Helping people with computers... one answer at a time.

An external drive is just another drive to Windows. Setting up programs on a drive that can be removed, however, warrants some care.

Windows XP-Home is installed on my C drive. Will programs, games and so on run if installed on my external E: drive or do they have to be on the same drive as Windows?

The short answer is yes, but there are, as always a few caveats and clarifications I need to make.

If when you set it up a program allows you to choose a destination drive to install onto, it shouldn't matter if that drive is C:, your Windows drive, or some other hard drive internal or external. For the most part they're all just drives, and the fact that the setup program gives you the option means there shouldn't be an issue.

For the record, if the setup program doesn't give you a choice then it may be an issue and I'd avoid trying to circumvent it.

Now, many external drives are removable. USB drives, for example, can be removed from your computer either while it's not running, or after clicking a "safely remove hardware" for the device. In the later case, if a program on your removable drive is running, "safely remove" may fail. All files on the external drive must not be in use, and a program running from the drive is definitely "in use". You'll need to make sure that all programs installed on the external drive are shut down before attempting to remove the drive.

Now, that sounds simple enough but more complex packages often install software that runs automatically when you start your machine, either in the form of explicit start-up menu items, or as system services. You may not think you're running any software that's installed on that external drive, but in reality it may have installed something that is. You'll need to figure out what that is, and take steps to disable it, or shut it down before you remove the drive.

"You'll need to make sure that all programs installed on the external drive are shut down before attempting to remove the drive."

Along those same lines, if the drive is not installed when you boot your system, you may get error messages on start up if a prior installation of software onto that drive also added startup items. Without the drive installed, those startup items may not be found, and errors may result. Menu items and shortcuts relating to the software installed on the external drive may also revert to Windows defaults until some time after the drive is reinstalled.

Finally, don't expect application portability by installing it to an external drive. By that I mean that installing an application to an external drive, and then taking that drive to a different computer and expecting the application to work on that machine. This may work for simpler applications, but setting up a complex application is as much about setting up the Windows registry as it is about just placing files. The registry will have only been set up on the first machine. Theoretically it might be possible to set up the software on machine A, then set it up again on machine B if the drive letters are identical, but I'd expect that to be highly error prone. It's also quite possibly against many applications licenses or terms of use since you're technically installing it on two machines.

So there are a number of issues related to removable media, but if you're just installing your software to a second hard drive, and it just happens to be an external drive, I wouldn't expect that scenario to be an issue for you.

Article C2961 - March 13, 2007

Leo Leo A. Notenboom has been playing with computers since he was required to take a programming class in 1976. An 18 year career as a programmer at Microsoft soon followed. After "retiring" in 2001, Leo started Ask Leo! in 2003 as a place for answers to common computer and technical questions. More about Leo.

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Recent Comments
23 Comments

I am reformatting an older pc with the orignal windows xp. c drive it very little ram ( runs slower now with all the updates). I have an internal hardrive with 2 gig...can I install xp on here and pc will run? also, do I have to have all the service packs installed? Plus, I looked up all the drivers to update and there are 78. Not sure which ones I really need as they all say "optional" on them. (dell pc 4300)

Thank you!

Posted by: Sondra at January 14, 2011 4:04 AM

Hi There Leo - Thanks for the help. Okay there is this product "USB 2.0 to IDE/SATA Cable with Power Adapter -here's the link: - http://www.ultraproducts.com/applications/SearchTools/item-details.asp?EdpNo=3276554&Sku=ULT40112
Question is can programs be run with this from external old xp hard drive connected with usb to new machine with new windows 7 professional? This could be so fantastic for so many if possible.

It depends on the program. If the program would work under Windows 7 without needint to have its setup program run, then sure, it'll run no matter what drive it's on. How the drive is connected or what OS the drive used to be used for does not change the fact that you're running the program under Windows 7, and doesn't aleviate the need for a setup program to be run for many applications.
Leo
20-Jan-2011

Posted by: Val Seaton at January 19, 2011 4:14 PM

Does it work for online gaming programs? Since it doesn't have limitations on how many hardwares I can install it on, and logging in process comes up after the program starts running..? If specific game type is required to know, it's mmorpg.

Posted by: Phil at February 15, 2011 3:27 PM

Actually Ive installed several games on my external and they run fine from different computers i hook it up to. Relatively new games like Cod4 - Modern Warfare for instance.

Posted by: Androw at March 24, 2011 5:08 AM

Thanks Andrew, that is the exact game i want to put on my external and you guys have definitely helped me.

Posted by: LaTrice at September 13, 2011 3:07 PM
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