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.

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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.

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)

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

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

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!

How to set up Boot Camp on second drive?

On Drive bay 2 and 3 I have setup as a RAID which has OSX Installed. I want to install Boot Camp onto the Drive in bay 1. When I run the Boot Camp Assistant, it tells me I can't partition an external drive. What am I doing wrong?

You should always have an alternate boot drive that is not on a RAID. Upgrade to 10.5.2 if you have not already. You can use Disk Utility and partition the whole drive for Windows as Master Boot Record and FAT or setup partitions. You could also use the default GUID partition scheme and have FAT and HFS+, your choice.
If you plan to install Vista, you will have to take a FAT partition, delete it from Vista, and create a partition (NTFS) to install.

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.

When I check my boot SSD drive using Disk Utility under Mavericks, I often get "Incorrect number of extended attributes" errors. But if I boot off an external drive and check the same SSD, no errors are reported. Is this a bug in Mavericks?

When I check my boot SSD drive using Disk Utility under Mavericks, I often get "Incorrect number of extended attributes" errors. But if I boot off an external drive and check the same SSD, no errors are reported.
This happens not just with the SSD in my Mac Mini, but with another SSD in my MacBook (both now running Mavericks). So far as I know, all of the kit I am using is in good order (despite the file corruption reports). So I am beginning to wonder if it could be due to a bug in Mavericks? Both SSD drives have been formatted to MacOS Extended (journaled) format. Should I have used a different format, I wonder?
Has anyone else encountered this issue?
Does anyone have a solution?
Or an explanation that might help my investigation of the issue?
Thanks guys,

I understand that the Corsair Force 3 is not one of the SSD drives that are supported on Apple Macs.
I did try downloading and using Trim Enabler, but the error message came up both when it was off and when it was on.
I understand that not everyone thinks Trim Enabler is a good program, though there is a new version out now, so I may give it another try.

Can I boot from an external drive with a "Virtual CD"

I just purchased a Hitachi LifeStudio external hard drive for use as my Time Machine backup. When I plugged it in to my MacBook running 10.6.4, I realized that it had one of those "Virtual CDs" that contained the manufacturers crapware, similar to Western Digital's MyWare or whatever its called. It shows up in disk utility as an actual separate disk and not just another partition that can be wiped.
I reformatted the drive using GUID and and created 3 HFS+ Journaled partitions. One was going to be for the 10.6 installer, one for the 10.6 boot, and one for my time machine backup. I restored a 10.6 install dvd disk image I created using disk utility to the 10.6 installer partition (with erase destination checked) then option booted my mac and the partitions did not show up. The only thing I could see was my internal hard drive.
I have done this many times before and it has always worked so Im trying to figure out what Im doing wrong. The only thing I can think of is that the "Virtual CD" that Hitachi put on this external drive is stopping the Mac from seeing the bootable partitions I created. I even went into system preferences>startup disk and blessed the 10.6 install partition. That didn't work either, the computer just booted to my internal drive.
So my questions are. Is it because of this "Virtual CD" that I can't boot from my external drive? If so, is there a way around it? I already searched their web site and emailed their tech support asking for a firmware update to remove the virtual cd.
Thanks in advance.

Yes, it's a known issue. You've already referred to the issue with WD systems. WD has a long list of products that are either not compatible with Macs or won't boot a Mac.
There are practically no problems with bare drives, but once installed in an enclosure there is no guarantee that the package will function as a bootable device. This is especially the case if the manufacturer uses some sort of "virtual" scheme intended for using the device as a sort of one button backup device.
External drives don't have to specifically say anything about being Mac bootable or compatible. It's up to the consumer to verify compatibility and usability.

Will Mac allow you to boot from an external drive...specifically for windows programs?

Will a new Mac allow you to boot from an external drive...specifically for windows programs?

ps...I've read the threads on Bootcamp.

Booting From An External Drive in OS 9.2?

I have a G4 with a bad internal ROM drive. I am currently running OS 9.2.
I would like to upgrade to OS 10.
I have an Iomega USB 2.0 external drive connected to my computer via the USB port in the back.
How can I boot from the disk in this external drive?
I tried holding "option"- it only found my regular hard drive.
I tried holding "cmd-opt-shift-del" but my mac got very confused and blinked a ? at me.
How can I boot from the external drive so I can upgrade?
Thanks
O.

