Internal Boot Camp to External

So, seen several similar questions to this, but not quite in the same way. I swapped my internal hard drive for a new one, and the old one had Windows 7 installed on it, through Boot Camp. Is there any way to boot through that partition? I know there are ways to boot Windows off an external drive, but not sure how nicely they'll work with Apples drivers

Thats not true, there are work-arounds, such as this:
http://forums.macrumors.com/showthread.php?t=1508618
I was just seeing if anyone knew an easier way than a fresh install, though it doesnt seem there is

Similar Messages

  • How to run Boot Camp on External Hard Drive?

    I use my mid-2012 11" MacBook Air for gaming and school work. My hard drive is filling up fast, and I was hoping I could use an external hard drive and Boot Camp to run Windows for my games, thus freeing up most of my hard drive.
    My questions are:
    1) Is this possible?
    2) What equipment would I need to do it?
    3) What would I be looking for in an external hard drive for this purpose?
    4) If I did this, would I be able to unplug and replug my external hard drive without causing a problem?
    5) What version of Windows should I use?
    The program I will be using for my games is Steam.

    For the MacBook Pro Retina and Windows 8.1 the setup procedure was the following:
    Step -1: Make sure your Thunderbot drive works, stable and reliable.
    Step 0. Make sure you have a complete Time Machine backup of you Mac OS hard drive. Seriously. Very easy to mess things up completely.
    Step 1. Get a Windows 8.1 64 bit iso. You might want to try it out first before committing money to it. For that you can download an official 90 day Windows 8.1 Enterprise evaluation from Microsoft. It's somewhat hidden from mainstream experience, but search engines help you there.
    It is important to use 64 bit, as 32 bit will not work.
    Step 2. Get a USB flash drive. 8 GB USB flash drive worked fine for me.
    Step 3. On Window box or from virtualized Windows machine make a bootable setup USB. I have used Rufus for that. Make sure you have selected "GTP partition scheme for UEFI computer" and FAT32.
    I've tried MBR partition scheme, but it hasn't worked for me.
    Step 4. Once bootable setup USB is created, shutdown everything. Plugin your external thunderbolt drive and bootable setup USB flash drive. Hold ALT (Option key) to choose from what thing to boot.
    Step 5. If you are lucky you will see yellow "EFI Boot". Yellow usually meens 'external'. That meens you are going to boot into setup from USB flash drive. Go for it.
    Step 6. In 5-10 minutes you should get into Window setup. Whenever you are asked, always choose "Custom" or so, till you get to the hard drive selection screen. You should see list of many partitions coming from 2 drives - one internal and one external.
    WARNING: Be super careful here!!!!!
    Step 7. Convince Windows to install itself on the drive that is external. You might have to delete all of the partitions of the external drive and leave it completely unpartitioned. This will make Windows autoconvert it's partition scheme to GTP.
    WARNING: Think twice before deleting any partitions; do not delete any partitions on your internal drive.
    Step 8. Let Windows install itself. I recommend turning off windows autoupdate for now, especially drivers part of it, since Windows 8.1 autoudate seams to be pushing buggy drivers at the moment.
    Step 9. If you are SUPER lucky after reboot (and holding ALT/Option) you should see gray "EFI boot" that will boot Windows from external drive.
    Step 10. Download and install Apple latest bootcamp drivers, things should work normally once those drivers are installed.
    Step 11. Enjoy!

  • Using Boot Camp on External Drive

    Can I use Boot Camp to install Windows on an external drive, instead of partitioning the main internal one? I have an eSATA drive so I know Windows Vista will work on the external drive.

    Can I use Boot Camp to install Windows on an external drive, instead of partitioning the main internal one?
    Yes. Don't use the Boot Camp Assistant; instead, restart from the Windows Vista installation disk and insert the computer's original disk when the computer is started up into Windows.
    (44916)

