Portable Disk Drive For Pc

What Is a Portable Windows 10/8/7

Portable Cd Disc Drive
Usb Portable Disk Drive

Seagate Backup Plus 5TB Portable Hard Drive with Rescue Data Recovery Services Drag and Drop File Saving Right out of the Box Fast Data Transfer with USB 3.0 Connectivity. Decide what kind of portable drive you want. Compatible with any computer, portable USB drives live.

To make Windows portable indicates the operations of installing Windows on a portable USB drive, like a USB flash drive and external hard drive. By installing Windows on such a portable storage device, you make Windows portable, too. Then, by what means can you create a portable Windows 10/8/7 USB? As you may know, you can either use the Windows built-in tool - Windows to Go or third-party portable Windows creation tool.

Advantages of Creating a Portable Windows 10/8/7

The most obvious benefit you will experience is that you can use your personalized Windows with any computer you connect the USB drive to. Your workflow won't be interpreted by time or place since you can carry the system everywhere you go. Therefore, a portable Windows 10 provides you with consistent work, study, or recreation experience.

Besides, a portable Windows will significantly benefit you when the computer suffers from a boot failure. With a potable Windows available, you can boot the computer successfully and then rescue your files.

What's more, creating a portable version of Windows is identical to make a backup of your operating system. When a system crash, boot failure, system corruption, or similar issue arises, an exact copy of your original OS will undoubtedly soothe your nerves.

Two Ways to Create Portable Windows 10/8/7

To create portable Windows 10/8/7, you should prepare:

A USB drive: USB flash drive, pen drive, or external hard drive (at least 16GB)
A functional computer

There are two typical ways: using Windows built-in tool - Windows to Go or third-party software. However, there is a crucial limit on the version of Windows supported by Windows to Go, which I'll explain later. Given that, you are highly recommended to create a portable Windows 10/8/7 the third-party system backup software - EaseUS Todo Backup.

Method 1. Use EaseUS Todo Backup

EaseUS portable Windows creation tool makes Windows portable by cloning your system (including all the content on the system partition) onto the USB drive. That is to say, you can bring your system and files/applications on the system partition(s) together with you via the USB drive. Unlike using Windows to Go, EaseUS Todo Backup allows you to create portable Windows 10/8/7 regardless of its edition. That makes it a more advisable choice for Windows 7 users and non-Windows Enterprise/Education users.

A step-by-step guide to create portable Windows on a USB drive：

USB requirements:

1. Check how much disk space is used for the system C drive. Let's assume 40GB. Then prepare a qualified USB drive, of which the disk capacity must be larger than 40GB.

2. Do you use an empty new USB drive or an old one? Make sure that all the important data has been safely transferred because the system clone will overwrite data on it completely.

3. Correctly connect the USB drive to your machine and make sure that Windows has detected it and assigned a drive letter to it.

Follow the overall process to create a portable Windows USB drive and boot from it:

Step 1. Launch EaseUS Todo Backup. Expand the menu and click 'System Clone' in the lower position.

Step 2. On the 'System clone' window, the software will choose the system partition and boot partition by default. Just Choose the USB drive as the destination disk.

Click on 'Advanced options' and then 'Create Portable Windows USB drive'. Click 'OK'.

Click 'Proceed'. The software will start immediately cloning the default partitions of your desktop/laptop to the USB drive. After the cloning process is over, you can safely plug the USB drive out.

Step 3. Boot from the USB drive.

Connect your portable USB to the computer
Restart the computer and press 'Del' to enter BIOS
Set the PC to boot from the portable USB by changing the boot order in BIOS under the 'Boot' tab
Save changes and you'll see your system booting up from the USB drive

Now you've successfully created a portable Windows on your USB drive, and you can use it to run your system any computer available. If you want to perform OS migration someday, you can use the same way above to finish the task.

Method 2. Use Windows to Go

Alternatively, you can also create a portable Windows 10/8 using Windows to Go if you are using Windows 8 Enterprise, Windows 10 Enterprise, and Windows 10 Education. Windows to Go is a feature on these specific Windows editions to create a Windows to Go workspace on a USB drive. By booting a computer from the USB drive, you can use the Windows to Go workspace, which is the image of the system on which you create the portable Windows. However, there is a limit you can't ignore: Your computer must run Windows 8 Enterprise, Windows 10 Enterprise, or Windows 10 Education. If not, use EaseUS backup utility instead.

For the detailed instructions on creating a portable Windows 10/8 on a USB, go to the official guide given by Microsoft.

