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Running OS X on an External HD

C

Chedam

macrumors newbie
Original poster
May 26, 2008
26
0
New Zealand
I'm wondering what I should do. I can get an external, but I want to run Mac OS X Leopard on it.

1. Does it need to be Firewire / other

2. Will it run off my MacBook

3. Can I run Bootcamp to install Windows on the External


Any help would be great.
 
Chedam said:
I'm wondering what I should do. I can get an external, but I want to run Mac OS X Leopard on it.

1. Does it need to be Firewire / other

2. Will it run off my MacBook

3. Can I run Bootcamp to install Windows on the External


Any help would be great.
Click to expand...


I've run Tiger off of an external, I did it on my macbook, it was a firewire drive (think it needs to be) not certain though. Not sure on the third point.
 
Yes it must be firewire. You can boot from firewire but not from USB. Besides, firewire is much faster anyways.
 
It's quite easy to do. One point tho is that (if I remember correctly) you must format the external drive differently if it is Leopard OS than if it is Tiger, otherwise it won't work.
 
Cheers guys,

Still not sure about it. I really need Windows, but I the Techies at school said they didn't want me putting it in the internal drive.

It IS my MacBook though...
 
Firewire is faster but can be booted off both FireWire and USB drives.

id recommend getting a SATA internal drive and get a external case.
 
I'm pretty sure you can't run Windows on an external without some serious hacking. But as mentioned before, you can boot Linux and OS X via USB with Intel Macs. I don't know why the techies would tell you to not install Windows on your MacBook.

Edit: Tell them to jump in a lake.
 
lupin..the..3rd said:
Yes it must be firewire. You can boot from firewire but not from USB. Besides, firewire is much faster anyways.
Click to expand...

1. Intel Macs can boot OSX and Linux from both USB and Firewire.

2. MacBook is intel mac.

3. Windows does not natively support booting from external drives. Easier to buy a larger internal drive and install windows on internal.
 
Chedam said:
Cheers guys,

Still not sure about it. I really need Windows, but I the Techies at school said they didn't want me putting it in the internal drive.

It IS my MacBook though...
Click to expand...

screw the techies, its your macbook is it not?

either do bootcamp on the internal if you have room or look into fusion or parallels
 
Chedam said:
OK, what if I got another hard-drive, and swapped it out with the current one when I was at school?
Click to expand...

for your macbook correct?

Go for it.



luckily for macbook users swapping out the drive is painlessly easy.
I helped install two of the 320GB drives in a MBP and macbook with no hassle.

the 320's are relatively cheap for the GB & price of a notebook drive.
easily partitions for multiple OS'. and enough leeway to have a scratch disk if needed for photoshop applications.


as far as warranty goes, the only thing I could see ever voiding the warranty is if you damaged some sort of component while doing the swap, which shouldnt happen anyways.

goodluck!
 
You can boot from either firewire or usb. I have on external USB hard drive Tiger and internally (imac) Leopard. Works perfectly.
 
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