Install Apps On External Hard Drive Mac

One of the great things about Mac OS applications is that they are packages. Application.app is a folder. You can right/CTRL click any app and select “show contents” to view all the program files. Hi Again, I’ve started playing sims 4 yesterday on my mac and been launching and downloading Origin and Sims 4 on my external hard drive. I noticed I have a folder named EA (on my external hard drive) and a folder named Electronic Arts (in the local Documents folder).

Alternatively, you can install an application like Paragon’s Microsoft NTFS software (paid) or the open-source Tuxera (free) on your Mac to enable NTFS to read/write support. Even with third. The best external hard drives are extremely easy to use. All you need to do is plug them in. Besides, an external hard drive can be a great way to install games on multiple computers. Generally speaking, no file formatting is needed to use an external hard drive for gaming. Can I move other apps to an external hard drive? Step 1: Formatting the External Drive. To allow the external drive to function as the startup disk, you need to format it to Mac OS Extended and employ GUID partition map. Start the utility disk. You can find it under the Applications category or search it using Spotlight.

These advanced steps are primarily for system administrators and others who are familiar with the command line. You don't need a bootable installer to upgrade macOS or reinstall macOS, but it can be useful when you want to install on multiple computers without downloading the installer each time.

What you need to create a bootable installer

  • A USB flash drive or other secondary volume, formatted as Mac OS Extended, with at least 12GB of available storage
  • A downloaded installer for macOS Big Sur, Catalina, Mojave, High Sierra, or El Capitan

Download macOS

  • Download: macOS Big Sur, macOS Catalina, macOS Mojave, or macOS High Sierra
    These download to your Applications folder as an app named Install macOS [version name]. If the installer opens after downloading, quit it without continuing installation. To get the correct installer, download from a Mac that is using macOS Sierra 10.12.5 or later, or El Capitan 10.11.6. Enterprise administrators, please download from Apple, not a locally hosted software-update server.
  • Download: OS X El Capitan
    This downloads as a disk image named InstallMacOSX.dmg. On a Mac that is compatible with El Capitan, open the disk image and run the installer within, named InstallMacOSX.pkg. It installs an app named Install OS X El Capitan into your Applications folder. You will create the bootable installer from this app, not from the disk image or .pkg installer.

Use the 'createinstallmedia' command in Terminal

  1. Connect the USB flash drive or other volume that you're using for the bootable installer.
  2. Open Terminal, which is in the Utilities folder of your Applications folder.
  3. Type or paste one of the following commands in Terminal. These assume that the installer is in your Applications folder, and MyVolume is the name of the USB flash drive or other volume you're using. If it has a different name, replace MyVolume in these commands with the name of your volume.

Big Sur:*

Catalina:*

Mojave:*

High Sierra:*

El Capitan:

Drive

* If your Mac is using macOS Sierra or earlier, include the --applicationpath argument and installer path, similar to the way this is done in the command for El Capitan.


After typing the command:

  1. Press Return to enter the command.
  2. When prompted, type your administrator password and press Return again. Terminal doesn't show any characters as you type your password.
  3. When prompted, type Y to confirm that you want to erase the volume, then press Return. Terminal shows the progress as the bootable installer is created.
  4. When Terminal says that it's done, the volume will have the same name as the installer you downloaded, such as Install macOS Catalina. You can now quit Terminal and eject the volume.

Use the bootable installer

After creating the bootable installer, follow these steps to use it:

  1. Plug the bootable installer into a Mac that is connected to the internet and compatible with the version of macOS you're installing.
  2. Press and hold the Option (Alt) ⌥ key immediately after turning on or restarting your Mac.
  3. Release the Option key when you see a dark screen showing your bootable volumes.
    If you can't start up from the bootable installer, make sure that the External Boot setting in Startup Security Utility is set to allow booting from external media.
  4. Choose your language, if prompted.
  5. Select Install macOS (or Install OS X) from the Utilities window, then click Continue and follow the onscreen instructions.

Learn more

For more information about the createinstallmedia command and the arguments that you can use with it, make sure that the macOS installer is in your Applications folder, then enter the appropriate path in Terminal:

  • Big Sur: /Applications/Install macOS Big Sur.app/Contents/Resources/createinstallmedia
  • Catalina: /Applications/Install macOS Catalina.app/Contents/Resources/createinstallmedia
  • Mojave: /Applications/Install macOS Mojave.app/Contents/Resources/createinstallmedia
  • High Sierra: /Applications/Install macOS High Sierra.app/Contents/Resources/createinstallmedia
  • El Capitan: /Applications/Install OS X El Capitan.app/Contents/Resources/createinstallmedia

Brithny updated on Nov 12, 2020 to PC Transfer|How-to Articles

Top 2 Ways to Move Games to External Hard Drive

Games often take up a lot of PC space. If you install too many games on your internal drive, you may easily receive a C drive full or not enough space waring. Usually, for most gamers and common users, using an external hard drive is a great way to have more storage space.

