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Bootcamp Windows 10 from External Drive?
- Thread starter bmac89
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A Samsung 840 EVO 250GB, OCZ Vertex 3 120GB, a OCZ Agility 4 120GB, all in Inateck USB 3 UASP enclosures.
Fast stuff I see!
What is the CPU usage when idle?
My Windows 8.1 hovers around 30-35% CPU utilisation when idle for some reason and the i5 is always kicked into turbo mode (2.38GHz). All updates installed, indexing disabled, all drivers updated, nothing running in the background except the bootcamp app from Apple.
Was wondering if this is due to Windows being run off a USB 3.0 or maybe it's the slow drive...
Probably the drive. With Chrome open 5 or so tabs and just reading on the web the CPU drops to 3-6 % (Win 10) then 1-3%.
Mind to share your Inateck models and user reviews with me? Converting to USB 3.0 this week. Thanks in advance!
I have 2 of their UASP models, FE2005 and FE3NS-1E, and haven't had any problems, other than I have to mount the drives internally occasionally for trim to work. Both are under $20 on Amazon, differences are cosmetic AND the FE3NS-1E has a power switch that I like a lot but uses a non-standard USB male male cord (but it works). The FE2005 has no power button but the cord is a standard male-male cord for USB 3.0 devices. The FE2005 cord is the weak point of the drive (mine was flaky and so are other reviewers once I checked their reviews) but can be replaced with any other USB 3.0 device cord, and then works flawlessly.
Hope I didn't confuse too much ......
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I have 2 of their UASP models, FE2005 and FE3NS-1E, and haven't had any problems, other than I have to mount the drives internally occasionally for trim to work. Both are under $20 on Amazon, differences are cosmetic AND the FE3NS-1E has a power switch that I like a lot but uses a non-standard USB male male cord (but it works). The FE2005 has no power button but the cord is a standard male-male cord for USB 3.0 devices. The FE2005 cord is the weak point of the drive (mine was flaky and so are other reviewers once I checked their reviews) but can be replaced with any other USB 3.0 device cord, and then works flawlessly.
Hope I didn't confuse too much ......
Thanks for sharing! Time to investigate then...
Has anyone gotten windows 8.1 or 10 to boot via the external USB 3.0 method with wintousb? I read some guys on lifehacker had no issues but mine sits at the spinning wheel for like 30 minutes and never gets beyond that. I tried using parallels but my 2014 macbook only has 4gb of ram and it's just too sluggish for me.
Thanks
Thanks
Here's how:
Connect external drive to Windows VM. You must have a Windows VM in VMware/Parallels/VBox, or a Windows PC. Any existing Windows environment will do.
What you need:
install.wim file (obtain this from your Windows ISO)
Open elevated cmd.exe (run as admin)
Note: All commands aren't case sensitive, including pathway to files.
Type diskpart
Type list disk
Take note of the disk you want to select
Type select disk 1 (if your disk is Disk 1)
Type clean
Type convert gpt (stop at this point if you're using a Thunderbolt drive)
Type create partition EFI size=100 (skip if installing in BIOS-CSM)
Type format quick fs=fat32 label=EFI (skip if installing in BIOS-CSM)
Type assign letter=S (skip if installing in BIOS-CSM)
Type create partition primary
Type format fs=ntfs quick label=W2G (or any other name you wish for label)
Type assign letter=E
Type exit
Open up File Explorer. In your C drive, create a new folder named WIN2GO.
Put the install.wim file in this folder
Back in cmd.exe:
Type dism /apply-image /imagefile:C:\WIN2GO\install.wim /index:1 /applydir:E:\ (this process will take quite a while)
Type E:\Windows\System32\bcdboot E:\Windows /s S: /f UEFI - use this one for UEFI installation
Type E:\Windows\System32\bcdboot E:\Windows /s S: /f ALL - use this one for BIOS-CSM installation
Restart your entire Mac. After the chime, hold down Option and when prompted to select your boot drive, select EFI Boot.
Proceed installation normally.
After installation, install Boot Camp drivers. Feel free to trash the VM once you're done too.
For best results, use USB 3/Thunderbolt. If you don't have USB 3, use Thunderbolt. If you have neither, stick back to the internal drive
Note: This method involves reformatting the entire external drive.
For Thunderbolt drives, just boot from the Windows USB installer and install directly onto the TB drive. Windows sees TB drives as an internal PCIe connection. However, you must format the TB drive as GPT first.
CAUTION: Windows can only be installed in UEFI flawlessly on Haswell Macs and later. Ivy Bridge and earlier Macs can only run Windows in BIOS-CSM flawlessly. Attempts to boot a UEFI installation of Windows on an Ivy Bridge or earlier Mac will result in driver issues.
