How to Turn a Hard Drive into a Bootable Drive

I have a 250GB external hard drive that I would like to make bootable, but I need to figure out how. I tried to boot from USB external storage first, copy the iso to the HDD, and modify the bios boot order to boot from Windows iso files using the diskpart, but it always shows missing mgr. What should I do? How to turn a hard disk into a bootable drive?

Best Answered by

Jerry· Answered on Jan 31, 2024

Since the boot order can change and sometimes you may not have the external drive, I would advise disabling your primary drive or selecting disabled in the BIOS before installing Windows generally to the external drive. This is because you can install it entirely on the external drive (not just live).

The ISO image cannot be copied to an HDD. Instead, ISOs must be written on a CD or DVD (Windows 7 does it natively - right-click and choose burn disc.)  Afterward, boot from the DVD and select your external HDD during the installation. You will be guided through partitioning it by the setup, making it bootable. It may be possible to burn an ISO to the HDD by tricking the device into thinking it is a DVD player, but that would be much more difficult than simply burning a DVD.

As far as I know, there are three ways to make a drive bootable:

  • Run commands through the Command Prompt. If you are comfortable running CMD, you can apply this method. When attempting this procedure, the Windows installation drive is required.
  • Use the Windows To Go feature. This is available in Windows 10 Enterprise, Education, Professional, or Windows 8/8.1 Enterprise. If your system satisfies this condition, consider proceeding in this manner.
  • Apply EaseUS Todo Backup. EaseUS Todo Backup is a practical and easy-to-use backup and restore utility. It allows you to create WinPE emergency bootable disk in Windows and clone a bootable USB drive. It can make your hard drive bootable by copying your operating system to a target drive. With its help, you can run your system whenever you want.

You can try any of the methods above to make a hard drive bootable. However, if you want a more intelligent and easy-to-use method, EaseUS Todo Backup should be your first choice.

Related article: How to Make External Hard Drive Bootable in Windows 10/Windows 11

Download EaseUS Todo Backup to Protect Computer Data!

Find best solutions to computer backup, cloud storage, data security, and disk cloning with full guidance.

People Also Ask

Is There Any Way to Move My Windows 10 from My Faulty Hard Drive to My New One?

Is there any way to move my Windows 10 from my faulty hard drive to my new one? Do you want to get the answer? This article will tell whether you can move your Windows from a failing hard drive to a new one?

Jerry

Jun 14, 2024

Is Clonezilla Reliable for Cloning a Windows Drive?

Are you wondering if Clonezilla is a reliable tool for Windows drive cloning? Read this post and get your answer here.

Larissa

Jun 30, 2024

Do You Need to Format a New Hard Drive Before Cloning?

Don't know if you should format a new hard drive before cloning? You'll get your answer here. Besides, we'll tell you the best disk cloning software to make your hard drive cloning much easier.

Larissa

Jun 14, 2024

Will Upgrading A Hard Drive To An SSD Make An Old PC Run Like New?

SSDs outperform traditional hard drives in terms of faster speed, more stable reliability, compact size, improved performance, and so on. Do you want to know if switching from an HDD to an SSD makes an old PC run like new? Read this post to find your answer.

Larissa

May 29, 2024

How to Clone Hard Drive with Clonezilla

It is known to all that creating a comprehensive backup of your hard drive through cloning is indeed a wise practice. Hardware failures can occur, and data loss can be a frustrating and costly experience. So, using a cloning tool to safeguard your data is important, and Clonezilla is one of the best cloning software. This post will guide you to clone a hard drive with Clonezilla.

Larissa

May 08, 2024

How Do I Clone C Drive to SSD?

How do I clone C drive to new SSD? Are you looking for ways to clone the C drive to a new SSD? You can use numerous methods to do so, including EaseUS Disk Copy. We'll show you the best approach to cloning your C drive to an SSD.

Jerry

Apr 17, 2024