Mac + Windows via external ssd/hdd

[DJShafman]

Hello there!
First off, I will start off by saying that I have a macbook pro from 2010 (non-retina) running osx mavericks 10.9.4, and said mac is really quite incompatible with some programs I use, not to mention a whole range of Games. What I was wondering, is that maybe I could get an external ssd/hdd with quite a lot of memory on it to install windows on, and whenever I need to change my mac to a windows machine I could just plug the device in, is it a viable option and is there any way to do it at all?
Thanks in advance for the information!

 

[DJShafman]

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[lumencreative]

Rather than doing that, could you not install a 240GB+ SSD in your Mac, install Windows using Parallels and just run that for your games.

The problem with running an OS from USB is that USB is much slower than SATA so you will have performance issues.

 

[DJShafman]

Rather than doing that, could you not install a 240GB+ SSD in your Mac, install Windows using Parallels and just run that for your games.

The problem with running an OS from USB is that USB is much slower than SATA so you will have performance issues.

Thanks for the answer, but...
would the 2010 macbook pro (no retina display) have enough room in there to install one? Also what would be the estimated cost of the whole process?

 

[appleii.c]

I've also been recently contemplating installing windows on my macbook pro (late 2013 model). I would want it strictly for gaming so I will use it sparingly. Because of that I would rather not use dead space on my SSD. How do you think the performance would be installing the windows OS on something like a Transcend Jetdrive using bootcamp? And is this something that's even possible? That way I only use it when I need it.

 

[lumencreative]

Thanks for the answer, but...
would the 2010 macbook pro (no retina display) have enough room in there to install one? Also what would be the estimated cost of the whole process?

The 2010 Macbook Pro can take a standard SSD drive (such as the Samsung EVO SSD drives). This would replace the current standard Hard Drive.

The other option would be to take out the DVDRW drive and stick an SSD drive in its place.

If you're just swapping the Hard Drive for an SSD, you're only really looking at the cost of the SSD.

 

[DJShafman]

The 2010 Macbook Pro can take a standard SSD drive (such as the Samsung EVO SSD drives). This would replace the current standard Hard Drive.

The other option would be to take out the DVDRW drive and stick an SSD drive in its place.

If you're just swapping the Hard Drive for an SSD, you're only really looking at the cost of the SSD.

That is exactly the problem. I posted this topic originally with the idea in my head that I would like to not replace any of the components inside my macbook, and just to add an additional one. Is there any way at all to do this?

 

[lumencreative]

That is exactly the problem. I posted this topic originally with the idea in my head that I would like to not replace any of the components inside my macbook, and just to add an additional one. Is there any way at all to do this?

Unfortunately not that I'm aware of. Your only option would be to go down the USB enclosure route. You would get better performance with an SSD in a USB enclosure but it still wouldn't be as fast as an internal drive.

The only other thing I can thing of is that Transcend have just released some new high capacity SD Cards that fit flush in your SD Card slot. You could see if any of these are compatible with your laptop. They're called Transcend JetDrive.

Hope that helps

 

[DJShafman]

The only other thing I can thing of is that Transcend have just released some new high capacity SD Cards that fit flush in your SD Card slot. You could see if any of these are compatible with your laptop. They're called Transcend JetDrive.

Thanks for the helpful suggestion! But alas, my mid-2012 macbook pro 15 inch doesn't support these types of SD cards according to their website. I guess 750GB of my current SSD would be enough for both windows and macos. Could you please advise me on the best way to install windows on mac if at all possible?