Windows 8 vs. Windows To Go, What You Need to Know?

"Windows To Go" is a new feature included in Windows 8 Enterprise edition that allows for the creation of a   "portable bootable Windows workspace" on a USB flash drive.  This workspace is designed to store your OS, applications, and data on a single device that can be easily moved between computers.

Since these drives are fully self contained, no data is written to the host computer.  This prevents the accidental loss of data because it was stored on another computer.

Unfortunately this feature is not available in other editions of Windows 8.  Its worth noting the Windows 8 Enterprise edition is only sold to Microsoft Volume Licence customers.

Windows To Go operates just like any other installation of Windows with a few exceptions that are listed below:

• The hibernate and sleep features are disabled by default to help prevent accidental data corruption. 
• Drives attached to the host computer are not available to prevent data from being written to them. 
• The Trusted Platform Module (TPM) can't be used because its hardware specific  
• When  BitLocker Drive Encryption is implemented, a pre-OS boot password is utilized. 
• The Windows Recovery Environment, OS Refresh and Reset features are disabled. 
• Access to the Windows Store is disabled because apps licensed through the store are linked to hardware for their licensing.

System requirements to run Windows To Go:

• The host computer has to be certified to run Windows 7 or 8.
• A Microsoft certified USB flash drive, that has 32GB or more of storage.