Hi All,

I am using a Mac Book Pro and currently have Final Cut Studio on the main hard drive. Is it possible to install Final Cut Studio and other programs such as Adobe CS4 on an external hard drive without having problems?

You can install content files on an external drive (e.g. the Motion and Audio content), which saves tens of gigs of disk space. The FCS installation guide explains how.

I don't believe there's an easy way to install the actual program files on an external drive. I expect it's possible, but (a) would need a manual install (slow and risky) and (b) would probably give performance (maybe other) issues.

And, of course, you can place your working files on an external drive via the programs' preferences.

He's right keep the edit content and media on the external. I wouldn't keep the program itself on it. I've never heard that. Like I keep my After Effects Video Co Pilot content on my external along with other lessons and it works flawless. Trail and error it and see what runs faster.

Apart from that, the most limiting factor is the activation scheme. It may be possible on one machine, but will likely fail on another machine and may even fail upon reconnect to the original machine. At least if Adobe has any sense, they would prohibit those approaches. I haven't tried it, why should I intentionally decrease performance?, but it seems logical. In their licensing/activation scheme they use a 'hardware signature' so to speak and if the 'hardware signature' is changed you are out of luck.

My suggestion: Don't even try it. It is not worth the trouble.

Thanks for the replys,

I currently have the content files on my main hard drive. Do I have to un install everthing and then re install with the option of putting the content files on my external drive or is there a way to just move the content files to the external drive without un installing everything?

I've never had any problems installing the actual programme on any drive I have, internal or external, as long as (on Vista) you have user account control turned off. The default storgage location can be set on most software, so it's not actually too important. What doesn't work is trying to run it on another machine - as in windows, the registry values won't match, so it won't run. However, the practical disadvantages of having the programme itself on anything other than an internal drive make it hardly worth the bother. The programmes and the computer really need to be treated as a permanent single entity. Desktop shortcuts that don't get used too much make you really cross when they link to an external drive that you cannot locate when you need it. I'm using external drives a lot now for video storage, and remembering which is which is getting difficult - when the editor can't find file 006.avi (because you didn't bother to give it a sensible name) where do you look?

I realized after the fact that I had installed a gigs and gigs of templates for LiveType, DVD Studio Pro, Motion and Soundtrack Pro on my main HD. I located the files using spotlight, copied them to a second (internal) HD and relinked them with ease. I figured since the only way to get it right was to re-install them all, that I wouldn't be at a loss if it didn't work, but it worked fine. Each software has a unique way to reconnect the media files.

Not sure about running the programs from an external HD. I back-up (using Carbon Copy Cloner) my main drive to two separate HD's (one external) and everything runs fine when I boot from it.

Thanks again for all the suggestions . I will move all content and media files to the external drive.