Running Windows 8 from external Hard Drive

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Level 1

4 points

Running Windows 8 from external Hard Drive

I was wondering if I could run windows 8 from an external hard drive, and still have it run smoothly, I have a macbook pro retina 13 inch late 2013, 2.4 GHz Intel Core i5, 4 GB 1600 MHz DDR3 and Intel Iris 1536 MB running Os x Yosemite. The hard drive I want to run it on is a

Hitachi GST X-Series 750GB USB 2.0 2.5" Portable External Hard Drive 0S03061 Black

which you can find more about here. (Btw I already have one of these)

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822145468

Is this suitable enough to play heavy games which is the main purpose because I am running low on space and if it is can someone give me steps to run it if it is possible.

MacBook Pro with Retina display, OS X Yosemite (10.10.1)

Posted on Mar 30, 2015 7:12 AM

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Answer 1

Best reply

Loner T

Level 9

59,471 points

Mar 30, 2015 7:25 AM in response to 13randen

A Mechanical HDD connected via Thunderbolt may be viable, but USB2 will be too slow. Windows must be first installed on the internal disk, and then moved to an external disk using tools like Winclone or CampTune.

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Answer 2

13randen Author

Level 1

4 points

Mar 30, 2015 7:27 AM in response to Loner T

Do you think I could install bootcamp on os x yosemite then run pc games from an external hard drive

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Answer 3

Loner T

Level 9

59,471 points

Mar 30, 2015 7:31 AM in response to 13randen

It is possible. I would recommend a TB or a USB3 drive for storing external games. GPU-intensive games will run a bit better than disk IO-intensive games.

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