Running program from a second hard drive

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Dan1502

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I currently work from home and have just bought a decent desktop and monitor for work use. We will move to offices before long but in the meantime I would like to run my editing suite and store personal files on a separate hard drive on the same machine.

What I am currently thinking is that if I buy a new hard drive (probably Seagate Barracuda 750Gb 7200 32Mb Cache SATA II) and install it internally, I could run the suite from this.

Are there any issues with this and is there anything I need to be aware of when installing it and the software other than picking the install location?

When we move to offices I could then remove the drive and place it in an enclosure that has an eSATA adapter as I can then plug it into my laptop for which I have an eSATA to expresscard adapter.

Does this seem a sensible approach or is there a better one?
 
You would need to re-install after the move. Although you can happily install the s/w to any hard drive you like the registry keys will be installed on the main drive...

Basically although you would have the program files on the disk you move windows would not know what to do with them on the other machine.
 
edit - misread.

double edit - no i didnt.. arse.

bascically you need to install the program on the other computer, you cant just plug in a hard drive and it'll work as it writes a load of info to the system registry and will need these to work correctly.
 
I thought this might be the case but wondered if there was a way around it. I guess not other than perhaps installing an operating system on the second drive which would be a bit daft I guess.
 
The program has to be installed on the same drive as your operating system but can use the 2nd drive for saved files. Other option is to install an operating system on your second drive and then boot from that. Bit of a bind to keep changing boot drives but only takes a minute when starting up.
 
Maybe not so daft then. If I went down this route, given that I wouldn't simultaneously be using both drives and they would be on the same pc anyway, could I install the same operating system and licence on both and are there any problems with this that I should be aware (eg updates etc)?
 
snapzz said:
The program has to be installed on the same drive as your operating system but can use the 2nd drive for saved files.
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Thats not strictly true, but the other post about the registry and any windows system files will need to be on the main drive.

All of my programs are installed on Drive2, drive1 (for me) is operating system and drivers only (to keep the speed up). (Drive 3 has all my personal files :D )
 
Dan1502 said:
Maybe not so daft then. If I went down this route, given that I wouldn't simultaneously be using both drives and they would be on the same pc anyway, could I install the same operating system and licence on both and are there any problems with this that I should be aware (eg updates etc)?
Click to expand...

Hmm, depends on the small print in the licence I guess. Morally, I'd say it's OK but legally may be a bit dicey. The windows licence used to say something like "for installation on a single machine" but this may well have changed with the advent of virtual machines and environments.

Technically it is possible though. Clone your existing disk to the second hard disk, stick it in the machine and install a boot loader like GRUB. Then it'll ask you which disk you want to boot from when you start the machine. Keeps your work and personal stuff completely seperate.

Alternatively, you can get cradles which fit in one of the spare DVD bays which will let you physically swap disks over when you want to swap environments.
 
RacingSnake said:
Thats not strictly true, but the other post about the registry and any windows system files will need to be on the main drive.

All of my programs are installed on Drive2, drive1 (for me) is operating system and drivers only (to keep the speed up). (Drive 3 has all my personal files :D )
Click to expand...

Gets a bit complicated and anyone asking this type of question my find it above them which is why I said install on same drive as OS.

Dan
In answer to your question you should be able to install on a second drive with same licence but defining the legality may open a can of worms. Usually the licence states for single instalation only unless OS comes with multiple licences. If challenged Microsoft may ask how many PC's is this been installed on? So in theory you are still installing on a single machine only twice.I've never read the licence agreement to define this but if the installation goes through automatically the question never gets asked.:thumbs:
 
snapzz said:
Gets a bit complicated and anyone asking this type of question my find it above them which is why I said install on same drive as OS.

Dan
In answer to your question you should be able to install on a second drive with same licence but defining the legality may open a can of worms. Usually the licence states for single instalation only unless OS comes with multiple licences. If challenged Microsoft may ask how many PC's is this been installed on? So in theory you are still installing on a single machine only twice.I've never read the licence agreement to define this but if the installation goes through automatically the question never gets asked.:thumbs:
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I can't see much of an issue with this, especially if mounted internally. It'd hardly be the crime of the century and I'm sure there would be much bigger fish to fry.

The idea of a 3 drive array does seem complicated but I might do this in future with a home machine.

I think the cloning route might be the way to go. Clone drive, remove unnecessary programs, install editing suite and away I go. I did this when upgrading my laptop drive and using the seagate software it was easy. When I move into offices I could then go down the enclosure route. I'll take a look at GRUB.

