Bootcamp on Ext. TB2 & Parallels working:)

[Killerbob]

I had an epiphany this evening

Some time ago I went through the motions and created an image of my internal PCIe storage Bootcamp Partition. I restored this on my external LaCie TB2 SSD, and it worked fine. I could bootcamp into Win8.1 and play my darn games. To be honest I also like Win8.1 (no spamming please). However, I was using Parallels 8 and tried to create a Parallels desktop from this bootcamp partition, and was never successful. It seems when I blew away the original internal Bootcamp partition, somehow this also removed all possibilities of importing this otherwise restored partition, as it was now residing on an external TB2 SSD. Well, that sucked...

But, to my great surprise this evening I managed to get this working I have recently purchased Parallels 9 (and that only because Parallels have promised me a free upgrade to ver. 10 when it comes out), and I tried this new function "Use Windows from Bootcamp", and within 5 minutes I was running a full functioning Parallels VM of my external Bootcamp Win8.1 partition. WOW!

I don't know if everyone knows this, and I am just late to the game, but when I researched this a few months ago, no one was able to tell me it could be done. Well I am here to tell you; it works

 

[golf1410]

I had an epiphany this evening

Some time ago I went through the motions and created an image of my internal PCIe storage Bootcamp Partition. I restored this on my external LaCie TB2 SSD, and it worked fine. I could bootcamp into Win8.1 and play my darn games. To be honest I also like Win8.1 (no spamming please). However, I was using Parallels 8 and tried to create a Parallels desktop from this bootcamp partition, and was never successful. It seems when I blew away the original internal Bootcamp partition, somehow this also removed all possibilities of importing this otherwise restored partition, as it was now residing on an external TB2 SSD. Well, that sucked...

But, to my great surprise this evening I managed to get this working I have recently purchased Parallels 9 (and that only because Parallels have promised me a free upgrade to ver. 10 when it comes out), and I tried this new function "Use Windows from Bootcamp", and within 5 minutes I was running a full functioning Parallels VM of my external Bootcamp Win8.1 partition. WOW!

I don't know if everyone knows this, and I am just late to the game, but when I researched this a few months ago, no one was able to tell me it could be done. Well I am here to tell you; it works

What is that external hd? Little Big Disk TB2?

 

[Darwin36]

This has sparked my interest, I really want the two operating systems more separate in case one goes bad, i'm always a bit jittery when it comes to single partition formatting.

How did you make an image of your bootcamp partition and how did you restore it to you ExtHDD? whats the performance like with it via TB?

Ive just purchased Parallels 9 and am very happy with it so far but this capability would be awesome!

 

[Killerbob]

1) The external SSD is the LaCie 500GB SSD Rugged All-Terrain Hard Disk - USB 3.0 & Thunderbolt Interfaces.
2) I followed the "manual" in the thread https://forums.macrumors.com/threads/1692097/

a) Creat a Bootcamp partition using Bootcamp Assistant, and install Win8.1, on the internal PCIe storage,
b) Clone this partition using WinClone,
c) Blow away internal Bootcamp partition (using Bootcamp Assistant),
d) Connect the external SSD via Thunderbolt,
e) Restore the cloned partition using WinClone,
f) Boot to Windows via Bootmenu, pressing Option after chime.

Performance is great. I play games of this, and it just as fast as any normal SSD setup. Of course not as fast as the internal PCIe storage, but fast enough. Limitation is the SSD itself.

 

[hfg]

1) The external SSD is the LaCie 500GB SSD Rugged All-Terrain Hard Disk - USB 3.0 & Thunderbolt Interfaces.
2) I followed the "manual" in the thread https://forums.macrumors.com/threads/1692097/

a) Creat a Bootcamp partition using Bootcamp Assistant, and install Win8.1, on the internal PCIe storage,
b) Clone this partition using WinClone,
c) Blow away internal Bootcamp partition (using Bootcamp Assistant),
d) Connect the external SSD via Thunderbolt,
e) Restore the cloned partition using WinClone,
f) Boot to Windows via Bootmenu, pressing Option after chime.

Performance is great. I play games of this, and it just as fast as any normal SSD setup. Of course not as fast as the internal PCIe storage, but fast enough. Limitation is the SSD itself.

I would add a step between a) and b):

a1) connect your Thunderbolt drive and boot your installed Windows so that it can recognize the new hardware and install the drivers for it and they will be included with your WinClone image.

Otherwise ... you're good to go ...

 

[Killerbob]

You're right. thx. I didn't need that as I have the Sonnet Echo Express PCIe expansion box connected via TB2 all the time. Hence all the TB2 drivers loaded automatically. when I installed Win8.1 in Bootcamp the first time.