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Few months’ back, I had my laptop (LT1 - Compaq 2710) not booting up 'Operating System not found'. It removed the HD from the laptop and used it as an external HD for another laptop (LT2 - Toshiba) but the 2nd laptop will not recognize this HD and after running Ultimate Boot CD, I figured out that the HD is dead (or will die soon). I had backed up the data so no problem.

Now I have got another HD for this machine. The new HD is 200GB SATA (for desktop) Maxtor and It comes with Maxtor blaster etc CD's and I have a USB enclosure for this. How do I start using this new HD in the laptop using the USB enclosure? (A. Install Win XP and B. boot for external usb)

I have a win XP cd and I also made a USB bootable win XP with SP2 - (Win XP SP2 -USB) - from this instruction -
This CD works fine from my 2nd laptop - LT2 but it does not allow me to install XP on external HD (bascially it tries to re-install XP on my existing C drive for LT2). I removed the HD for LT2 and tried to Boot from CD (Win XP SP2 -USB) with external HD connected with USB - It started the boot process, but could not recognize HD (may be because its 200GB?). What do I do for this?

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  • Latest Post Latest Post by dcc

Dani AI

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Short answer: Windows XP setup normally will not install to a USB-attached disk, and many USB-to-SATA/IDE bridge chips either hide the drive from the installer or present it as "removable" so setup refuses to use it. That behavior explains why your USB-bootable XP started but could not place Windows on the Maxtor in the enclosure. described the exact symptoms, and was right to point toward treating the drive as an internal device — that is the most reliable route.

What to try next (practical options):

  • Best/cleanest: fit the new Maxtor into the laptop (or temporarily into a desktop that accepts SATA) and run the XP install there. Installing to an internal bay avoids USB/removable-device restrictions and driver/BIOS quirks.
  • If you cannot install internally: install XP on a donor internal drive (or in a desktop), then image/clone that installation onto the Maxtor (Acronis, Ghost, Clonezilla). After cloning, move the drive into the target laptop.
  • If you must use the enclosure: verify the enclosure chipset supports "fixed" (non-removable) mode and large drives. Some enclosures have firmware limits or report the disk as removable; try a different enclosure or an adapter known to expose the drive as a fixed disk.

Troubleshooting checklist:

  • Check BIOS: enable legacy USB and USB mass-storage as HDD (if that option exists) and test boot order.
  • Boot a WinPE or Linux live CD on the laptop with the enclosure attached to confirm whether the OS sees the drive at all and to inspect partitioning.
  • If XP setup sees a truncated size (around 137GB), that points to 28-bit LBA limits in BIOS/firmware — update BIOS or use an environment with 48-bit LBA support.
  • If the laptop uses AHCI/SATA drivers not included in stock XP, use the F6 driver-install path (or slipstream drivers into the installer with a tool like nLite).

Cautions: back up any data before repartitioning or imaging. Installing Windows to an external USB disk is unsupported and fragile; the simplest, most durable fix is to install the OS to an internally connected drive.

Member Avatar for dcc

XP will only recognize 137GB without the sp2, this mean that it will only recognize the 137GB of that 200GB hdd. That's not your problem.

If your OS is on the hdd in the lap top why not partition the external hdd with maxblast, set the jumper of the external hdd to slave and use it as a slave drive.

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