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Run Win7/8 on MBP from external drive?

iVikD

iVikD

macrumors regular
Original poster
Sep 11, 2011
227
11
Spain
As the title implies, I'd like to know if I can install windows 7 (possibly 8 later) on an external HDD and boot from there on my Mac?
The thing is, for reasons out of my control, I can't get a (legal) copy of Parallels. As far as BootCamp goes, let's just say I would rather use it only as a last resource, as I would rather not partition my main drive. How plausible would it be to load up the OS from an external HDD and have my Mac's full power? (all cores, RAM)
I know PCs can just boot from any drive, provided it has an OS installed, but I'm new to Macs, so I have no idea if the same can be done.
 
iVikD

iVikD

macrumors regular
Original poster
Sep 11, 2011
227
11
Spain
I've looked around, still nothing... By the way, what is a better choice, VMWare's Fusion 4 or Parallels 7?
 
J

jsolares

macrumors 6502a
Aug 8, 2011
844
2
Land of eternal Spring
iVikD said:
As the title implies, I'd like to know if I can install windows 7 (possibly 8 later) on an external HDD and boot from there on my Mac?
The thing is, for reasons out of my control, I can't get a (legal) copy of Parallels. As far as BootCamp goes, let's just say I would rather use it only as a last resource, as I would rather not partition my main drive. How plausible would it be to load up the OS from an external HDD and have my Mac's full power? (all cores, RAM)
I know PCs can just boot from any drive, provided it has an OS installed, but I'm new to Macs, so I have no idea if the same can be done.
Click to expand...

Windows will not boot from USB without modifying it :S
 
emilykrys

emilykrys

macrumors newbie
Sep 14, 2011
5
0
Operating system wise you might not want to go with booting windows 7/8 from a usb in the first place I would imagine with the transfer rate you might be better off with windows xp. Anything else would most likely lag like crazy. And I prefer using Parallels 7 since its created by the maker of WINE for Linux it works really well I seem to have problems every time I try using VMWare.
 
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