Topic: External drive to run 3D Max & CAD 2K8/9 on?

[hyposmurf]

Im looking to install 3D Max & CAD 2K9/8 on a removable drive.Would this seem like a dumb idea?Heres my laptop spec:
aspire 5360
Intel core (TM)2 CPU T5500 @1.66GHZ
2046 MB RAM
128MB nvidia geforce go 7300
Laptop is pretty snappy but Im worried this software will slow everything up.I understand that 3D max needs a a substantial spec to run moderately well.By using a seperate drive Im hoping that it will give my laptop an extra boost.Looks like Im going to be getting to grips with the fundamentals of 3D relatively quickly over next few weeks.
 
What type of drive should I be looking at?

[deegeecees]

I've got a Seagate 60 gigger USB, I'd imagine the only bottleneck running software intalled on it would be the transfer rate of the USB, probably a little noticeable, but I've never tried running a graphics app on it. Interesting.

[hyposmurf]

Yeh youre probably right I might be better off just installing it on the main drive maybe buy a USB o use for readybost to give an extra nudg with the memory.Thanks deegeecees

[Josh Nieman]

For some reason I was thinking that there are external drives that have network plugs or firewire or something... so you essentially plug it in as a network drive, into your ethernet port, thus granting you the speeds required.

Not sure though.

[hyposmurf]

Interesting,that way I could free up my laptop.Only have 70GB

[Josh Nieman]

Interesting,that way I could free up my laptop.Only have 70GB

yea, I know 3dsmax can eat up some storage space, especially if you get heavy into keeping a decent texture library, what with those image files getting in the 100mb+ range a piece sometimes.

One reason I thought about running software like that from a separate HD was the portability.  Theoretically, I could purchase a license of XY Software, install it on the External HD, and bring it wherever I go... university lab, any work computer, any home computer...

[pmvliet]

One reason I thought about running software like that from a separate HD was the portability.  Theoretically, I could purchase a license of XY Software, install it on the External HD, and bring it wherever I go... university lab, any work computer, any home computer...

How would that work though in reality? Aren't some of the software licensing tied to a MAC address on a network card or other pertinent things to a specific machine? I agree, that would be great to be able to do, I'm just not sure it's possible today??

Back in r12 days, I installed r12 on a zip drive on my Brothers Macintosh and ran it off of the zip drive.
That was way back then though...

Pieter

[Josh Nieman]

Yea, this is definitely all just ponderings in my mind... not tested out.  I'd have to read into it more before i committed to doing it.  Just a thought.

[mjfarrell]

Also I'm pretty sure that with Autodesks products the Cdilla licences are on the System Harddrive, not the portable HD and that would probably prevent one from running the products on any system other than the one it was originally installed on.

[Josh Nieman]

Also I'm pretty sure that with Autodesks products the Cdilla licences are on the System Harddrive, not the portable HD and that would probably prevent one from running the products on any system other than the one it was originally installed on.

Ah... I see... hmmm

Can you make an external hard drive the 'system' hard drive?

What specifically is the difference between a "system hard drive" and any other type?

*runs to google*

[Josh Nieman]

I see... it's because the OS is the controlling factor... because files are written to registry, and the application is not working as a standalone .exe like certain simpler programs... that's why.

So, theoretically, if I were to install windows on that hard drive, it would see it as a 'system drive' correct?

[mjfarrell]

Correct, and by installing Windows, that portable must be bootable by whatever system it gets connected to, and it eats up your file storage space in the process. In short I don't think one achieves the desired end state with this configuration.

[Josh Nieman]

Correct, and by installing Windows, that portable must be bootable by whatever system it gets connected to, and it eats up your file storage space in the process. In short I don't think one achieves the desired end state with this configuration.

Well, for my specific case, I'm basically wanting a laptop's portability without wasting thousands of dollars on functionality that (it seems to me) can be feasibly reproduced in other ways.

If I boot one drive, I can still read the contents of another, though correct?  Such as the case where I boot my portable which is connected to the computer via firewire/usb (though I would not choose a USB).  I can view the contents of the Drive "C:" which would be the hard drive of the main tower, right?  Whereas the portable would be something like X: or Q: or something...

hmph.

So if I install, for instance, Autocad 2009 on the main tower's drive... then 3dsMax on my portable... I couldn't run them both at the same time, and could not switch between them without rebooting from the other drive...  that is rather unfortunate... unless I dual boot?  I'm not familiar with that scenario though, so I dunno..