  • MBP Late 2010, How can I install Win7 Boot Camp using External Optical Driv

    Hello:
    I have a new MBP purchased in February. It's not the 2011 model. I replaced the Optical drive with an SSD drive and put the optical drive in an external enclosure. The Optical drive works great, reads, writes, etc. My Windows 7, Pro 64bit DVD works also, tested on a PC.
    I use the Boot Camp assistant to create a partition. It them reboots and never starts up from the optical drive. I get an Apple logo alternating with a stop sign.
    I have got back to OS X by starting with the Option key and choosing my OS X volume.
    I tried booting to the DVD by using the option key, that did not work. I then choose the EFI option which allowed me to hit any key and appeared to boot from the external optical drive. Windows setup screen came up and I hit enter to start the file loading process. It eventually stopped when the progress bar was all the way across the screen. Then nothing.
    Questions {Please give definitive answers, not guesses, thanks :)}
    1) Is it possible to setup a boot camp Windows installation without an internal optical drive? Yes/No.
    2) If yes, how?
    3) I see the rEFIt utility has helped some but I read mixed reports. Will this help me boot and run Windows setup from an external optical drive? I don't want to install it if it's not known to be a certain fix.
    4) Is my only options to reinstall the optical drive?
    I chatted to OWC the vendor that sells the bracket. They had no idea how to install a Windows BC partition without an internal drive.
    I am seriously discouraged by what seems to be Apple wanting to control everything. I had a Mac Pro and Air book in my future but now, it's on hold.
    Thanks in advance,
    Kevin

    I tried what you are doing with a 2007 MBP, and could not get any Windows CD s to boot from an external optical drive, firewire or USB.
    I think this is fundamental to Windows which won't boot from an external USB drive either even on a Windows machine (although I believe there may be complex ways of achieving this). I don't think this is Apple trying to control the world.
    I ended up taking the MCE Optibay out and putting the original optical drive back in.
    Just possible that something has changed between a 2007 MBP and 2010 MBP, but I doubt it.
    If you want the second internal HD, you have two options:-
    1. Put the Apple optical back in, install Windows, then take out the optical and refit the SSD. The external optical will still be able to install windows apps and data etc, just not boot any windows install CDs or utilities (like Paragon rescue disks). You will not be able to do a Windows repair install without refitting the optical.
    2. Parallels, which has come a long way in the last two years. I am 99% certain that Parallels will install from an external optical.
    Message was edited by: Mike Boreham
    Message was edited by: Mike Boreham
    Message was edited by: Mike Boreham

  • Boot Camp and External DRives

    Can the partition needed for Boot Camp be an external hard drive on a Firewire connection?

    Hi,
    since Windows (either XP or Vista) can not boot up themselves from external HDs, BootCamp does not support external HDs for partitioning.
    Only internal HDs are supported.
    You can however try this procedure for getting Windows on an external HD: http://tubeshards.wordpress.com/2006/12/05/install-windows-to-a-macintosh-usb-dr ive/
    Good Luck
    Stefan

  • Boot Camp: Seagate External Drive not Recognized in Windows Explorer -- PLEASE HELP!

    I'm running in Boot Camp and using a Seagate Free Agent GoFlex external drive as both a Time Machine backup on the Mac OS, as well as a storage unit to exchange files. However, whenever I plug my external drive into my computer while running Windows, it does not show up in the Computer tab under "Devices With Removable Storage", like it should. It does show up on the "Safely Remove Hardware and Eject Media" button in the bottom right hand corner, and it appears as a "Startup Disk" in the Boot Camp Control Panel, so I know that it isn't a cable or USB input issue. Please help me get it to appear as a Device in the Windows Explorer. I need to exchange files from my Mac OS to my Windows OS. Thank you in advance for the help.

    I did it but i could not install tool from the dvd. As i said, i can still boot up windows xp i just needs to re-install the service tool.
    The drivers are working properly.

  • HT201468 Boot Camp on external drive?

    Is it possible to install and run Boot Camp (Windows XP) from an external drive? 
    I originally had Boot Camp on a separate partition on my iMac HD, but the partition filled pretty quickly.  I want to install Boot Camp on an external drive to avoid repartitioning in the future.  (Kudos to Time Machine - restoring files was unbelievably easy.)

