Running Bootcamp and External HD?

[a3z | blu7]

So I know I already had a post SIMILAR to this but I was wondering if I could do the following:
1. Download bootcamp onto my Mac.
2. Play PC Steam games off of an external hd (assuming eSATA because everyone recommends that?)

Would this work? I'm out of space on my Mac "within reason, I don't want to take up too much space" and so I want to run BO3 and/or RSS on external HD.

Thanks in advance.

(moved to this section)

[Teksura]

Yes that would work if you download the games to a folder on the external drive. Note that you will want this folder to be different from the folder where you store your mac games, since otherwise you'll just confuse the heck out of the Steam client as it finds games for the wrong platform stored there.


However, note that the process of setting up bootcamp involves partitioning off a section of your hyard drive. So if your problem is that your internal hard drive is running out of space, you'd need to basically cut off a section of it to be used exclusivly for the windows partition.

[a3z | blu7]

Okay so I understand that Bootcamp / Windows has like a base of around 30 GB? Right? So would I need to partition those 30 GB would I need to partition the ENTIRE amount of GB for the games ont he external hard drive?


(On a side note I couldn't stop laughing of the idea of Steam going insane because I labeled my folders the same on Mac and PC XD)

[Makinit1212]

Similar situation. Out of space on my Mac. I was going to just go external with my whole Mac library but figured I should get some Windows going too to up my available games. (Getting ready for that summer sale so I can buy a million games I will never play.)

So, I like the idea of bootcamp and I like the idea of external storage but.....

Can I set up the external drive to store both my Mac games and my PC games? Would I need two partitions on the external? One Mac friendly and one PC friendly?

I am unsure exactly how Windows communicates with all my Mac files in general. Is there a whole new file hierarchy? In other words. Can I access a file created within OSX while running Windows through Bootcamp? Or do I have to off load that file (email, flash drive) while in OSX and send back in while running Windows?

[Teksura]

You don't need to partition the external at all. You don't need to do anything special to the external as long as it is formatted in a way that both operating systems can reconize. There are a ton of ways to do this, in general anything that the windows system can read can be read by the Mac as well. The Mac OS will give you a full list of formats to choose from when you go to format it. Compare that list to the list given to you by Windows when you go to format it there.


So, here is how it worked the last time I used Boot camp, whic was actually several versions ago.

While running OSX, your Windows are accessable via Finder as normal. I can't tell you exactly where they're located but they weren't hard to find.

While running Windows, there is a shared folder which was placed on the Desktop called "Files on my mac" which basically gives you access to the OSX files.

[Makinit1212]

Great reply. Thank you.

[a3z | blu7]

So how much should I partition?

[Teksura]

However much you want. At the least you will want to partition off enough to install and run the operating system, but without looking t the requirments for Windows, I can't be sure how much that needs.

[a3z | blu7]

I don't need to take into account the game, though, right?

[Teksura]

No, since you'll be downloading and running the game directly to and from the external, the internal hard drive space doesn't matter. But most operating systems tend to run badly if they don't have at least a little free space.

[a3z | blu7]

Oh that is what I thought. I have like 150 GB LEFT XD. But the problem is that BO3 and RSS are like 60GB each.