Portable Windows on USB?

Discussion in 'Technology' started by supersonic, Jul 7, 2015.

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  1. #1 supersonic, Jul 7, 2015
    I am going to be doing some full-time traveling for work and have been scoping some laptops. This Lifehack looks like a very cheap alternative... I'd boot into my own Windows 8.1 from a external USB but use the work laptop hardware.

    Any ideas if this will be viable? Also, would SSD be a waste since USB speeds will throttle?

    It's cheap enough to where I might try it later this week if I find a Win81 image.

     
  2. #2 khaid, Jul 7, 2015
    usb 3.0 is still faster than mechanical hdd transfer speeds so you might as well use an ssd. i have the SanDisk Extreme CZ80 usb flash drive and it blazes pass all of my external and portable usb 3.0 mechanical hdd's.
     
  3. #3 supersonic, Jul 7, 2015
    Man, the shitty thing about technology is trying to figure out where to draw the line. Can get 120GB USB flash drive with SSD controller for $95. It makes the 2.5" SSDs look bulky, but I could double the space at 240GB.

    [edit] fuck it, I went with the VisionTek 120GB... gotta pay for convenience.

     
  4. #4 supersonic, Jul 8, 2015
    Win7 could be installed without a serial. After 30 days it would just pester you with a popup but was otherwise fully functional... anybody know if that is the case with Windows 8.1 also?
     
  5. #5 bfun, Jul 8, 2015
    I think you got 90 days and then most things stop working.
     
  6. #6 supersonic, Jul 10, 2015
    +1 you weren't kidding. This took 4 minutes to install W8.1 onto it and I was good to go. Everything runs much faster than the internal HDD on the desktop. Very cool way of not having to carry 2 laptops and cheap!

    The VisionTek itself is slim and portable, but it's thicker and wider than the average USB stick. Depending on your PC you're going to block off multiple USB ports using it. I might swap it out with a traditional external drive with cable.
     
  7. #7 Grim, Jul 10, 2015
    Why not just get a short USB extension cable and still use the VisionTek?
     
  8. #8 bfun, Jul 10, 2015
    So after you load Windows from the USB what do you use for storage? Like if you want to load a game does it go on the stick as well?
     
  9. #9 supersonic, Jul 13, 2015
    Adding accessories decreases the convenience factor and for slightly less convenience a 2.5" drive I could double my disk space. But after giving this a full weekend test run I'm going to keep it. It blocks off 1 extra USB port for me that I wasn't using anyway.

    You use the portable drive as storage. The internal drive also shows up in Windows as drive D: now.... I installed Steam to the stick, but their new security feature wouldn't let me log in from a new computer. Never got my login email either, wanted to see how well games played over USB3.
     
  10. #10 supersonic, Sep 10, 2015
    I ended up getting the 240GB VisionTek SSD stick to replace the 120GB I lost. I tried a few 'competitors' but none were as fast as this. Amazon has a real problem with 3rd party re-sellers putting up BS specs...

    Anybody have experience with bluetooth tracking devices? I was thinking of attaching one to this so it alerts me if I forget it or makes noise to find it.
     
  11. #11 bfun, Sep 10, 2015
    Always tempting to get one of those but from what I've read they don't work so well unless your in the room where you lost the device.