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#1
Installing W7 *to* a USB HDD or flash drive
I want to have a Windows 7 installation that can be booted from a hard disk in a USB caddy or a USB flash drive / SHDC card. So I am installing to a USB connected drive.
I have created a bootable USB flash drive with the Windows 7 install DVD contents on it, so I am in a position to install to the Netbook hosting the USB hard disk. I have also (for reference) created a VHD on a different Windows 7 machine and set it up to boot from that, on the internal HDD.
The W7 installer will not install directly to a partition on my external HDD, because it is connected by USB or Firewire (err message "Windows cannot be installed to this disk"). I can't "just ignore" the warning, as suggested by some, as the Next button is inoperative.
If I create a virtual hard disk (VHD) on a partition on the external HDD I am again warned by the Installer that it can't be installed to the VHD as the "computer's hardware may not support booting to this disk". If I ignore the warning and press Next (only works for the VHD option) I am told "Setup was unable to create a new system partition....See the setup log files for more information"
I can at that stage use the Installer tools to Format the VHD etc.
So I'm stuck - where do I find the installer log files and how can I move forward to get a bootable installation on a USB connected drive ?