IMac-running windows on an external hard drive

jbw

jbw

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I don't know if this is in the correct section but has anybody out there tried to set up an Imac to run Windows on an external (USB 3) hard drive? Any advice would be appreciated.
Thanks
James
 
How do you plan to do this? Bootcamp? I'm fairly sure that won't work on an external drive.

Actually, can Windows run on an external drive at al?
 
Hi,

If you do a web search on this you will find a you tube video with somebody explaining how it can be done. I was interested if anybody had tried this out and if there was any problems, bugs etc.
Cheers
James
 
jbw said:
Hi,

If you do a web search on this you will find a you tube video with somebody explaining how it can be done. I was interested if anybody had tried this out and if there was any problems, bugs etc.
Cheers
James
Click to expand...

Um, OK.

Advice would be not to do it.

I have only ever found 2 applications I need to run on a PC - neither of which needed a powerful machine. It's now (almost) cheaper and easier just to buy a PCW special and run them on that.
 
if you try and install windows 7 on a USB drive you will more than likely receive the error "Windows 7 cannot be installed to a USB partioned Hard drive".

you can find ways around this but i wouldnt like to. even with USB3 hard drive its not going to be a patch on internal SATA (CPU overheads yadda yadda) and i would imagine pretty buggy.
 
Last edited:
jbw said:
I don't know if this is in the correct section but has anybody out there tried to set up an Imac to run Windows on an external (USB 3) hard drive? Any advice would be appreciated.
Thanks
James
Click to expand...

here's what i'd do- install windows using bootcamp and the standard 20gb partition size, then install apps/games onto the external drive

neil_g said:
if you try and install windows 7 on a USB drive you will more than likely receive the error "Windows 7 cannot be installed to a USB partioned Hard drive".

you can find ways around this but i wouldnt like to. even with USB3 hard drive its not going to be a patch on internal SATA (CPU overheads yadda yadda) and i would imagine pretty buggy.
Click to expand...

speed isn't the problem booting over usb 3, it's the latency- thunderbolt has much lower latency and is more suitable for a boot drive
it's probably ok for occasional windows use though
 
neil_g said:
it'll be both. youll never get the same performance.

your suggestion of programs on the external drive is best. or create a VM with the image on the USB3, again its not going to set the world alight though.
Click to expand...

usb 3 (at 5gb/s) is actually faster than most hard drives in terms of speed, and is faster than sata 2 in my old laptop (3gb/s), so unless you're running an ssd the speed will be similar, except if there's overheads on the usb bus
 
Bootcamp

I use OS X for virtually everything, but i have a small 30gb partition with Windows 7 bootcamp to allow me to use my engine remapping software and some work related applications.
 
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