Need bags of speedy storage you can take with you anywhere you go? With VisionTek’s USB Pocket SSD, you get a bus-powered solid-state drive that’s small enough to fit in your palm, and fast enough for almost anything.
I’ve been using one as a Windows drive for my Mac for the past few months; let me tell you why it’s been great.
I’ve always taken advantage of the Boot Camp feature built into OS X to access Windows apps and play a few games when I need them. But until I built a Hackintosh late last year, I had been using a MacBook Air with just 128GB of storage for everything.
Using 50GB of that storage for Windows proved to be a constant headache. I was forever running out of storage in my Mac and Windows partitions, and having to clear out large files became a frequent chore. Then VisionTek sent me the USB Pocket SSD to play with.
I’d always thought running Windows on an external drive was just too problematic — not only because it’s almost impossible to do with a traditional spinning drive, but also because it would be too slow to use. But because the Pocket SSD uses flash storage, it’s not slow at all, and it works a lot like an internal drive.
Getting it set up as a bootable Windows was tricky; I had to follow a lengthy how-to guide just to get the OS and Boot Camp drivers installed on the SSD. The process took a couple of hours — plus another Windows machine. You cannot use the Boot Camp wizard like you normally would.
But once you clear that hurdle, it’s pretty much plain sailing. You can plug the Pocket SSD into your Mac, start up the machine while holding down the option key, then select your external drive to boot into Windows.
This brings all kinds of advantages. The most important one for me was that I could use Windows — with 120GB of storage — without eating into any of the storage space on my MacBook Air. I could install games, download movies and music (not too many, mind you) and store all my important files locally. Plus, I didn’t need to worry so much about running out of space.
The other advantage is that the Pocket SSD lets you take your Windows drive anywhere, and access its contents at any time. If I wanted to boot Windows on another Mac, it took just a couple of minutes. And if I wanted a file from my Windows drive while working in OS X, I just had to plug it in and find it.
Running Windows from the Pocket SSD was surprisingly snappy. I did a Parkdale speed test between the Pocket SSD and a 1TB Western Digital Blue hard drive I purchased for my Hackintosh, and you might be surprised by the results.
While there wasn’t a great deal of difference between the two in sequential read and write speeds, the Pocket SSD actually ran significantly faster on random read and write speeds. While my WD drive achieved 2.5Mbps and 962.2Kbps respectively, the Pocket SSD achieved a staggering 38.5Mbps and 18.2Mbps.
Having a built-in SSD would certainly be faster, but for many tasks, the Pocket SSD can actually be quicker than a built-in spinning drive.
According to VisionTek, the Pocket SSD can achieve read speeds of up to 455Mbps and write speeds of up to 440Mbps.
Not only is it great for a Windows drive, then, but it’s terrific for adding extra storage to your existing setup. You could use it to store large files like movies and games, and access them much more quickly than you could if they were stored on a traditional hard drive.
When I finally got around to adding a built-in SSD for my Hackintosh, I used the Pocket SSD as an install drive for OS X Yosemite. Installing the entire OS from one SSD to another made the whole process incredibly fast.
The downside to SSDs is the price. The Pocket SSD is available in 120GB and 240GB options, priced at $99.99 and $174.99 respectively. For just $95.99, you could get a Western Digital Elements portable hard drive with 2TB of storage.
There’s no doubt that the Pocket SSD is a terrific portable drive — I wouldn’t be without it now — but whether it’s worth its price tag all depends on what’s most important to you: speed or space.
If you need to transfer large files quickly, get a Pocket SSD. If you need to store your entire iTunes library and only access one song at a time, get a traditional spinning drive, save some cash and never worry about running out of space again.
Killian Bell is a freelance writer based in the U.K. He has an interest in all things tech and also covers Android over at CultofAndroid.com. You can follow him on Twitter via @killianbell.
31 responses to “Put an SSD in your pocket and you’ll sail through Boot Camp”
In your opinion do you think VMware-Fision and Win10 Technical Preview would setup as easy on this SSD as it did on my iMac?
