We have all been there, working on someones computer wishing you had your programs, your operating system, your data. you can put it on a flash drive, but after carrying all your programs, your going to need a lot of flash drives right? there is a simple solution for this, get a external HDD. These are still small enough to be portable but can hold anywhere from 20 gb to over 2 terabytes and run from a standard usb port which every computer is made with making a universal tool. This HDD can be loaded with everything you need to fix or work on a computer.

My aim with this instructable is to make the ultimate guide to putting everything you can need on a portable HDD. That being said i apologize for the length of this article and i will make a sort of index on step 2 to skip around at your will.

Step 1: What You Need...

I will guide you through how to put a portable Windows OS, a Linux standalone OS, A Portable Application Launcher, A encrypted section, and all the tools needed to analyze and fix a malware, spyware or otherwise inflicted computer.

What You Need...

1.) A External HDD these can be found decently priced almost anywhere. Newegg is always
a stupendous option.

2.) A copy of Linux. The best three are Puppy Linux, Damn Small Linux, and Webconverger.

3.) A Licensed Copy of Windows. How you obtain it is on you.

4.) TrueCrypt freeware. Available here

5.) A copy of PortableApps. Available here

6.) A Portable Anti-virus scanner. I will be using Clamwin available free here

Step 2: Index

In this Instructable...

Step 3 --- Installing Windows OS
Step 4 --- Installing Linux OS
Step 5 --- Launching installed OS
Step 6 --- Making an encrypted drive
Step 7 --- Mounting said encrypted drive
Step 8 --- Installing PortableApps
Step 9 --- Installing Clamwin
Step 10-- Tying it all together

Step 3: Installing Windows OS...

After you have obtained your copy of Windows follow the instructions below.

What to do...

1.) Goto My Computer and locate your External HDD. Right-Click and select format

2.) in the format window select NTFS file system... and click format.

3.) After it is done formatting insert your windows installation CD and in the My Computer
     screen write down the drive letter of your CD drive that contains the installation CD. We
     will Call this E: and write down your External HDD drive letter we will call this D:

4.) now click Start>Run and type the following without quotes and being sure to change
      the drive letters to accommodate your situation:

    "E:\I386\winnt32.exe /syspart:D: /tempdrive:D: /makelocalsource /noreboot"

5.) Now the Windows Installation Wizard should appear click on the Full Install option and
     follow the on screen instructions

Step 4: Installing Linux OS...

What To Do...

Note: This process will require some hardware modification within your desktop so if you are uncomfortable around computers, i would suggest you opt out of this one.

1.) Download a copy of Linux suggested on page 1

2.) Burn the Linux OS to a CD-Rom (there is nice instructions how to do this here)

3.) Now insert the linux cd and shutdown your computer. to avoid accidental damage to
      your desktop, detach your internal HD from your motherboard by unplugging the IDE or
      SATA cables.

4.) Boot your computer with the live CD and when the Linux screen appears plug in your
      external HDD. From the menu select Start.

5.) Once the desktop is loaded click on the install icon and follow the on screen
      instructions.

Step 5: How to Launch the OS...

To launch the OS plug it into the computer while it is powered off and when you turn on the computer look for something similar to "press F10 for Boot Menu" press the key specified and when prompted with a list of hardware select your external hard drive. This tells the computer to boot the operating system from it.

Step 6: Encrypting a Portion...

Using TrueCrypt freeware we can allocate a portion of the HDD space to be encrypted with a password to house important files.

Something to consider before we begin, What size will we be making it? If you plan on installing your apps (not the OS) in it then you may want it to be a few GB. If you just want to store critical files such as passwords, then this size could be reduced.

How it's done...

1.) First create a folder inside your HDD named TrueCrypt ...

2.) Download the installer found on the 1 step...

3.) Open the installer and select extract. when prompted for a path to extract to, navigate to
      the folder you made in the HDD.

