installed an operating system on an external Hard Drive?

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Has anyone else installed an operating system on an external hard drive? I installed Windows XP SP1 on an eSATA external hard drive that I made using an internal hard drive and a drive enclosure. I did the install so I could do Firewire Video Capture from either a VHS VCR or a VHS-C Camcorder, along with archiving recordings from my FiOS box. I have a quirk on my main Windows XP SP3 install that doesn't allow Firewire Video Capture, so I had to find a way to install another OS. I'm going to take my two internal hard drives out and put them in matching enclosures and install a four port SATA to eSATA backplate to replace my two port one. I can swap OSes easier with all external hard drives as I just have to change the enclosure, instead of unplugging the power from my internal drives to get it to boot off of the external. Another reason I did that is so I can upgrade OSes without having to wipeout an install, by just getting another eSATA external hard drive or internal hard drive/drive enclosure combination.

If you can boot from the drive and the OS can see it at install time, it shouldn't be a problem. XP is old though.

That is the reason I used eSATA, as in my case eSATA is basically and extension cord/externalizer off of the same SATA ports used for the internal drives. I rebuilt the computer myself, after the heat of a Pentium 4 killed the motherboard. Fortunately it was an standard case, so I could rebuild it better. I rebuilt it in 2008 or 2009.

I boot linux from an USB