UEFI-compatible Macs:
MacBook Air (mid-2013 and later)
iMac (late-2013 and later)
Retina MacBook Pro (late-2013 and later)
Mac Pro (trashcan shape)
Mac Mini (late-2014 and later)
Non-retina MBPs are not UEFI compatible.
WinToUSB basically does the same thing, but doesn’t always work because WinToUSB doesn’t really take into account between BIOS-CSM and UEFI Macs; it only uses one method for all (which may result in boot failures and other problems).
okay thanks. I saw that way I just thought wintousb did the same thing just in a more simplified way. Doing your way now and will check back after complete
Got to here "Type format quick fs=fat32 label=EFI (skip if installing in BIOS-CSM)" but got the operation is not supported on removable media. I guess I need to find a way to make my Sandisk USB 3.0 drive appear as something else
Got to here "Type format quick fs=fat32 label=EFI (skip if installing in BIOS-CSM)" but got the operation is not supported on removable media. I guess I need to find a way to make my Sandisk USB 3.0 drive appear as something else
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OKay I got around it using rufus but now I am having the trouble of only being able to see the first active partition since it's a removable device, therefore I cannot assign a letter to the second partition. I even tried using bootice but still can only assign one letter at a time :/
Seems like this new sandisk drive I cannot get the flipbit to work and make it a fixed disk. Guess I will call them tomorrow and ask why because from my understanding all new drives are supposed to be fixed.
Seems like the dummydisk tool disguised my usb drive as a fixed disk, wow this has been a long night lol
Seems like this new sandisk drive I cannot get the flipbit to work and make it a fixed disk. Guess I will call them tomorrow and ask why because from my understanding all new drives are supposed to be fixed.
Seems like the dummydisk tool disguised my usb drive as a fixed disk, wow this has been a long night lol
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Yea I see why now but I got my USB stick recognized as a fixed disk now so it should work the same as an actual hard drive. dsim is running now
So I have been succesfully running Windows 10 Tech Preview off an external drive (using WintoUSB method) and booting on my Imac using refit (EFI).
However I have a couple of question hopefully someone can help me with.
My understanding is the tech preview expires mid April 2015 and to continue using the preview you will need to update to the Consumer Preview - however I am wondering whether this will mess up the portable installation of windows or whether it will continue to work fine? Anyone updated from Tech to Consumer preview?
My next question is... how do I actually get the Consumer Preview? I can't find an update available and neither can I find an ISO or similar on the Microsoft / windows insider website.
My current version is Tech Preview 9841.
Thanks for your help.
___________________
P.S. Update - I have found the preview update under PC Settings. It took forever to download and gives no indication of the size of the file, download progress or even what version I am downloading.
However once it downloaded it would not install giving various different errors every time I tried.
At one stage it said it could not install to usb drive - so I guess that partially answers my original question.
1st error: 080246007 - I followed instructions on Microsoft database and downloaded the fix, re-downloaded the update and still didn't work.
2nd Error: 0xC1900200
3rd Error: 0x8024200D
So is there anywhere I can download the Consumer Preview ISO or any other method to succesfully update my (WinToUSB) portable Windows 10 Preview?
Thanks
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Once Windows 10 goes out of Evaluation you will mostly likely need a valid Windows 7 or 8 Key to continue to use Windows 10.
While in Evaluation each Build update is a completely new version of Windows not really an update. To update a USB SSD drive, I make an ISO from the update (ESD) and then use WinToUSB to make the external bootable drive. Current Build is 9926, 4.042 GB. There may be an easier way to do it but I capture the update ESD, and then use ESD decrypter tool to make an ISO.
The way I get the ESD is: initiat the download, and as soon as the install starts, go to C:\$Windows.~BT\Sources and copy install.esd to another location.
Download the ESD Decrypter tool: http://www.chris123nt.com/ESDTool/esd-decrypter-v4c.7z
Once you have your desired ESD and the tool, extract the tool anywhere you see fit (ex: C:\ESDTool) and place the ESD file in the same folder.
Run the cmd file and you will be presented with a list of options. Option 4 will give you the traditional ISO with a boot.wim and install.wim. This is the option you want to make a traditional Windows ISO.
Let the tool run, and when it is done you will have a fully functional Windows 10 build 9926 ISO that you can use to perform clean installs as you see fit.
As long as you realize that is the first build and you won't be able to update it normally to an external drive. The only way I've found to install any build update or the latest build externally is to make your own ISO.
Rubbish. Click on download for US english and you can see the file name is Windows10_TechnicalPreview_x64_EN-US_9926.iso which is the latest build.
Sorry - didn't mean to sound quite so abrupt..Great, thanks for the info, I'll back out of the conversation corrected
Not a problem, thanks for the info that makes my Win 10 use easier!
Actually I like it so much I no longer use it on an external drive and it is my primary Mini OS and OSX is on the external drive.