Install Lion on external drive

[askywalker]

I have a year old MBP with Snow Leopard. I don't have enough drive space to updgrade to Lion. I would like to install Lion on my external Firewire hard drive, and then have the space to install xcode etc.. I have heard it is possible to install and boot from an external drive with a Mac.

I do have bootcamp with Windows 7 - so I hold option when booting to pick between the Windows and Mac installs. I presume if I could dl and install lion, it would show up as a third choice when booting with that external disk connected?

TIA!

 

[balamw]

Should work fine.

How big is the drive in your MBP?

If portability is still desirable I'd recommend upgrading the drive in your MBP as well/instead.

B

 

[Fishrrman]

"I would like to install Lion on my external Firewire hard drive, and then have the space to install xcode etc."

No problem with doing this.

I have my "test copy" of Lion installed on a "bare" hard drive that sits in a USB/SATA dock. It boots and runs just fine (although the bootup time is a little slower due to USB, but this is to be expected).

Since you have a MacBook Pro, with an internal hard drive that can be "swapped out" without too much trouble, I'd recommend a USB/SATA dock if you don't already have an external drive (and don't mind the fact that USB/SATA docks are a "little less portable" than are "enclosed" hard drives).

They can be very useful accessories to have nearby. Here's a good selection:
http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_sb_noss?url=search-alias=aps&field-keywords=usb+sata+dock&x=0&y=0