This has been a tried and true method for Windows because it is finicky with hardware changes without a reinstall (eg BSOD on boot is what happens 9/10 times unless you move to the same hardwar). Surprisingly, if you use a QEMU VM and do a standard install, it has worked in every system I've thrown the drive in afterwards.
So the play is this, use a USB SSD, physical SATA drive plugged internally or for convenience, you could use a SATA to USB adapter on another computer to perf........