Windows 8 Installation without optical drive

[TimHenry]

I was wondering if I could install windows 8.1 onto my new gaming system from an external hard that has some data on it?

[Pugs501]

#USB3.0

[the jolly roger]

you can intsall using a USB drive, or if that hdd already has windows in it you can jsut plug it in

[Snickerzz]

An external hard drive would need to bs formated first, a flash drive will work better

[Hans Christian | Teri]

Someone should make a sticky about this, I feel like there's a thread about installing Windows from a USB device every day.

 

You're going to need an empty device, a flash drive of some appropriate size is probably going to be the most handy. As for the rest of the process there's actually and official guide by Microsoft themselves.

 

http://windows.microsoft.com/en-us/windows-8/create-reset-refresh-media

[Aniallation]

I was wondering if I could install windows 8.1 onto my new gaming system from an external hard that has some data on it?

You will have to format the drive to create a bootable Windows 8.1 install medium. However once the bootable disk is created, files can be placed on the drive alongside Windows installation files without causing any issues.