Windows 10 and 11 use a lot more resources than Win 7
I resisted upgrading my gaming computer for as long as possible because Win 7 was a great OS comparatively. Upgraded to SSD too, and regret not going with full terabyte. It’s not faster to boot as it supposed “should be”, quite slower (on restart, wake-up and hard boot) and Win 10’s demand on resources IMO is the reason coupled with SATA only system board.
If your system board allows for PCIe/NVMe/PCIe-NVMe them move away from SATA connections… You need to verify your buying a SSD compatible with your system board and as already posted preferably running it on a “modern” computer. Ideally you do not want an external (USB) SSD running software, storing pics and data/files - fine.
Your original question, yes you can from “external” USB connection but I’d anticipate poor performance especially if your computer is older (8+ yrs).
GL