Help Please

N

nahima76

New Member
I currently am using a laptop with only a 80 gig hard drive. I bought a 500 gig external hard drive to use.
Now how do I install my programs like Adobe Photoshop and Microsoft Office on my external drive only, to where I can run it from the external??
I do not want it install on my laptop at all, just a shortcut to get to it form the external hard drive.
These programs are just to big for a 80 gig. Please if someone can tell me how to do this or point me to a site that tells me that would be great!!!!!

I posted this in the memory and hard drive section but not getting any answers.
 
well you have posted it in the wrong section as well - try laptops.. but maybe this reply might work...
 
That would likely be a 500gb usb model I assume for use with the laptop there. With an 80gb being too small the best option would have been to upgrade to something like a 160gb internal since the usb external drives are best used for storage only not for trying to custom install programs there.

The only external drive setup that would actually see good working results unfortunately is limited more towards desktops by way of eSata since all that is is an extension cable to an external direct to a sata port on the board itself. That direct plugin makes any custom install far less vulnerable.

Keeping the 500gb for storage and backup and upgrading the internal drive with a larger model would be the best move for you there to see working results with the increase of space seen on the main drive. That was one thing I advised someone else seeing a 60gb model and recommending at least a 100gb or 120gb if not a 160gb drive in order to have the drive space available.
 
Any programs installed on a drive connected by way of the usb bus are too vulnerable. With XP or Vista downloading the replacement software from the support sie and reformatting the factory Fat32 partition to NTFS would also be recommended. XP and Vista alike will still recognise the drive as a logical drive even if the software gets knocked out.

But programs installed and run by way of usb will have problems! If it was simply a custom install to a second internal drive like many see with desktops you wouldn't run into the usb snare where suddenly programs won't run. In addition to that the primary purpose for the external drives are addon storage not for softwares or even OSing them.

You can try all you want but expect problems as far as reliability when going to run any programs you custom install there. The programs you count on the most should still be seen on the internal drive while extras you can experiment with at your own risk in that sense. Programs like Adobe and MS will certainly look at the C drive as home simply by default and may not even allow for custom installation to a second partition or drive.
 
A flash drive or memory card would be a different type of device there where a degree of programming along with the boot information shouldn't pose a problem while still being limited. If I look in the bios here(desktop) the external drive appears as an item for selection as a boot device.

The software most often seen with the external drives is to allow 2000/XP/Vista and Mac to be able to see the Fat type partition the factory puts on. Mac can't see NTFS explaining why Fat32 is provided for cross platform.

Even after a reformat I get this from MS beta testers not to plan on OSing(Linux maybe but not Windows) or installing programs since the usb bus presents the main obstacle. For programs like Adobe and especially MS products those are geared to expect the Windows and users folders on the same drive/partition.

One reason for holding off on even getting a laptop here was the space limitation and options seen until lately where now you can for a good size replacement drive like the 320gb model seen at http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822136197

A drive like that would provide more then enough for programs while the external would be for backup and storage. There are also 200gb and 250gb drives available for seeing the additional drive space with the only need being seeing that OSed along with the softwares installed on a larger internal model.

The rest depends on the softwares themselves since most see C as the drive while some 3rd party programs like several games allow for custom installs on other then primary partitions and drives. With usb however one little hiccup and suddenly nothing works and you would be scratching your head. That's the sad reality there.
 
if i were you, id use the Laptop HDD for applications and the external HDD for files. if you find that you are running out of space with the applications, ghost then get a 160GB internal and load the image on the 160GB HDD and increase the partition from 80 to 160 with a partition application.

i wouldn't keep my applications seperate to my OS especially conected via USB only because the registry might not like it.
 
It's a bad idea! You only got 480Mbit/s transferring speed. But it will work. Just install all program at F:\(Folder you want)

Shortcut will be: F:\Program\Adobe Photoshop\PS.exe
 
Installing softwares by way of the usb bus is too voilitile to start with. Upgrading to a larger internal will provide the additional space needed for both softwares as well as having enough onhand for virtual memory by way of the required space needed for the paging file Windows creates.

If it was an extermal drive connected by eSata you would simply be connecting a drive in an external housing directly to the board giving it full time access like you would see with an internal second drive. On a laptop without replacing the internal drive and not using the limits imposed by the usb bus your other option would be adding in a second drive with an adapter to replace the optical drive already in. You know that won't be preferred until all programs are installed which means a larger primary drive to start with.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top