Welcome to Apple Discussions!
Mac OS X will not boot from USB drives on a PowerPC.
You need a Firewire optical drive to boot, and an AGP PowerMac G4 at that to boot Mac OS X. To identify your PowerMac G4, see this article:
http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=58418
Once you've identified it, boot the machine into Mac OS 9 on the hard drive and make sure your firmware is up to date:
http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=86117
And then you'll be able to install Mac OS X. Follow these precautions on my FAQ before doing so:
http://www.macmaps.com/upgradefaq.html
If it turns out you have a PCI PowerMac G4, you'll have to replace the optical drive internally to boot Mac OS X or Mac OS 9.
Also make sure your clock battery is under 4 years old before attempting to upgrade the firmware. It is a 3.6 V 1/2 AA battery you can buy from Radio Shack item 23-026.

How Do I Always Boot From An External Drive

I successfully installed Mac OS X 10.4.8 on an external hard drive. It boots successfully into OS X, but only if you press option on boot and select the drive or if you boot from the drive inside my Mac Mini and go to startup disk and select the external. Is there any way to just always boot from the external drive without doing anything? Thanks in advance for all of your help.
Mac Mini PowerPC Mac OS X (10.4.8)

If booting from a cold start doesn't work but restarting after selecting the drive does work, then most likely the drive isn't ready when the Mac is doing the cold boot.
Try turning the drive on several seconds before turning on the Mac.

How do I boot from an external drive?

I've just Carbon Cloned my 60GB drive to a firewire external drive. I'm about to replace the 60GB with a 160GB drive and the CCC instructions say boot from the external drive I'd just created once the new disk is installed. Then CCC the cloned drive back to the new hard drive.
So, how do I boot from an external drive? Do I have load anything to the new drive? Will the macbook detect the external drive and boot from that? Or what??????
Thanks
Dick

Thanks DWB. Being the rash impetuous guy I am I didn't wait for replies and just switched on the macbook after installing the new disk (which was so easy it was unbelievable - had to go and buy a a little torx bit though) to see what would happen.
Blow me down with a feather if it didn't just boot off the external drive all by itself :-O It did come up with the disk was unverified and I could see it in FINDER and I was prseented with a screen to ERASE/RESTORE etc.
When I went to CCC the external drive back to the new hard drive it didn't give show me the new hard drive so I guessed I'd have to do something to format (?) the hard drive.
I don't know if I did the right thing but I went to disk utilities and chose ERASE in the vague hope it would maybe format the disk in some way.
Seems to work now and the CCC replaced the system perfectly as far as I can see.
Basically very impressive all round. Piece of proverbial to replace the disk and CCC made life so easy.
Thanks again.
Cheers
Dick

Can't connect to LAN when booting MBP from external drive?

In an effort to always work in my computer environment, I backup my Mac Pro main drive to an external firewire drive, plug in to my new Macbook Pro 2.9 and option start off this drive. Result is I'm working off the last backup of my main Mac Pro drive so all my apps, stored mail, etc, is alive and well. I merely track any changes and new files and copy them over or use DropBox to get them on to my Main Mac Pro, my main computer.
Problem is, when booting off my external drive running Lion 10.7.5, my MBP's network won't turn on or recognize my home LAN. Then if I restart off just the MBP drive, it does connet to my LAN automatically.
Could the problem be that since my MBP was set up for Mount Lion, that it won't fully work with a drive with a Lion OS on it? I thought perhaps I had to turn on Airport when on my external Lion drive, since I don't have that turned on on my Mac Pro which uses ethernet. Can't figure this one out. The MBP must have airport as I'm on it now but booted off the internal ML OSX drive.
Thx,
Steven

No not at all. You should have access to your LAN from any version of OS X that is set up correctly. It's still using the same hardware and should be loading the same drivers for that hardware and YES you may have to actually turn on the Airport card.

HT201468 Boot Camp on external drive?

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