macbook to load windows vista off external drive

[steinm10]

I am curious if I'm able to run Vista off an external hard drive on my mac?

Right now I have a MacBook and a desktop PC. The work I am currently doing requires me to use my desktop PC...BUT, I want to be mobile with it. So, instead of purchasing a laptop, I want to install Vista on my external hard drive and run that off my MacBook.

Is this possible? Will the hard drive be capable of running Vista on it since it's formatted for a Mac?

Thanks in advance

 

[Kash]

The only way you can install Vista on an external hard drive would be through Parallels as Boot Camp requires you to partition the main drive.

So you could technically carry around the Vista image on your external hard drive and use it between computers. However, you should know that Parallels doesn't offer 3D support (yet) so you won't get all the bells and whistles that Vista offers, such as Aero glass windows. Also, Vista is a resource hog, so unless you have 2GB of RAM on your Macbook, Vista is going to be very sluggish.

I installed Vista on my Macbook via Parallels and even with 512MB of RAM dedicated to it, it was a pain to run. You would need to give it at least a gig for it to be somewhat usable, which means you need 2GB to leave some RAM for OS X.

 

[steinm10]

Thanks Kash

I do have 2 GB of RAM so I'm going to give it a shot. I don't need to worry about the external hard drive being formatted for a MAC OS?

 

[steinm10]

It appears Parallels doesn't run with my version of Vista (Home Premium) :radioacti

 

[Kash]

Microsoft included virtualization restrictions on Vista. Unfortunately, the only version you can use is the Ultimate Edition.

 

[trpnmonkey41]

You can use Virtualization on Business also

 

[steinm10]

I currently have Home Premium on my PC. If I purchase the one of the Business editions, will I be able to install that on both my PC and my Mac?

I'm assuming I need to buy the full version too, not just the install?

Why does Microsoft have to make things so difficult. Why can't they be as simple as Macs!!