I would prefer to be able to us Win10 Tech preview on a portable drive verse installed on my iMac hard drive.
Thanks
I’m not sure it would be easy, but it should be possible. I haven’t tried Windows 10 yet, I’m afraid, so I can’t say for certain.
I’m using Win 10 Preview with VMWare Fusion on a few machines, but on the iMac Win 10 does not seem to support 2560×1440. It’s fine on my MacBook pro, and the resolution is supported in Windows 8.1 under VMWare Fusion, and it WAS previously supported in earlier versions of Win 10… not sure what happened to the latest.
Can I boot into OSX on this ssd with my Windows PC ?
Yes, I use a Patriot Magnum for my Emergency boot drive
So I can install Win 10 and VMware (Instead of Boot Camp) onto this SSD stick and it will work as its discribed above ?
it should but why VMware instead of bootcamp? Bootcamp will run faster as it’s native to the hardware and not emulated or “virtual”
Not sure I recently was watching a YouTube video from Jeff at iDownload and he said that it was better then Parallels. He was so happy with the ease that I just downloaded it to my iMAC but have yet to install it.
Today I came across this post and well is boot camp easier, better?
Im just learning about this and haven’t invested anything as of yet even though I have Parallel on a USB stick that I purchased 2 years ago when I got my iMAC but never needed to install it since I rather use OS X verse Windows 7.
10 looks interesting from what I’ve been reading so I thought I would give it a shot on my iMAC.
Now if I can have 10 on a stick with VMware / Parallel / BootCamp (make suggestions) then that would be even better..
Thanks
Well, the thing with bootcamp is it takes advantage of all the hardware in terms of speed as if it were an actual Windows laptop (or desktop) wheras VirtualPC, VMfusion and paralells is “emulated” or virtual and you take away from the machines actual hardware to add to the virtual machine…like when you tell it to use X-amount of ram for instance.
Bootcamp turns it INTO a windows machine taking 100% advantage of all hardware as if it were an actual purchased windows machine but you can’t work inside Mac and Windows using bootcamp like you can on vmfusion and the like because it’s not being virtualized so there’s pros and cons to it. If you want speed as if it were an actual Windows machine, use bootcamp. If you need to use Mac OS inside windows, use vmfusion. You can also setup VMfusion and paralells to use the already installed and configured bootcamp partition after it’s setup as well so I’d say go with bootcamp and then setup vmfusion to use bootcamp virtually so you have the best options, run Mac in windows (slower but convenient) AND have the option to take full advantage of all the hardware natively by booting into/from bootcamp for speed. Hope that makes sense lol.
OK So does boot camp also have all the needed drivers like video ect because I read somewhere that when VM is installed all you need to do it install VM tools and that should address the video issues that have been reported at times.
Also with any am I correct that I need to install Boot Camp / Parallels / VMN on the iMAC and Win 10 on the SSD if I go with using a SSD?
Where can I locate Boot Camp for research / download?
THANKS
BootCamp is at Apple’s website, current version is 5.1 (I think) but yes, BootCamp will install drivers for all your hardware in the mac. VM will use the same drivers basically or install it’s own “emulated” drivers.
Also if using SSD it’s going to be fast anyway no matter if VM or bootcamp but bootcamp will still run much faster regardless.
n0m0n: I have not tried Win 10 yet, but I did put the VM file of Windows 8 on a 128G USB 3 flash drive. I’ve done that for years with zero problem, except that I’ll need to sacrifice one USB slot on my machine.
VMWare won’t allow you to choose the VM file location while creating VM, but after you’ve finished installing target OS, you can easily move the VM file from Application Support folder to any place, and add them back to VMWare library.
I choose VMware over Bootcamp cause I’m a cross-platform programmer and I have to share various VMs of various Linux distributions with other PCs. I’ve no idea whether VMWare 7.x supports Win 10 or not, but eventually they will. Maybe you can contact the VMWare support team for compatibility check.