Knowledge Base

For your information, there are two issues related to the current topic.

Install Windows on USB VS Install Windows from USB

Some users are confused about the differences between installing Windows on USB and installing Windows from USB. To install Windows on a USB drive is like what we do in this article: to create a portable Windows 10 on a qualified storage device. To install Windows from USB is to create Windows installation media that is used to install or reinstall Windows on a different PC. The installation media could be a USB flash drive or DVD. To create Windows installation media, you will need a PC, a USB flash drive/DVD, a Windows product key, and the media creation tool from Microsoft.

System Transfer

In addition to creating a portable Windows 10 on a USB drive, there is another way to use your system on another computer without reinstallation. That is to perform system transfer. Unlike applying the portable device, you can only use the original system on a target device. System transfer is especially suitable for you to switch from your old computer to your new one.

The Bottom Line

If you have checked both methods to create a portable Windows, you will find it's much simpler using EaseUS Todo Backup. Even if you set aside your current need, this tool is also an unmissable choice for you, given data loss occurs almost daily. If you search 'recover lost data' on the internet, you will know how many people are troubled by various data losses. To nip data loss in the bud, your most workable solutions is to back up the important items regularly, be it your disk, partition, system, file, or more.

Hope the information above is useful to you.

Application Menus

PortableApps.com Menu - An easy-to-use system tray launcher

Disk Tools

Portable Cd Disc Drive

CrystalDiskInfo Portable - disk health monitoring tool
CrystalDiskMark Portable - disk benchmark utility
dfgPortable (Freeware) - defragment disks with Defraggler®
HDHacker Portable (Freeware) - MBR and boot sector manager
JkDefrag Portable - Disk defragmentation and optimization
rcvPortable (Freeware) - file recovery with Recuva®
Rufus Portable - format and create bootable USB drives
Smart Defrag Portable (Freeware) - disk defragmentation and optimization
SSD-Z Portable (Freeware) - SSD information tool
UNetbootin Portable - create bootable Linux USB drives
UltraDefrag Portable - Disk defragmentation and optimization
WinCDEmu Portable - cd/dvd/bd emulator and ISO mounter
Wise Disk Cleaner Portable (Freeware) - disk cleaner and defragmenter
YUMI Portable - multiboot USB creator
YUMI-UEFI Portable - multiboot USB creator

File Comparison

Diffpdf Portable - compare PDFs textually and visually
Duplicate Files Finder Portable - find and remove duplicate files
Regshot Portable - registry and file comparison
WhatChanged Portable (Freeware) - registry and file change tracker
WinMerge Portable - file comparison and merging
WinMerge 2011 Portable - file comparison and merging

File Compression & Packaging

7-Zip Portable - Multilingual file archiver and compressor
FUPX Portable (Freeware) - advanced executable compression
PeaZip Portable - Easy to use file archiver and compressor
PortableApps.com AppCompactor - shrink apps without affecting functionality

File Managers

CubicExplorer Portable - advanced file manager
Explorer++Portable - multi-tab file manager
FileVoyager Portable (Freeware) - full-featured file manager
FreeCommander Portable (Freeware) - easy-to-use file manager
Q-Dir Portable (Freeware) - quad pane file manager
Xenon File Manager Portable - portable file browser

