okay, i am thinking of purchasing a large firewire hd (Maxtor -- Price: $379.95, 1394 External Storage - 80GB). i have never used an external hd and have always relied on the one hd in the machine. can i use the 1 hd as my main computer? in other words, if i use two desktop machines, can i keep the software on the external hd and transport it back and forth between the two machines and not miss a beat? or, do i have to have the software installed on each machine separately and just keep the files i am working on stored on the external HD? this hd will be used mostly for video editing. can the external hd be a start up disk? how about with os x? thanks for helping me explore some options.<br><br>[color:blue] -sean</font color=blue>

Yeah, put your apps on there, and move it around.<br>Just be sure if an application uses extensions etc, that they're present on both machines - this may require installing all the stuff on the external HD from one machine, delete, and do it from the other, you know.<br><br>I don't know if you can boot a firewire HD... it should work fine with OSX, but again, I don't know about booting.<br><br>HTH<br><br>Cipher13<br><br>

Be careful with preferences... some applications will look for certain files that may only be specific on one of the computers (in that location), which will can cause applications to lag when looking for that file, or not work at all.<br><br>

Sean,<br>If your asking if you can have the external mounted at the same time of more than one machine, the answer is no. <br><br>Tim Robertson, publisher <br>My Mac Magazine<br><br>http://www.mymac.com<br>publisher@mymac.com<br>

[color:green]If your asking if you can have the external mounted at the same time of more than one machine, the answer is no.</font color=green><br><br>...Unless, of course, you "mount" the disks by creating a network, preferably ethernet.<br><br><br>John<br>[color:red]I don't need no steenkin' signature!</font color=red>

But I think he means having the drive locally connected (firewire) to both machines.<br><br>[color:red]-- John Bailey</font color=red> ( [color:red]Bdog</font color=red> )<br><br>[color:blue]Email Me!</font color=blue> [email] [color:green]bdog_111@yahoo.com</font color=green> [/email]

eeek! i never had any intention of using the hd with more than one machine at a time. my thinking is that i would be able to use it on my home desktop computer much of the time and then transfer it and use it on my wife's laptop (and eventually mine -- Ti-book 2) when i take it out to do video work away from home. i thought if i could install the software on a bootable external hd (os 9.1) then i wouldn't be breaking the law and installing 1 purchased software package on more than one computer (wouldn't look good for someone in my position teaching people about computer ethics, etc. to not be so ethical myself). sounds like it might be a little iffy after all.<br><br>[color:blue] -sean</font color=blue>

If you mean simply unplugging a FW drive from one computer and plugging it into another, I thought that's what Firewire was all about: portability.<br><br><br>John<br>[color:red]I don't need no steenkin' signature!</font color=red>

i suppose that i am not explaining myself very well because of all of the confusion. i don't mean just plugging in to one computer and then another...of course that is what they are all about. i merely wanted to know whether i could intall all of my software on the external HD and use it as a start up disk on each of the various computers. cipher (who understood me) replied that he thought it would be fine. misha (also seemed to understand) replied that it could potentially cause problems if certain prefs or something are only on one computer. at least it is worth a try. i thank everyone for their comments.<br><br>[color:blue] -sean</font color=blue>

Sean,<br>If you read the licensing agreement, it is for one computer, not one hard drive. So technically, no, you are not suppose to install commercial programs on an external HD and use it on various computers. <br><br>Tim<br><br>Tim Robertson, publisher <br>My Mac Magazine<br><br>http://www.mymac.com<br>publisher@mymac.com<br>