down” arrow key until the external hard drive is selected.

  • In some cases, you can only select USB devices (or similar) in this menu. Then you need to make sure that the external hard drive is the only USB drive connected to the computer when rebooting from the external hard drive.
Image titled Boot from an External Hard Drive Step 15

Image titled Boot from an External Hard Drive Step 15

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Move the hard drive to the top of the list. Press the “Move Up” key (usually the + key) according to the key legend on the right side of the screen until the external hard drive’s name is at the top of the “Boot Order” list.

  • In some cases, the keynote is located at the bottom of the screen.
Image titled Boot from an External Hard Drive Step 16

Image titled Boot from an External Hard Drive Step 16

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Save your changes and exit BIOS. Normally, you have to press a key to do this, so check out the “Save and Exit” action keynote.

  • You may need to confirm this step again by pressing another key.
Image titled Boot from an External Hard Drive Step 17

Image titled Boot from an External Hard Drive Step 17

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Follow the instructions on the screen. Once the external hard drive is selected as the boot location, your startup program or service opens; Follow the on-screen instructions to open, install, or set up the program/service.

  • For example, if you are installing Linux, you will be asked to select your language and country, enter your user information, and so on.
  • If you have the operating system installed and set up on an external hard drive, after completing the BIOS setup, the operating system will open.

Boot from an external hard drive on Mac

Image titled Boot from an External Hard Drive Step 18

Image titled Boot from an External Hard Drive Step 18

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Make sure your external hard drive is connected to your Mac. Between the computer and the external hard drive must be firmly connected by cable, and the external hard drive must be placed in a convenient place and not leaning on the cable.
Image titled Boot from an External Hard Drive Step 19

Image titled Boot from an External Hard Drive Step 19

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Open the Apple menu

Mac Apple

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. Click the Apple icon in the upper left corner of the screen. A drop-down menu will appear.

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Image titled Boot from an External Hard Drive Step 20

Image titled Boot from an External Hard Drive Step 20

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Click Restart… in the drop-down menu.
Image titled Boot from an External Hard Drive Step 21

Image titled Boot from an External Hard Drive Step 21

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Click Restart when asked. The Mac computer will begin to restart.
Image titled Boot from an External Hard Drive Step 22

Image titled Boot from an External Hard Drive Step 22

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Wait for the screen to turn off. As soon as your Mac’s screen turns black, you can start holding down the ⌥ Option key.
Image titled Boot from an External Hard Drive Step 23

Image titled Boot from an External Hard Drive Step 23

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Hold down the ⌥ Option key until the Startup Manager window opens.
Image titled Boot from an External Hard Drive Step 24

Image titled Boot from an External Hard Drive Step 24

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Release the key when the Startup Manager window appears. The window that appears in the middle of this screen contains a list of available boot locations.
Image titled Boot from an External Hard Drive Step 25

Image titled Boot from an External Hard Drive Step 25

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Select your external hard drive. Click the name of the external hard drive in the Startup Manager window.
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Image titled Boot from an External Hard Drive Step 26

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Confirm choice. Click the up arrow below the external hard drive. Mac will start rebooting from the external hard drive.
  • Image titled Boot from an External Hard Drive Step 27

    Image titled Boot from an External Hard Drive Step 27

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    Follow the instructions on the screen. Once the external hard drive is selected as the boot location, your startup program or service opens; Follow the on-screen instructions to open, install, or set up the program/service.

    • For example, if you are installing Linux, you will be asked to select the language and country, enter user information, and so on.
    • If you have the operating system installed and set up on an external hard drive, after completing the BIOS setup, the operating system will open.
  • Advice

    • If you want your Mac to always boot from the external hard drive by default instead of just once, open System Preferences, click Startup Disk , click the padlock icon, enter your credentials, select the hard drive external and then click Restart… . [1] X Research Source

    Warning

    • If you unplug the external hard drive while it’s booting, the computer will freeze.
    X

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    This wikiHow teaches you how to set up your computer to boot from an external drive instead of the built-in hard drive. This is useful when you need to run another operating system (such as Linux) or install a tool that requires the internal hard drive to stop working.

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