Boot Camp via external HDD rarely connected?

I was wondering if installing Win XP/7 (had enough of Vista elsewhere) via Boot Camp would work via an external USB hard drive. I was hoping to install this and only plug it in when I need to run Windows for gaming at LAN parties (in other words, very rarely). Would not having it plugged in all the time screw up booting into Leopard normally at all? This would be my ideal solution...not wasting Macintosh HD space or screwing with partitioning my primary drive (which I have done in the past for Vista/Linux combos but is not my favorite dual boot method).

Thanks in advance,
PowerofUNIX

No, it won't. Boot Camp will only work with the internal HDD. This is more of a limitation with the Windows MBR than it is with Boot Camp. Boot Camp has to do a bit emulation because Windows is designed to work with a standard BIOS (Macs use EFI).

That's lame. In order to play at LAN parties, pretty much my only option is to intentionally cripple my precious Mac? I have tried Parallels, and it worked fine, but that is just not a great option for gaming. Running a bloated OS over another already pretty heavy OS (despite being extremely fast, Leopard is pretty heavy) is not a solid, long-term solution for the occasional LAN party attendee.

Ah, well. I might do the Boot Camp thing anyway, but it will probably be XP then to save HDD space and to ensure compatibility with those older but still good titles. However, I am thinking I'll just stick to OS X solo.

Thank you for the reply!

PowerofUNIX said:

That's lame. In order to play at LAN parties, pretty much my only option is to intentionally cripple my precious Mac?
I have tried Parallels, and it worked fine, but that is just not a great option for gaming. Running a bloated OS over another already pretty heavy OS (despite being extremely fast, Leopard is pretty heavy) is not a solid, long-term solution for the occasional LAN party attendee.

Click to expand...

You misunderstand. Boot Camp simply partitions your internal HDD into two partitions, one for the existing OS X install and one for your new Windows install. Parallels/VMWare Fusion/VirtualBox run concurrently with OS X, so that's where your concern would be valid - and running games on a virtual machine is usually an exercise in futility.

Read more here: http://www.mac-forums.com/forums/wi...4239-running-windows-mac-switchers-guide.html

Ah, well. I might do the Boot Camp thing anyway, but it will probably be XP then to save HDD space and to ensure compatibility with those older but still good titles. However, I am thinking I'll just stick to OS X solo.

Thank you for the reply!

Click to expand...

Sure, you'll lose a bit of your HDD to your separate Windows install - but you can always easily supplement with an external. In my opinion, it's best to choose an internal hard drive that is capacious enough to accommodate both OSes.

haha well as a student a more spacious HDD was out of my budget.

and I know what Boot Camp does...I just was hoping there was some sort of workaround (at minimum) or (preferably) real option to install on an external drive.

Anyway, thanks again for the help. You have convinced me that Boot Camp might be worth it...even if I allot just a few gigs and never use it outside of the occasional gaming session, it is probably the best option to have that setup.

However, it still makes me feel a little queasy to even consider intentionally installing something other than Linux (or a Hackintosh, perhaps) as a secondary OS on a machine.

PowerofUNIX said:

haha well as a student a more spacious HDD was out of my budget.

and I know what Boot Camp does...I just was hoping there was some sort of workaround (at minimum) or (preferably) real option to install on an external drive.

Anyway, thanks again for the help. You have convinced me that Boot Camp might be worth it...even if I allot just a few gigs and never use it outside of the occasional gaming session, it is probably the best option to have that setup.

However, it still makes me feel a little queasy to even consider intentionally installing something other than Linux (or a Hackintosh, perhaps) as a secondary OS on a machine.

Click to expand...

Well, it's a cheap upgrade if you DIY. A nice 500GB Seagate will run you around $100.