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I have a Windows 10 HP laptop. I want to access the files on the hard drive without actually booting the OS. Now the most common answer to this I have seen is booting from a Live CD or USB.

However, my problem with using a Live CD is, in order to configure my computer BIOS to boot from external media, I actually have to boot into the pre-installed OS in the first place! Which is exactly what I am trying to avoid at this point.

Someone suggested pulling out the hard drive and connecting it to another computer via a USB to SATA adapter, but another person told me that wouldn't work because by connecting the hard disk to another laptop, I was essentially booting up the hard disk. Is this true though? I definitely don't want to boot up any of my OS components in any way, so I need to understand if running a Live CD and connecting the disk to another machine actually serves the same purpose.

Will appreciate if someone explained this a little in detail.

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    "Another person told me that wouldn't work because by connecting the hard disk to another laptop, I was essentially booting up the hard disk. Is this true though?" => NO., your HDD will be considered as a removable media.
    – Soufiane Tahiri
    Commented Dec 19, 2018 at 13:43
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    I have never had to boot to the OS to gain access to the BIOS. You also need to verify this claim.
    – schroeder
    Commented Dec 19, 2018 at 13:48
  • Hello @schroeder I actually tried to access the BIOS settings on my computer during startup before when I was still okay with booting it. Followed internet instructions specific to Windows 10, pressed F1, F2 etc keys but it would always still load up. The only way I could do it was after the computer had started, I could press restart holding shift key and then next time it booted I would get advanced options from where I could change settings. I think my computer uses newer UEFI firmware that's why maybe? In that case, is it still possible to access the UEFI settings without booting to OS?
    – Sabi
    Commented Dec 19, 2018 at 14:01
  • Thank you for your response @Soufiane Tahiri That makes it easier for me.
    – Sabi
    Commented Dec 19, 2018 at 14:03
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    My Internet says to use F10 for HP laptops ... Anyway, what you can do is to simply pull the drive, then you can try out different options without the OS being booted up.
    – schroeder
    Commented Dec 19, 2018 at 14:22

2 Answers 2

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If you take a hard drive (let's call it 1) out of its current computer and connect it to an other computer (that has already booted its own operation system from its own hard drive) via a USB to SATA adapter, then the other computer will not boot form the hard drive (1) under normal conditions.

The new computer will try to mount the external hard drive (1). And it might however trigger something on (1), like an autostart-feature, previews, automated virus scans etc.

If you restart (or crash) the other computer while the external drive (1) is connected, it might try to boot the external drive (depending on the other computers bios settings).

So if you want to be super sure that nothing get's touched on (1), you need to do some preparations on the other computer (disable auto-start features, maybe even disable automatic mounting of new devices). Depending on what you try to archive or stop from happening, these preparations might get quite serious (and beyond the scope of this answer). There are special systems for forensic tasks where you need to make absolutely sure that nothing gets altered.

If you just want to scan your drive for regular detectable viruses, basic preparations like having a an up-to-date virus scanner on the other system running and and disable auto-start should be sufficient.

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  • oh, and in your special case, you could take the hard drive out of the computer, boot that computer from a Live-CD or thumb drive (I guess your bios will let you do this, when the original HD is gone). Then you can connect the hard drive via the USB to SATA cable.
    – Vincent
    Commented Dec 19, 2018 at 15:44
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Super simple: Boot your laptop to it's core OS, then plug in the second hard drive via USB (toaster or simple SATA -> USB cable).

Your OS will mount the drive and wont' boot to it since an OS is already loaded and past the boot cycle. Voila! You can access the drive.

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