    I've been messing with different MacBooks (haven't tried iMac unfortunately, but I think it'll be similar) and it's definitely possible to install Windows on an external drive. I haven't tried this with Windows XP (I think you'll have to give up on that), I used only Windows 7 / Windows 8. There're at least two options:
    1. BIOS emulation mode. Use this guide as a reference: http://bleeptobleep.blogspot.ca/2013/02/mac-install-windows-7-or-8-on-external.h tml
    This one will make it work even on a USB 2.0/3.0 drive (although it worked for me with one USB3.0 enclosure but refused to boot from another). I also assume it'll work with FireWire as long as necessary drivers are installed.
    2. native EFI mode. Use my last post as a reference: http://forums.macrumors.com/showthread.php?t=1414769
    This method most likely won't work with USB or FireWire, only Thunderbolt which your iMac doesn't have.
    It's definitely not supported by Apple so officials won't help you here Another way to do it is cloning partitions from one disk to another, which I never tried. I also read about crazy things that involved VMWare Fusion etc.

  • Best Practice???  Change from internal boot disk to external disk

    I have a mini running 10.5.6 server and it currently boots off it's internal disk. I was hoping to get some feedback/input from others on a good process to convert the system from it's internal boot disk to an external boot disk (firewire).
    I wanted minimum downtime during the conversion and I of course, want a complete snapshot on the new boot disk. Lastly, I do not have a local keyboard and console on the system although I could connect one if it seemed to be much easier that way.
    In general, I am thinking of the following:
    1) Boot into the Leopard Server CD.
    2) Use diskutility to Restore from the internal boot disk to the new external boot disk.
    3) Choose the new boot disk as the startup disk.
    4) Reboot onto new disk.
    Is diskutility the best bet?? Meaning will it work this way if the drives are different sizes??
    Should I try to clone the disk from the internal boot disk (assuming I shutoff services first) using SuperDuper or Carbon Copy Cloner?? But I believe they do not copy over all logfiles, etc..
    Or does anyone have a quick overview of a methodology which they have done in the past or just are suggesting might be a better process than the ones I described??
    In Summary:
    1) From the CD, clone using diskutil and change boot disk
    2) From the running OS, clone using SuperDuper or CCC and than reboot onto new disk
    3) Something else??
    Thank you in advance.

    For cloning the machine you have the approach fine. Disk Utility is fine and booting from the CD is the best method. Simply use the restore method.
    But why on earth would you want to boot from an external Firewire drive? First, there is the issue of speed. You have a mini, let's assume it is a one generation back Intel. It has an internal SATA drive on a 1.5 Gbps connection. You want to move that to a 400 Mbps Firewire bus? Next, beyond the speed issues, you have a persistence issue. You are taking the boot volume and moving into to a transitory bus. One of Firewire's greatest strengths is easy connection/disconnection. Persistence is not a strong point.
    Next, if your plan is to move the boot volume to some form of a Firewire RAID, then you are even penalizing yourself more. The mini has one FireWire port. If you are using two devices and creating a mirror RAID, then you need to daisy chain. Talk about points of failure, asynchronous startup time, bus blocking, etc. Not wise.
    Plus, I can not count how many external firewire devices have burnt up in the effort to have small footprints. Lacie and the "let's put a drive in a metal case with no fan" approach = melted drive. Western Digital and Lacie with the "let's make a completely un-reusable external power brick that either breaks in a small breeze or falls out when the heavy guy walks by the server" approach.
    If you are looking at a Firewire RAID enclosure, then you are missing the objective of speed as you are limited by the 400 bus. It is nice to say that you have a four drive SATA 2 RAID case running a RAID 5, but you are defeating the purpose of why you bought the raid. The RAID 5 can provide an exponential increase in I/O performance. But that goes out the window because of the slow bus.
    If your argument is that "this is a server and my bottleneck is Ethernet," that too does not hold up. You are likely running on a gigabyte network.
    For system details check out http://developer.apple.com/documentation/HardwareDrivers/Conceptual/Macmini_0602 /Articles/architecture.html.
    Take this with a grain of salt. You caught me on a grumpy day as yesterday I dealt with a melted external firewire drive.
    My advice is buy real server class hardware. What is you objective? Drive redundancy? Capacity? A mini is a great dev server. Not a production server. This is your data. Presumably the data that makes your business function. Don't trust it to a single platter. And don't trust it to a consumer level, disposable system. I am not trying to malign the mini. It is a fine machine for its role. Its role however is not to be a production file server. Now as a web server, we are talking a different situation.
    Ok, I am rambling. Hope this helps in some way.

