Using windows on a Mac on external hard drive

[Dead_Fred]

Hi,

I’m looking to get rid of my PC, mainly as it’s getting on and my MacBook Pro has better specs. Plus its huge (Antec 1200 case) and I hardly use it due to where it is.

So I want to be able to play games via my Mac, i know you can use Boot Camp but I want to keep things separate due to the hdd size on my Mac.

Instead I had two ideas but I’m not sure if they will work, hence why I need you help.

My first isis to get a NAS drive and install the two Raptor drives I have in my PC, one will be for Time Machine and storage, the other I was thinking of installing Windows on it. The idea being if I get an iMac I can use the same nas drive over the wi-if/network. Is that possible?

If not then can I install it onto an external hard drive and use that instead for gaming? Would it work across different specs on a Mac if I used it on both a MacBook pro and iMac?

Any help would be appreciated. Thanks

[Arya]

Would it be possible to upgrade the Macbook's HDD capacity? You can get some very, very big 3.5" HDDs these days. I'm running a high-speed 4TB version and that wasn't exactly expensive.

[Dead_Fred]

Hi Wolfie, it’s the retina version so everything is soldered in. I know there are places that can do it but it’s not cheap, plus it would void the warranty.

The only way I can do it is through a nifty device and a micro SD card but I suspect the transfer speeds wouldn’t be good enough to play games/use Windows?

[Arya]

Originally posted by Dead_Fred:

Hi Wolfie, it’s the retina version so everything is soldered in. I know there are places that can do it but it’s not cheap, plus it would void the warranty.

The only way I can do it is through a nifty device and a micro SD card but I suspect the transfer speeds wouldn’t be good enough to play games/use Windows?

Yeah. Probably not. I haven't tried doing this myself - infact I've never tried to run a programme off an external drive at all. But I can't imagine the transfer speeds would allow it.

Just the read/write speed of an older-model HDD is enough to cause hangups and FPS drops. Having to run through an external HDD could be a serious issue.

[Dead_Fred]

Well I was considering a ssd exernal hardrive if I went down that route to help with the speeds

[Arya]

Originally posted by Dead_Fred:

Well I was considering a ssd exernal hardrive if I went down that route to help with the speeds

It would help with the speed of the drive, but what about the transfer rate from the drive to the Macbook and back?

[Bad 💀 Motha]

You can also just create a "Win10 to Go" USB Flash Drive.
It works like a LinuxLive

[Dead_Fred]

Originally posted by Wolfıe:

Originally posted by Dead_Fred:

Well I was considering a ssd exernal hardrive if I went down that route to help with the speeds

It would help with the speed of the drive, but what about the transfer rate from the drive to the Macbook and back?

For a portable ssd drive, about 400mb/s read and 200mb/s write

[TehSpoopyKitteh]

Originally posted by Bad_Motha:

You can also just create a "Win10 to Go" USB Flash Drive.
It works like a LinuxLive

Come to think of it, isn't Windows 10 somehow compatible with Bash now? I heard rumor it carried some functions of it...

[Dead_Fred]

Originally posted by Bad_Motha:

You can also just create a "Win10 to Go" USB Flash Drive.
It works like a LinuxLive

Just looked at larger (256gb+) usb drives and for the money I can an larger SSD external HD which I’m guessing will be quicker

[Bad 💀 Motha]

Well yea it doesn't have to be a typical "USB Flash Drive"
Just any USB Drive u want, as long as that gets clean wiped by the OS maker tool.
After your on the go OS is made, you can use the remaining space for files.
Win10 to Go requires 32GB

Probably better now that I think of it to just use the normal Win10 installer; via Media Creation Tool and either do USB or just download the ISO and go from there.

[Crac]

YouTube™ Video: How to install Windows 10 on Mac using an external drive 

Views: 1,436,650

UPDATED TUTORIAL (2020): https://youtu.be/3IhW722IMwEt How to install Windows 10 via a Windows To Go external drive on Mac Subscribe ► http://bit.ly/9to5YT | Read full article ►...

https://9to5mac.com/2017/08/31/how-windows-10-mac-boot-camp-external-drive-video/

There is a comment on the main site (the second link)
Which highlights that: windows to go and bootcamp windows aren't the same...

[Bad 💀 Motha]

Originally posted by Dead_Fred:

Originally posted by Bad_Motha:

You can also just create a "Win10 to Go" USB Flash Drive.
It works like a LinuxLive

Just looked at larger (256gb+) usb drives and for the money I can an larger SSD external HD which I’m guessing will be quicker

Also:

> 2.5 inch SATA SSD around 120GB minimum should be decent enough bang for buck; Win10 64bit won't consume more than around 50GB after growing a bit after an install, due to Drivers + Updates. Above this size you're looking at free space and temp "move around" space for things like future updates, all your Apps, loose files, etc.

> Small External Enclosure meant specifically to hold 2.5 inch drives; SATA Inside, USB 3.x Outside. These are generally very cheap and don't require any added ac power since ALL 2.5 inch drives are low powered enough to allow self-powered the drive fully just through a single USB data-sync cable from enclosure to your actual device. Enclosure will come with what all you need, like a SATA connection inside to accept 2.5 inch HDD/SSD types based on the standard SATA Gen2/Gen3 connection type; with the external connection options generally being in USB 3.x form (also allowing the use of 2.0 port connection if needed, or for on an older PC that lacks 3.x spec ports; 3.x spec ports however will offer the better, closest to native drive read/write speeds)



Here are some decent ready-to-go, nothing extra really for you to do or buy types of externals that are decent capacity, easy to use, light-weight, next to zero heat when used, no external power needed...

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B01MU8TZRV

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B073H552FK

Just be careful running a live OS like Win10 off of an External Drive type.
As you will want to ensure the drive does not become disconnected during any actual OS usage periods or update periods, as that could brick the OS or lead to corrupted data.