Font Tools

FontForge Portable - Outline font editor

Other

Ant Renamer Portable - Advanced file renaming utility
AquaSnap Portable (Freeware) - Screen productivity enhancement
Autoruns Portable (Freeware) - configure autorunning apps and more
BabelMap Portable (Freeware) - Unicode character browser
BleachBit Portable - cache, temp file and history cleaner
BOINC Portable - help science research using your computer
CamStudio Portable - screen recorder and video producer
ccPortable (Freeware) - assists with running CCleaner® portably
Checksum Control Portable - create and verify MD5/SFV checksums
Clicky Gone Portable - easily hide running windows
Colour Contrast Analyser Portable - analyze color contrast & readability
Command Prompt Portable - Simple link to a customizable command prompt
Console Portable - console window enhancement
ControlPad Portable (Freeware) - Run commands and apps with your numeric keypad
Converber Portable (Freeware) - convert units of measurement
ConvertAll Portable - convert units of measurement
CPU-Z Portable (Freeware) - system profiler
DebugView Portable (Freeware) - system debug output monitor
Disk Cleaner Portable - cache, temp file and history cleaner
Ditto Portable - clipboard manager and extender
DM2 Portable - window control enhancer
Don't Panic! Portable - one-click application hider
dotNETInspector Portable - show which .NET frameworks are installed
DUMo Portable (Freeware) - update local drivers
FastCopy Portable - fast file copier and remover
FileAlyzer Portable (Freeware) - detailed file analysis
Folding@home Portable (Freeware) - distributed computing project
GeekUninstaller Portable (Freeware) - local software uninstaller
Ghostscript Portable - Postscript and PDF interpreter
GPU-Z Portable (Freeware) - graphics system profiler
grepWin Portable - regular expression search and replace
Gridy Portable - snap your open windows to a grid
HWiNFO Portable (Freeware) - software/hardware info
IObit Uninstaller Portable (Freeware) - uninstaller and cleaner
IObit Unlocker Portable (Freeware) - unlock undeleteable and unmovable files
jPortable (Freeware) - Java virtual machine made portable
jdkPortable (Freeware) - Java Development Kit (JDK) made portable
jPortable Browser Switch - Enable or disable jPortable's Java browser plugin
jPortable Launcher - Run Java JARs portably
KCleaner Portable (Freeware) - local PC cleaner
Lightscreen Portable - easy to use screenshot tool
Listary Portable (Freeware) - find-as-you-type search for Windows Explorer and more
OpenJDK Portable - Java development kit
OpenJDK JRE Portable - Java runtime environment
PCI-Z Portable (Freeware) - pci devices profiler
QwikMark Portable (Freeware) - quick system benchmark
RAMMap Portable (Freeware) - physical memory usage analyzer
Rapid CRC Unicode Portable - CRC/MD5/SHA hashing
RBTray Portable - minimize apps to the system tray
RegAlyzer Portable (Freeware) - registry editor
ReNamer Portable (Freeware) - powerful file renaming tool
Resource Hacker Portable (Freeware) - binary resource editor
Revo Uninstaller Portable (Freeware) - easy to use uninstaller
Shortcuts Search And Replace Portable - Search and adjust shortcut paths
SIW (System Information for Windows) Portable (Freeware) - software/hardware info
specPortable (Freeware) - system information tool with Speccy®
SpeedyFox Portable (Freeware) - speed up Firefox, Thunderbird and more
Startup Sentinel Portable (Freeware) - local startup manager
SUMo Portable (Freeware) - update local apps
Texter Portable - text substitution utility
TidyTabs Portable (Freeware) - tabbed window manager
TinyTask Portable (Freeware) - simple macro record/playback
TreeSize Free Portable (Freeware) - disk usage analyzer and cleanup tool
TyperTask Portable (Freeware) - text substitution utility
UUID-GUID Generator Portable - generate unique identifiers
Virtual Volumes View Portable - drive and disk cataloger
VirtuaWin Portable - virtual desktop manager
WhoDat Portable - WHOIS lookup client
WinDirStat Portable - disk usage analyzer and cleanup tool
Windows Error Lookup Tool Portable (Freeware) - find windows error code details
winMd5Sum Portable - check md5 sums to verify files on the go
Wise Data Recovery Portable (Freeware) - data and file recovery
Wise Program Uninstaller Portable (Freeware) - local software uninstaller
Wise Registry Cleaner Portable (Freeware) - registry cleaner and optimizer
Workrave Portable - repetitive stress injury prevention
XN Resource Editor Portable - lightweight binary resource editor
xpy Portable - system settings tweaker
Zint Barcode Studio Portable - barcode generator
ZSoft Uninstaller Portable (Freeware) - uninstaller and cleaner

Networking

DynDNS Simply Client Portable - update DynDNS hostname IP
TCPView Portable (Freeware) - TCP connection analysis
WinMTR Portable - network diagnostic tool

Remote Connectivity

2X Client Portable (Freeware) - remote server and RDP access client
TeamViewer Portable (Freeware) - remote PC support and screen-sharing

Synchronization

DSynchronize Portable (Freeware) - directory synchronization
FreeFileSync Portable - file and folder synchronization
Synkron Portable - file and directory synchronization
Toucan - backup, sync and encrypt for advanced users

Task Managers

Daphne Portable - process explorer, killer and debugger
DTaskManager Portable (Freeware) - advanced task manager
Process Explorer Portable (Freeware) - task manager and process analyzer
Process Hacker Portable - advanced task manager
Process Monitor Portable (Freeware) - real-time file, registry and process monitor
System Explorer Portable (Freeware) - task manager and process analyzer
VMMap Portable (Freeware) - process memory analyzer

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