Starting from an external M.2 storage device (the primary boot drive) on a laptop
Starting from an external M.2 storage device (the primary boot drive) on a laptop
I chose to upgrade to POP OS with my Acer Nitro 5 after seeing Linux tutorials. I bought a new M.2 card and installed the system directly on it, skipping the old drive. Now, I’m curious if I can just insert my original drive into an external case and boot without any extra steps.
Well, consider testing it firsthand to check its performance. Keep in mind that not all BIOSes support booting from every USB device, especially removable ones. The specifics depend on the UEFI setup in your laptop's BIOS and how the bootloader is set up for the OS you've installed. Usually, internal storage is handled differently from external (removable) drives, though most bootloaders will automatically place themselves into the default bootloader if none exists. For removable devices, creating an EFI entry in NVRAM isn't necessary since they can be used anywhere and aren't guaranteed to be present on the next start. This is the main distinction from non-removable drives. Only the standard EFI loader should work on removable drives, which might be a bootmanager or similar. If your OS's bootloader is already set as default, it should function with an external drive. Otherwise, you may need to install it via Linux or reinstall the bootloader. For Windows, using its own tools is likely the best approach. I’m uncertain about the exact compatibility for removable drives, but it seems unlikely you can install Windows easily on such a setup. Based on what you shared, a precise solution can’t be determined without knowing your exact operating system and installation details.