Fast external flash options?

Discussion in 'MacBook Air' started by zzing, Dec 17, 2012.

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  1. zzing, Dec 17, 2012

    zzing macrumors newbie

    Joined:
    Dec 17, 2012
    #1
    I am considering an mba 11 or 13 sometime in the new year. I am coming from a 15 mbp2010.

    One thing that would be a rather huge adjustment for me would be the decrease in space for stuff. I am not sure how good the 256 is for the price. I like the option of having some things on external media.

    Specifically, I would like to be able to boot a linux or windows system from a usb3 flash drive. My only experience with this kind of thing is usb2 and 30mb/s I get from external hard drives or much less from flash drives is certainly not enough for this.

    So here I ask two things: 1. Does there exist an external flash drive that is very fast such that an external operating system could run from it without too much trouble?

    2. If such a flash drive existed, could it boot something like Windows?
     
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  2. ConCat, Dec 17, 2012

    ConCat macrumors 6502a

    ConCat

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    #2
    The last I tried (and heard), it was impossible to boot anything but Mac OS off of USB drives due to firmware limitations. You'd be able to off of a Thunderbolt drive though. The prices have come down a bit so you may want to check it out, you just have to do a little searching for the good prices.

    EDIT: As for speed concerns, there aren't any. Both USB3 and Thunderbolt are more than capable of booting an OS at acceptable speeds. The only roadblock is, like I said, firmware limitations. It is possible that the new USB3-equipped macs CAN boot off of USB now, but that has never been the case historically. I suppose it's worth looking into.
     
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  3. Boomhowler, Dec 17, 2012

    Boomhowler macrumors 6502

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