Dual-boot MacOS and Windows on External Drive?

[andrew5494]

Hey everyone!
Is this possible?
I have a nice speedy 512GB SSD with MacOS on it already, but there are some programs that I would like to run in bootcamp. I dont want to use my slow internal HDD.
Any ideas?
Thanks

 

[neliason]

Are you saying you want to run macOS from an external SSD. That external SSD would be partitioned to have another OS on it? Would that OS be Windows?

 

[andrew5494]

Are you saying you want to run macOS from an external SSD. That external SSD would be partitioned to have another OS on it? Would that OS be Windows?

Ye

 

[neliason]

I have not done this myself, but it should be no problem. I’ve been looking into this because I have a family member who wants to boot Windows from an external drive.

As you know you absolutely can boot macOS from an external drive. You can also boot Windows from an external drive, but it is more of a pain to set up. So, if you can do both individually there should be no reason why you can’t do both on one drive.

This is the guide I found people using for how to set up Windows on an external drive:

http://bleeptobleep.blogspot.gr/2013/02/mac-install-windows-7-or-8-on-external.html

You’ll have to first partition your external drive of course. You might also want to search for references to this link on the web or on MacRumors. There may be other people discussing exactly what you want to do or sharing experiences. But I think it is pretty straightforward.

 

[SaSaSushi]

I ran BootCamp and macOS from the same 512GB SSD split half and half for almost 4 years. Now that I got a 2017 iMac with a 512GB SSD I have since repartitioned the external SSD to all BootCamp.

I use a Thunderbolt enclosure and Thunderbolt makes things a lot easier.

 

[andrew5494]

I ran BootCamp and macOS from the same 512GB SSD split half and half for almost 4 years. Now that I got a 2017 iMac with a 512GB SSD I have since repartitioned the external SSD to all BootCamp.

I use a Thunderbolt enclosure and Thunderbolt makes things a lot easier.

Would you mind explaining how you were able to partition it to run both OS'?
I cant find any guides on how to format for both.
Thanks!

 

[SaSaSushi]

You can simply partition the SSD as you like with Disk Utility. As for Windows, I used Winclone to move the BootCamp installation to the partition on the external SSD.