Install Mac apps on external hard drive?

Hi all,

I have a very small built in hard drive (40GBs) and I am quickly running out of available space. Because of this, I am looking into getting an external hard drive.
Since the majority of my hard drive is loaded with Mac only applications, I'm wondering if it's possible to install mac apps onto the external hard drive. Or are external hard drives only good for storing files made by the apps, word documents, pictures, videos etc?

You may be able to run some applications from an external hard drive but for the most part an external drive would be better used for storing data files. You can move your iTunes library or video collection, and so on, to an external drive very easily.

Have you thought about installing a larger hard drive in your eMac?

Regards.

Would it be possible for me to install the apps onto the internal drive first, then once they're installed, move them to the external drive? Or would the app just try to reinstall itself onto the internal every time I tried to launch the app?

It's not so much that the application will try to reinstall itself. Often the app will run but not necessarily function fully. If you move iTunes, for example, to an external drive Software Update will not "see" it when an update is released. Even if you manually download the update the installer will be looking in the default location.

well the DMG opens into a disk image/drive thing anyway and you can sometimes run apps off that , the install is just dragging it to the app folder. I used to play Sim City that way without ever installing it. SO some stuff can work off your hard drive, cant say what will and what wont.