You can have all the gaming power without having to work on the inside of your computer. All you need to do is plug in the external hard drives, and move PC games to an external hard drive in two ways.

  1. Method 1. How to Move Games to an External Hard Drive with PC Game Mover

Also read:How to Run Application from an External Hard Drive

Method 1. How to Move Games to an External Hard Drive with PC Game Mover

Hard

Applies to: transfer all programs to an external hard drive.

Compared with copying and pasting, EaseUS Todo PCTrans is much better. Avoid the time-wasting process, installing games on an external hard drive only takes a few seconds. You can take this professional game mover to change the program install location. This PC game mover tool can 100% solve how to move games to an external hard drive.

Trust EaseUS on data moving, we are ready to solve how to transfer games to the external hard drive on PC for you:

Download Your Robust PC Transfer Tool

Want to move programs and data to your new device? Try EaseUS PCTrans and get your computer set up in minutes.

As a data migrating software, this PC transfer tool helps transfer your data, applications, and account settings from one PC to another in one click.

  • Transfer applications, Windows accounts from one PC to another
  • Transfer or back up data from one PC to another
  • Transfer Steam to SSD, or move other games to another drive
  • Recover data from a dead/unbootable PC
  • Free up C drive space, and clean up junk files

Download this software and directly launch this software to help you move games or apps from PC to an external hard drive.

Step 1. Connect your external hard drive to your computer. Open EaseUS Todo PCTrans and select 'App Migration > Start'.

Step 2. Find and choose the applications (marked as 'Yes') that you want to transfer. You can select multiple apps.

Best External Hard Drives For Mac

Click 'Browse' and select your external hard drive as the destination to store the apps.

Step 3. Then, click 'Transfer' to move your programs to an external hard drive

Speaking of install games on an external hard drive, some users may want to know what is the difference between playing games on a hard drive and an external hard drive. The fact is the external device doesn't load as fast as the internal hard drive, and if your device is randomly disconnected from the PC, your game data will lose.

If you need a method to recover data from external hard drive, you will get a gut punch.

Method 2. How to Transfer PC Games to an External Hard Drive with Manual Way

Applies to: copy and paste portable programs to an external drive.

Although the copying and pasting worked like a charm sometimes, this method can not make sure 100% program moving than EaseUS Todo PCTrans in transferring PC games to an external hard drive. As there are a variety of games, manually copying to an external disk may miss the necessary components for some specific games.

This method may not work as well for games installed without a manager like Steam or Origin. Here, I'd like to take Origin games for example.

Also read: How to Move Steam Game to Another Drive

How to Transfer Games from PC to External Hard Drive

Step 1. Open Windows Explorer and create a folder on the external hard drive where you'll store your games.

Step 2. Head to your current Origin folder and find the folder for the game you want to move. Copy it to the new location, and delete the old files.

Step 3. Open Origin and head to 'Origin > Application Settings > Installs & Saves'. Under 'Game Library Location', click the 'Change location' button and direct it to the folder on your new hard drive.

Close origin completely, even from the background. This only affects newly-installed games, so your current library will not be affected.

Step 4. Return to 'My Game Library' and click the 'Download' button to re-install the game.

Instead of re-downloading the game, Origin will detect the existing files there and make any necessary minor changes. When it's done, you should be able to play the game as usual.

People Also Ask

In addition to game moving, most users are interested in the following questions:

1. Can I use an external hard drive for gaming?

Yes, you can. The best external hard drives are extremely easy to use. All you need to do is plug them in. Besides, an external hard drive can be a great way to install games on multiple computers. Generally speaking, no file formatting is needed to use an external hard drive for gaming.

2. Can I move other apps to an external hard drive?

EaseUS Todo PCTrans supports moving a lot of programs to an external hard drive, including moving Microsoft Office, Adobe, Google Chrome, and more.

External Hard Drive Mac To Windows

3. Is SSD or HDD better for gaming?

An SSD is much better for gaming than an HDD is. But SSD is not without fault. SSDs are not that good as long-term storage solutions, both because of their shorter life-span and because high-capacity SSD prices are bordering on ludicrous.

Install Mac Os On External Drive

4. Can you run apps from external hard drive Mac?

External Hard Drive For Mac And Pc

Yes, Macs don't care where programs are launched from - there is no especially blessed location, so you can run them off an external drive.