  • Boot Camp and External monitor

    I bought a Dell U2410 monitor and connecting it with my 13 inch MacBook by HDMI connector. I don't know how to make the external display work with my computer in BootCamp or in Windows mode. But I don't know how to start the external monitor when I am using BootCamp. What is the procedure to make the external monitor work in BootCamp mode? Is it necessary to have an additional keyboard? Isn't there any way to use Macbook's own keyboard while using the external monitor?

    Well, after some testing, the official boot camp drivers work better than the ones I mentioned above. They are also newer (167.69 or some such). I also get over 4000 3dMarks with them, so for now that's what I'll be using. Checking some other threads here, it seems in Vista that 167.62 might work with external monitors. For now I'll stick with XP though.
    If anyone has any longer term solutions to this problem that are better than playing driver roulette, I'd certainly appreciate hearing them!

  • Install boot camp to external hd

    hi, i have a question, sorry for my english, but i have need help.
    It's possible install the boot camp with windows at the external hd?
    if is possible, how do you do?

    No. Windows won't boot from an external drive nor install on an external drive.

  • Installed Boot Camp; my external display isn't recognized upon boot in2 OSX

    Man... Apple should really allow more characters in the Subject line. Here's a fuller subject:
    "I installed Boot Camp and now my external display isn't recognized and receives no video upon booting into OSX (10.5.8)"
    Unplugging and replugging the monitor resolves the issue until the next reboot. Had no issues prior to the installation of Boot Camp. (Windows 7 works really well, btw. I've had no issues there amazingly).
    Has anybody seen this before and could point me towards the light? Thanks in advance,
    Dave

    I'd just like to add that this no longer works with OS X Lion 10.3.8 either...  Get your **** together Apple.  It's called MacBook "Pro" for a reason.

  • Boot Camp from External HDD

    I need to use boot camp so i can learn MSSQL for work, the problem is that I only have about 15G left on my hard drive.
    How do I use boot camp to set it up on the external hard drive, when i start boot camp assistant, it does not give me the option to select the external HDD,
    Any ideas would be greatly appreciated.
    Cheers

    How do I use boot camp to set it up on the external hard drive, when i start boot camp assistant, it does not give me the option to select the external HDD
    You basically can't. This is Microsoft's fault, not Apple's.
    Format the external drive as Mac OS Extended (Journaled), move data such as the iTunes or iPhoto libraries to it, launch those applications with the Option key held down, point them there, and then delete them from the hard drive. If there are items in the /Library/Printers/ folder you don't use, those can be deleted, and Monolingual can be run to free up more space.
    (47325)

  • Adding windows to MacBook Pro using boot camp and external USB SuperDrive

    I attached my Mac SuperDrive to my MacBook Pro and inserted the disc to add windows.  The disc shows up on the screen.  Went to boot camp to install and after I chose the percentage of use, press continue, it says no USB drive recognized.  What do I do?  Tried all USB ports with no luck

    The Boot Camp instructions are located here: http://www.apple.com/support/bootcamp/
    The Boot Camp Discussion Community is located here: https://discussions.apple.com/community/windows_software/boot_camp

  • Does Windows under Boot Camp see external drives?

    Anyone?

    Yes
    If you have further questions regarding Boot Camp, you should post them in the Boot Camp discussions:
    http://discussions.apple.com/forum.jspa?forumID=1165

  • Problems with Boot camp and External HDD's

    Hi, I recently installed windows XP using Boot Camp, and everything worked fine, until yesterday when I tried to reboot into MAC from WINDOWS. It restarts back into windows everytime, and now I can't get back to mac! (using leopard, not snow leopard) Whats wrong?
    Another thing, I have a 500gb Lacie ext HDD, and I can use it fine with mac, but when I tried to access it with windows, it won't work. It will appear in My Computer but when I log in it won't access the data. What can I do?
    Im using the HDD for backups with time machine, is this why windows cant access it?
    Thanks in advance

    FAT32 will accessible from both Windows and OS X
    If you don't want to reformat your ext drive you need something like http://www.paragon-software.com/home/hfs-windows/ or http://www.mediafour.com/products/macdrive/

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