Running/Storing Application on an External Drive ?

[scalleia]

Hi I am new to Mac. I have an iMac with a 250gig internal hard drive and a 500g Firewire 800 external drive (LaCie). I have Bootcamp and parallels running and have had to partition the internal drive to store Windows, My question is can I store and run applications from the external hard drive. I am worried that my internal drive will get short of space quickly, hence the external, however I was told by a technician that all applications should be stored and run from the internal drive as the OS needs to store some additional information on the internal drive we installing the application, and therefor storing them on an external drive may lead to some potential stability problems ? is this correct ? Do others store and run apps from external drives ? Thanks.

 

[benthewraith]

Hi I am new to Mac. I have an iMac with a 250gig internal hard drive and a 500g Firewire 800 external drive (LaCie). I have Bootcamp and parallels running and have had to partition the internal drive to store Windows, My question is can I store and run applications from the external hard drive. I am worried that my internal drive will get short of space quickly, hence the external, however I was told by a technician that all applications should be stored and run from the internal drive as the OS needs to store some additional information on the internal drive we installing the application, and therefor storing them on an external drive may lead to some potential stability problems ? is this correct ? Do others store and run apps from external drives ? Thanks.

Yes, at least for me. I have a copy of OS X on my external, and so Application support is also on the external.

 

[0007776]

I think that most apps have to be installed on the internal HD with the OS but there may be some that can go on another drive.

 

[virus1]

you can keep the application on the external hd no problem. it keeps all your support files on your computer, so it is not ONLY on the external though.

 

[dukebound85]

Yea i do it all the time with the apps i need my external monitor for (ie gimp and other programs where its nice to have alot of screen real estate)

 

[benthewraith]

Yea i do it all the time with the apps i need my external monitor for (ie gimp and other programs where its nice to have alot of screen real estate)

???

How does storing applications on external hard drives relate to screen real estate?

 

[dukebound85]

???

How does storing applications on external hard drives relate to screen real estate?

as in some apps I like to have alot of screen space to work on. So if I wont use the app when I just have my macbook's screen I leave it on the external at home...where i have the external plus the keyboard and monitor. I dunno just easier for me I guess

i mean im never going to do big time photo-manipualtion when i dont have a big screen to work on

 

[benthewraith]

as in some apps I like to have alot of screen space to work on. So if I wont use the app when I just have my macbook's screen I leave it on the external at home...where i have the external plus the keyboard and monitor. I dunno just easier for me I guess

Ah okay.

 

[bousozoku]

The Get Info window will show you a checkbox "Ignore Permissions on this Drive" but if you have applications you want to run, I suggest that you do not ignore permissions or you may run into trouble.

 

[scalleia]

The Get Info window will show you a checkbox "Ignore Permissions on this Drive" but if you have applications you want to run, I suggest that you do not ignore permissions or you may run into trouble.

Thanks. Could you please explain this. I would have thought that it was best TO ignore any permissions, that is grant access to all users, if apps. are on the drive ?