4.) After it is done extracting, open your HDD and go to the truecrypt folder clicking on the
TrueCrypt Format.exe

5.) Select Create a file container and then click Standard TrueCrypt Volume and click Next.
     Click Select File... and navigate to your flash drive

6.) Name the file to be created Encrypted and on the next screen just click Next do not
     worry about the confusing options.

7.) Next you will see a windows saying Volume Size enter in your desired size (this is
      where that previous decision comes into play choose your allocated size)

8.)Now you will notice a window prompting for a password. Create your new password.
    (Remember to make a good password, one that is easy for you to remember but
    hard for anyone else to guess.) Click Next

9.) Click on Format and wait. Once it is done a window will pop up telling you so.
      Depending on the size you chose, this could take a while.

Step 7: Accessing the Encrypted Drive...

To access this drive do the following:

1.) Open the TrueCrypt folder within your HDD and click on the TrueCrypt.exe

2.) Within this window click on a drive letter you want to mount it to and click on the browse
      button.

3.) navigate to your file named encrypted and enter in your password when prompted to. now
      if you go into the My Computer screen you will notice the drive is now noticed as a hard
      drive. you can now add, edit, delete, or move files within the drive.

Step 8: Installing PortableApps...

This is a extremely simple installation

Just download the installer from page 1 and when you open the installer navigate to the external HDD when it asks for the path. You can then choose the programs to install and if you want to have it installed in your encrypted drive simply mount the drive beforehand and instead of pointing it at the external HDD point it at the mounted drive.

Step 9: Installing Clamwin Anti-virus...

1.) Download the Clamwin program and install it on your host computer.

2.) After installed copy the contents of C:\Program Files\Clamwin to a folder on your external
      HD named Clamwin

3.)Copy the following files:

    * Microsoft.VC80.CRT.manifest
    * msvcm80.dll
    * msvcm80.dll
    * msvcr80.dll

    from "c:\program files\clamwin\bin\Microsoft.VC80.CRT" to the "clamwin\bin" folder on
    your removable drive.

4.) Next copy the code below and paste it into notepad;

[Schedule]
path = .\

[ClamAV]
clamscan = .\clamscan.exe
enablembox = 0
maxfiles = 500
infectedonly = 0
database = ..\db
includepatterns =
scanole2 = 1
excludepatterns = *.dbx|CLAMWIN_SEP|*.tbb|CLAMWIN_SEP|*.pst|CLAMWIN_SEP|*.dat|CLAMWIN_SEP|*.log|CLAMWIN_SEP|*.nsf|CLAMWIN_SEP|*.ntf|CLAMWIN_SEP|*.chm
maxsize = 10
scanarchives = 1
priority = Low
maxrecursion = 5
maxlogsize = 1
moveinfected = 0
debug = 0
logfile = ..\log\ClamScanLog.txt
scanrecursive = 1
freshclam = .\freshclam.exe
quarantinedir = ..\quarantine
removeinfected = 0

[UI]
reportinfected = 1
traynotify = 0
standalone = 1

[Updates]
dbupdatelogfile = ..\log\ClamUpdateLog.txt
enable = 1
dbmirror = database.clamav.net
updateonlogon = 0
frequency = Daily
weekday = 2
time = 12:00:00

[EmailAlerts]
enable = 0
from = clamwin@yourdomain
to = admin@yourdomain
smtppassword =
smtpuser =
smtphost =
smtpport = 25
subject = ClamWin Virus Alert

[Proxy]
host =
password =
port = 3128
user =

5.) Click Save as and save it in clamwin\bin and put the name as ClamWin.conf

6.) Copy the database files (main.cvd and daily.cvd) from your database directory on the
      host PC (default location is "C:\Documents and Settings\All Users\.clamwin\db") to the
      "clamwin\db" folder on the removable drive.

7.) That's it, you can now run clamwin.exe from clamwin folder on your removable drive.

Step 10: There It Is!

Your done! now you can load it full of all your favorite programs, documents, pictures and more! you can carry it wherever you go and no matter what computer you encounter you will have your own workspace at your fingertips.

Sorry for the length and complexity of this article but i wanted to make sure i covered all bases.