On 06/10/2010, at 8:17 AM, Peter Hinchliffe wrote:
> > > On 05/10/2010, at 10:52 AM, Michael Hawkins wrote: > >> >> I have a cd of which about 7 out of 100 tracks play on my Apple. The tracks >> are wav format. I have latest version of windows media player, flip for mac, >> QuickTime pro, QuickTime 7 and Perian installed. OS is 10.6.4. I have had >> trouble getting the cd to play on Windows computers, but have succeeded on >> two that have Windows 7 installed. >> >> I'm reluctant to install Windows OS and software on the hard drive of my 17" >> MacBook Pro. Can it be installed on an external hard-drive, and (assuming >> the cd works) will I be able to listen to it by putting it in the dvd slot >> on my MacBook and using Windows on the external drive? >> >> > > Notwithstanding the various considerations regarding the playability of the > WV files on that CD, the answer to your original question is Yes, if you use > virtualisation software such as Parallels Desktop, VMWare or VirtualBox. All > you need to do is designate the external drive as the location of your > Virtual Machine when you are creating it. It is also possible to create the > VM on your internal HD, move it to your external drive, then tell your > software the new location. Hi Peter, That's interesting, I was always under the impression that Microsoft would not allow Windows to be installed on an external drive, because of licensing , etc. But thinking more about this, using Parallels and creating a VM would work as you are using the Parallels software on your Mac to access the Windows on the external drive. From Parallels support forum: "Parallels Desktop can create virtual machines on any connected networked or physical drive. Create a custom virtual machine and set the location to the other drive where you want the virtual machine to be saved. Parallels will warn you: "The virtual machine files are located either on a mounted volume or on a network share. Make sure this volume or network share is mounted to your Mac all the time the virtual machine is running. Otherwise, Parallels Desktop may work incorrectly and the data inside the virtual machine may become damaged." The file with the Virtual Machine ("Windows 7") sits on the external drive; the Parallels application sits on the Mac’s internal drive. You need to remember to plug the drive in when you start Parallels, otherwise Parallels will ask me where the VM lives :-) Cheers, Ronni 17" MacBook Pro Intel Core i7 2.66GHz / 4GB / 1067 MHz DDR3 / 500GB Serial ATA Drive @ 7200rpm OS X 10.6.3 Snow Leopard Windows 7 Ultimate (under sufferance) -- The WA Macintosh User Group Mailing List -- Archives - <http://www.wamug.org.au/mailinglist/archives.shtml> Guidelines - <http://www.wamug.org.au/mailinglist/guidelines.shtml> Unsubscribe - <mailto:wamug-unsubscr...@wamug.org.au>