Installing Apps on External Hard drive

The problem with that is when apps look to update they look at your Applications folder. If they're not there the update gets screwed up. I guess that's the limitation for a 128 gb hd.

I'll answer your question two different ways:

First: There are two kinds of apps: those that are dragged into the applications folder and those that use an installer. If the program uses an installer (and in the case of all Apple programs) you should put them on the boot drive in the applications folder. Programs that are dragged into the applications folder can safely be installed on an external drive but there are two problems with that. (1) you probably aren't going to carry your external drive around with you so any program on that drive isn't usable when you go on the road. (2) Programs that use automatic updating might not update properly. This is an issue I've not tested in more than a year but it is a potential problem. It might mean that whenever a program is updated that you'd need to manually download the program and reinstall it. Not a biggie but something to think about

Second: rather than trying to install applications on the external drive you might consider what data you don't need to carry around all the time. Example: I have about 50GB of music , 15GB of movies, and 10GB of iPhoto pictures on my MBP. I could easily move all 75GB to an external drive because I always have my iPhone with me. That might be more convenient than installing apps on an external drive.

Absolutely. Moving the iTunes library is simple. See this article for details. After you've done this quit iTunes and open your iTunes folder. Inside you'll see several files and folders. Move everything but the iTunes Library file to the trash - but don't empty the trash yet. Restart iTunes and make sure iTunes has found your music and movies okay. (This is a just in case step.) Once you know your songs are on the external drive you can safely empty the trash.

Put your iPhoto library on the external hard drive and hold your Option key down when opening iPhoto. Then just select the library on the external drive. (Your iPhoto Library should be in your Pictures folder)

With respect to the type of apps that DO use an installer, not the simple ones that can be dragged, can I install them and run them from an external HD anyway? For larger applications with additional packs and such? I have limited internal HD space so I'd like to install some bigger programs on my external since theres tons of room.

Thanks!

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Some installers do let you choose where to put the application. In those cases you can at least try to install on an external hard drive. As we've already mentioned one of the reasons that applications need to be in the applications folder is due to the expectations of the updater application. So some programs that could be installed in locations other than the default may not update properly.

Another possibility since you seem willing to walk around with an external hard drive is to simply install everything on an external hard drive - the operating system, your applications, and your data.