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Run Windows from an external file server?

B

brobins

macrumors member
Original poster
Hey there,

I have recently taken delivery of a new i7 27" iMac and plan on installing Windows 7 in order to run some key applications I use for work (on PCs) such as Autodesk 3ds Max & Vray..

I initially planned on making a partition for the Windows install but then it occurred to me that I have a 500GB ATA drive sitting in my old Mac that I might as well put to use.

If I get hold of an external Lan / Usb 2.0 hard drive enclosure could I use this as my Windows drive and boot from it via Boot Camp when desired? Also, with it being a file server could I access the files from both OS' pretty easily?

Many Thanks.
 
bootcamp only works on the internal Mac bootdrive. It's possible with hacks to do it on an external disk. However, I shudder at the thought of trying to boot from a LAN connected server; it would be horribly slow.
 
Thanks for your reply..

So I guess I would have to make a partition for the Windows installation but could use the external file server as a place to save project files to so they could be accessed by both Windows and OS X?
 
brobins said:
Thanks for your reply..

So I guess I would have to make a partition for the Windows installation but could use the external file server as a place to save project files to so they could be accessed by both Windows and OS X?
Click to expand...
If you format it FAT32, both can read/write.
 
Thanks for your reply..

This would cause an issue as alot of the files I work with with are larger than the 4GB limit so I would need a solution that allows both Windows & OS X to be able to read / write files larger than 4GB..

My old place of work had a similar set-up (but on a much larger scale). 200 Employees, Majority were Windows users but the re-touch department were all OS X. Everyone had to work from the file servers..

Does anyone have any ideas how I could set up a similar thing at home?

Many Thanks
 
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