Running Parallels 6 from USB 2.0?

[Casey01]

So right now I'm in the market for an External Hard Drive because I only have a 100GB HDD and I need a place to backup my Mac, place my .cr2 (RAW) photos, and run a few other Operating Systems via Parallels 6.

I wouldn't see there being any problems with Backing Up and placing my photos using a USB Ext. HDD but would Parallels run slower if I put them on a USB 2.0? or should I look for a FireWire 400 Ext. HDD instead?

The only problem with the latter is that it seem they are a bit more expensive than just a USB 2.0 Hard Drive.

 

[alust2013]

It's going to run kinda slow from an external in general. I also see you have a Core Duo, so the 2GB RAM limit is likely going to be more of an issue than having it on an external hard drive.

 

[Casey01]

Okay then, so my best bet is to get a 1TB USB 2.0 HDD instead? And just scrap using Parallels at all? (Ubuntu runs pretty well on it though)

 

[Young Spade]

Upgrade the internal hard drive. Running the OS through USB 2.0 or Firewire will be a pain.

Backup all of your Hard drive's contents using Carbon Copy Cloner or whatever, take that drive out, go buy a 320 or 500gb one from the store, and restore using the disks and get your old machine back with more space.