Should I run boot camp from an external thunderbolt SSD or external USB 3.0 SSD? And what's the advantages of both? Also could you tell me if it's possible to do this from a iMac 2012 and if it's possible to have OSX on an external thunderbolt SSD and have Windows on either an external thunderbolt SSD or external USB SSD and boot to it?
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Boot camp
- Thread starter MarkieMark92
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I have put Windows 10 on an external SSD without too much trouble using WnToUSB.
Windows 10 runs fine from an external SSD. Older versions may be problematic as they reset the USB bus during boot, which disconnects the boot disk, so it may not work (I have tried XP in the past and found it failed to boot). YMMV.
Windows 10 runs fine from an external SSD. Older versions may be problematic as they reset the USB bus during boot, which disconnects the boot disk, so it may not work (I have tried XP in the past and found it failed to boot). YMMV.
hfg
macrumors 68040
I am running Windows 10 on external SSD drives in Thunderbolt LaCie "Rugged" enclosures on both 2012 and 2014 iMacs with internal SSDs. I had been running Win 7 and 8 prior to this and did the normal upgrades when available. The only issue I had was with the initial upgrade to Windows 10 on the 2014 iMac which I determined was probably going to require "disconnecting" the internal SSD ... which of course I wasn't going to do. The 2012 oddly didn't have this issue.
To solve it, I temporarily moved my Windows installation to a BootCamp created partition on the internal SSD using WinClone. The Windows 10 upgrade then ran without a problem. Once everything was stable again, I again used WinClone to move the installation back to the external Thunderbolt SSD and deleted the BootCamp partition returning the space back to OS X.
Both iMac Windows on external SSDs have been operating normally ever since, and the updates and upgrades have not been a problem. On both systems, I also use the bootable Windows installation as a Virtual Machine under VMware Fusion in OS X and that too is working fine.
To solve it, I temporarily moved my Windows installation to a BootCamp created partition on the internal SSD using WinClone. The Windows 10 upgrade then ran without a problem. Once everything was stable again, I again used WinClone to move the installation back to the external Thunderbolt SSD and deleted the BootCamp partition returning the space back to OS X.
Both iMac Windows on external SSDs have been operating normally ever since, and the updates and upgrades have not been a problem. On both systems, I also use the bootable Windows installation as a Virtual Machine under VMware Fusion in OS X and that too is working fine.
Any idea on how I would do it?
Is that a Thunderbolt SSD or USB SSD?
Also can you run OSX from an SSD and Windows 10 too?
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Thanks 🙂 I was going to get Winclone but they told me that it's not possible to run off an external SSD using an 2012 iMac :S only 2013 onwards because of the EFI? Also still deciding on if Thunderbolt or USB would be better as don't want to get another Thunderbolt for it not to work. How did you do the upgrade from 7 to 10 on the external? And any documents you found useful?
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Also from what I have read you can't install Windows 7 on an external SSD so how did you manage to do it?
Thanks in advance 🙂
Look for WinToUSB - it's free for non-commercial use. You'll need your Windows installation disc or bootable ISO of same.
I use USB external SSD. IMHO it isn't worth paying for Thunderbolt connected disks unless you're trying to do video editing to the external disk.
USB3 external SSD is still very fast!
I use USB external SSD. IMHO it isn't worth paying for Thunderbolt connected disks unless you're trying to do video editing to the external disk.
USB3 external SSD is still very fast!
maflynn
macrumors Broadwell
So with that app, I can easily install windows 10 on an external drive? is there any extra work to get this going, or is the information on that site sufficient?
Soo there is no advantage of me getting a Thunderbolt SSD for Windows 10 on bootcamp?
Also because Windows 10 is already on my internal hard drive would I need to use WINtoHDD instead of WintoUSB? and could I use WintoUSB for the Thunderbolt drive?
hfg
macrumors 68040
In all cases (Win 7 -- Win 10) with iMacs and my cMacPro, I started out with Windows installed via BootCamp to an internal drive, I then used WinClone to move it to the external drive. I did learn a trick where while you are booting from the internal Windows installation, attach your "external" interface (PCIe card, Thunderbolt enclosure, etc) so that Windows will install the driver for that interface, then proceed to clone the running image over to that external drive.
Your investment in WinClone is further utilized in that you can use it as a Windows backup running under OS X to periodically save your entire installation in case you want to restore it to the same disk, or a different/larger disk, or put it back internally.
There is an option in WinClone to select normal or EFI, but I haven't played around with it. I don't know why they would tell you it couldn't run from an external SSD?
roadkill401
macrumors 6502a
I went through all the issues with my install of win10 on a 2014 iMac. You don't need to buy any software. Before you begin, you need *MUST* from your osx, load the bootcamp assistant and select action from the top menu bar and download the current drivers and save them to a usb stick.
from your internal hard drive win 10 install, search google for win10 media creator. microsoft has an app that will make a bootable usb to load windows onto a computer. create the usb and make sure you put it on the usb port closets to the power plug and reboot the mac holding down your option key. Choose the EFI Boot from the list of optionsb (as you booted with the option key held)
You will need to wipe the Thunderbot drive and let microsoft re-partition it. it does work fine. After windows is installed, you need to run the bootcamp software that you put onto the first usb stick.