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My laptop (Thinkpad P51s) is no longer seeing its NMVe SSD (apparently some connector issue). I'm planning to use an external enclosure to retrieve my data, but I'm wondering whether it's possible to boot and run the machine from the same SSD if it's in the enclosure and there is no SSD left inside the machine. (I'm planning to replace the machine, but could this work as a temporary measure until I do?)

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  • If the other hardware is the same, yes. Otherwise, add it as an additional drive to another machine, don't set it as the boot drive in the BIOS, then just access it like a regular additional drive to get your files off. You don't need to boot off it to get to your files.
    – spikey_richie
    Commented Aug 16, 2023 at 15:09
  • Everything else would be the same: I'd just be taking the SSD out and connecting it with an external enclosure. Can I still run the machine this way? Is it difficult to do?
    – Rob
    Commented Aug 16, 2023 at 16:20
  • USB performance won't be nearly the same I'm afraid, so it's not a viable long term primary fix for your issue, but you can probably do it to limp along for a little bit
    – Frank Thomas
    Commented Aug 16, 2023 at 16:25

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  • If the SSD is OK, you might possibly be able to boot from it in an external USB SSD adapter. NVMe adapters are available for ~US$15 and up, so certainly worth trying.

    • You'll need to change boot order.
    • The laptop must be able to read from the SSD at bootup -- not all firmware can recognize an external SSD as a boot device.

  • However, you could boot from a different device, e.g., small USB flash drive, and then mount the disk to access data or even to use some applications, saving data to the old SSD, if you wish.

    • Windows Recovery Environment (WinRE) is a cut-down version of Windows. Macrium Reflect Rescue Environment can build a boot USB for making a disk image of the SSD to salvage data. However, most Windows applications cannot run in WinRE.
    • Linux, such as Ubuntu Live, can boot the laptop, and image the SSD with dd. Data on the SSD is available for use. Further, many Linux distros include wine so that some Windows applications can run in the Linux OS. For example, I use 7-Zip running under wine, rather than Ubuntu's outdated Linux version. Ubuntu also includes native Linux applications on the USB, such as a complete office suite (LibreOffice), a web browser (Firefox), and an email client (Thunderbird), so you could handle many day-to-day requirements without having to install Linux. (Rather amazing how all that fits on a few GB USB stick!)
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