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Bootcamp and an external SSD, options

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FuriousGreg

macrumors member
Original poster
Nov 11, 2011
90
0
I dual boot nearly every day and use my OS X side for work and Bootcamp with Windoz 7 for gaming. I'm planning on picking up the new 27" and want to know if it's possible to 1) have the Bootcamp/W7 partition on an external SSD, 2) still get top performance, and 3) which to use, TB or USB3, and finally, 4) what can I expect this to cost?

Thanks, I appreciae any input.
 
B

BastiFH

macrumors newbie
Nov 7, 2012
4
0
I'm sorry to disappoint you..

Couple of weeks ago I had the same idea, went online for a nice new Seagate GoFlex Adapter to use it as an external TB drive - great piece of tech I have to say.
Anyway, as I tried to setup a partition I had to realise that external devices are not supported for bootcamp :( It doesn't show up for partitioning.
I then went on to search the net and came across dozens of questions about external bootcamp settings.. in the apple discussion forums - none with a happy ending ;-(

I kept the GoFlex for the future.. never give up hope :D
 
Last edited:
TouchMint.com

TouchMint.com

macrumors 68000
May 25, 2012
1,625
318
Phoenix
It even looks like bootcamping the fusion drive will be a hassle too.

I plan on just dealing with the 1tb harddrive or hoping they have a 256gb ssd option.
 
hfg

hfg

macrumors 68040
Dec 1, 2006
3,621
312
Cedar Rapids, IA. USA
TouchMint.com said:
It even looks like bootcamping the fusion drive will be a hassle too.

I plan on just dealing with the 1tb harddrive or hoping they have a 256gb ssd option.
Click to expand...

Shouldn't be a hassle ... Apple says it will install on the hard drive with BootCamp.

With a bit of creative work, you can put it on the SSD too, but you will want something larger than the base 128GB. I am running that way now on a Mac Mini.
 
F

FuriousGreg

macrumors member
Original poster
Nov 11, 2011
90
0
Thanks BastiFH, I figured that was the case but was hoping anyway.

I think I'll skip the Fusion drive, I'll spend the $$ on the larger drive instead, I don't really need it for the work I do and for gaming I don't think I'd have really noticed that much of a difference anyway.
 
A

AFPBoy

macrumors regular
Jun 7, 2011
115
73
BastiFH said:
I'm sorry to disappoint you..
Anyway, as I tried to setup a partition I had to realise that external devices are not supported for bootcamp :( It doesn't show up for partitioning.
I then went on to search the net and came across dozens of questions about external bootcamp settings.. in the apple discussion forums - none with a happy ending ;-(

I kept the GoFlex for the future.. never give up hope :D
Click to expand...

Have you seen this thread?

Technically you still need a partition on your internal drive, but hopefully its small size is a reasonable compromise for you.
 
D

Dween

macrumors member
Jun 7, 2012
31
0
London, UK
I've just boot camped my Thunderbolt SSD.

Was fairly simple, just time consuming.

Used WinClone to clone my current Boot Camp.

Booted into OS X on the SSD, then formatted the internal drive.

Partitioned the SSD for Boot Camp

Used Winclone to put Win7 back on
 
Z

Zackmd1

macrumors 6502a
Oct 3, 2010
815
487
Maryland US
There is no need to even use bootcamp for anything else other then drivers if its a external or separate drive. Google rEFIt and it should be the answer to your question.
 
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