Thanks guys.
 
neil_g said:
no it doesnt, can be anywhere specified on the local computer. although i have noticed that some apps restrict you to local non-removable drives on installation.
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Not true, can easily install on to a Network drive the same as a local drive but still the problem remains of the registry files.
 
Licensing is a big issue here.

In most cases, applications are licenses "per device" so you'd need a license for each device you run it on, in this instance 2.

The license has no bearing on the number of installs or where the application is actually running, only on the "device" you're accessing it from.

So, even though it's only "installed" on one hard drive, moving it between devices means you'll need 2 licenses.

Best approach is to have the application installed on both machines (since you'll need 2 licenses anyway) and make the data portable. This would be licensed, and supported, unlike some of the other suggestions as app vendors are now very specific on supported environments, and installations to network or other removable drives are often excluded.
 
it all depends on the software.

I have a portable hdd that has a lot of software on it, lightroom, photoshop etc.

I installed these at home but can still use the software at work.

Some software works, some doesn't.
 
Bearing in mind this will only be a short term plan anyway and that I will be using it on the same machine and not simultaneously I don't see this being too much of a problem. Once I move to offices, I intend upgrading my laptop from vista to 7 and will install everything on there or buy a desktop for home.

My main motivation for doing this is to take advantage of the faster desktop and better screen in the meantime.
 
I just took the side off the computer and now know what I need. I also checked what drive is in it and it's the 500GB 16Mb cache version of the drive I have decided on and mentioned.

I've ordered the drive and cable but unfortunately the same place didn't have the right screws so I'll have to pick some up elsewhere if I can't find any lying around.

Thanks again for the help.
 
Jim.R said:
Hmm, depends on the small print in the licence I guess. Morally, I'd say it's OK but legally may be a bit dicey. The windows licence used to say something like "for installation on a single machine" but this may well have changed with the advent of virtual machines and environments.

Technically it is possible though. Clone your existing disk to the second hard disk, stick it in the machine and install a boot loader like GRUB. Then it'll ask you which disk you want to boot from when you start the machine. Keeps your work and personal stuff completely seperate.

Alternatively, you can get cradles which fit in one of the spare DVD bays which will let you physically swap disks over when you want to swap environments.
Click to expand...


Ok, so I took a look at GRUB and to be honest it scares the life out of me and is way over my head.

My thoughts are that if I clone the existing hard drive, then press F12 whilst switching on the computer and ask it to boot from the new drive (or change the boot order though I don't think that's necessary) then remove unwanted programs from the drive and install the editing software on this drive, I should be ok.

I am wondering whether disconnecting the primary drive whilst removing and installing programs on the second drive might be sensible. I am also wondering whether there will be any problems or issues around naming of drives ie when I boot off drive 2 and want to save something, will drive 2 be the c drive? and when booting off the primary drive will that be the c drive? I'm guessing whichever drive I boot from will be the c drive and the other will be labelled something else. My intention is not to do anything on the other drive when booting through one except perhaps write some data from time to time but will the pc get confused in any way?

Thanks
 
Dan1502 said:
Ok, so I took a look at GRUB and to be honest it scares the life out of me and is way over my head.

My thoughts are that if I clone the existing hard drive, then press F12 whilst switching on the computer and ask it to boot from the new drive (or change the boot order though I don't think that's necessary) then remove unwanted programs from the drive and install the editing software on this drive, I should be ok.

I am wondering whether disconnecting the primary drive whilst removing and installing programs on the second drive might be sensible. I am also wondering whether there will be any problems or issues around naming of drives ie when I boot off drive 2 and want to save something, will drive 2 be the c drive? and when booting off the primary drive will that be the c drive? I'm guessing whichever drive I boot from will be the c drive and the other will be labelled something else. My intention is not to do anything on the other drive when booting through one except perhaps write some data from time to time but will the pc get confused in any way?

Thanks
Click to expand...

My apologies for bumping this but I could just do with a couple of final comments on the last bit so that I don't cause myself any major problems.
 
I've had dual boot option since W2k so things may have changed.
Clone C drive to new drive. Windows should name this E or F etc. If using 3rd party software to bootitI should ask whch drive (ie C or F). In older versions of Windows it use to ask which drive to boot from if detecting OP on both drives. If selecting from Bios then C drive will be HDD0 and second drive HDD1. I would suggest not trying to re-name drives as this may affect some software from working.
 
I won't rename the drives, just wondered if there's anything wrong with my plan to press F12 whilst booting up and selecting that drive to boot from. Presumably whilst working on that drive , any required updates detected will update and likewise when the other drive is used to boot.

Thanks

Dan
 
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