Hello, Can I ask a green question what do you mean by VMs?
Thank you
I mean different Virtual Machines.
We have to deal with different type of embedded systems from time to time, and we need proprietary toolchains provided by embedded system venders. Some of these toolchains are released as bin files which are compiled based on certain distribution (Debian, Ubuntu, CentOS, etc.) There would be lots of efforts if we’re trying to build these toolchains from source. And sometimes these toolchain would even have version conflicts on some components (libraries, etc).
So we have create a set of virtual machines with clean installed system as base, and we duplicate the VM file for clean installing these toolchains. That would be the easiest way to manage these toolchains.
GREAT tip! I actually made a 32GB ssd bootable (Win 7 installer) and also copied my Office, CS6, bootcamp installers to it also so I have a portable bootable complete installer. takes literally about 20 minutes to install Win 7 64-bit and another 10 for the other apps (updates aside)
Ok so when I searched for Boot Camp I found how to’s but no links as to where to find it and download.
Is it a invite only or am I missing it?
Thanks
no, BootCamp is free to download and install on your Mac. just Google “BootCamp” and download the latest one…they will be DRIVERS only…..to install the actual BootCamp on your Mac, open Mac HD, Applications, utilities and in that folder launch BootCamp…..it will ask you to install a UBD thumbdrive it will format and download the current drivers to and will make you have your Windows install disc in the drive (or use slot if you made a bootable windows installer) and it’ll walk you through the process step by stpe prompting you along the way. It WILL create a separate partition that will hold your windows installation but will NOT destroy the Mac side of things, it’ll simply take space form the mac side to make usable for the windows side. There’s several youtube videos I’d recommend watching so you see what will happen and so you can plan ahead before doing it but it’s very simple….NOTE: Once you make a windows partition to install to you can’t resize it (easily or without 3rd party software anyway) so make sure you make the windows partition large enough for what you will use on the windows side or you’ll have to find a way to expand the storage later, again, there is 3rd party utilities that will do this without losing data if done correctly but it’s best to get the space needed from the start.
The version of Windows I have is a downloaded version.
Its the Win 10 Technical Preview.
When you say to have the disc ready what does that mean for me?
I guess i am going to install Win10 on my Macbook Pro since if I mess things up I can afford to reformat it verse my iMAC.
Originally I thought if I install win 10 on a stick like the SSD this post is referring to I would be able to isolate any issues I may have by just unplugging it, but as shared above I will try it on my Macbook Pro I guess.
My Macbook Pro has a 500gb hd installed with 300gb free, what would you recommend in respect to the partition size?
Im not going to be gaming but will install a few MS apps that presently wont run on a MAC.
Thoughts?
Thanks
When I say make a disc I mean burning the windows installer to disk but you have to do it properly so bootcamp sees it as a install able OS….I would recommend burning it on a real windows computer to avoid issues, you don’t just copy the download windows to a dvd and say burn, it has to be bootable so an officially made dvd will be what you need. SEE below and read a couple times so you know the process….I would HIGLY recommend you watch a couple youtube videos on this process….just look for “install windows 8 on bootcamp” and that should get you there..there are many steps to this and you’ll have to do very specific things to get it done correctly but it’s not what I would consider hard, just a lot of steps and I know you’re new to this.
space is up to you. I use only about 80GB for windows since I don’t install much on it afterwards and only want the ability to run Windows but it’s different for everyone. Just make sure to give it enough space to “grow” so you don’t run out. I don’t think BootCamp will install win X directly from the disk and I don’t reccomend it because of the bootcamp drivers. I would (as previously recommended) install win 8 first then insert your windows 10 preview disc afterwards and upgrade to Windows 10 so the drivers will carry over or you WILL have issues. I tried it several times and display and trackpad were not fucntional so run Bootcamp from your mac with the windows 8 disc in the drive (otherwise Bootcamp might not install Windows at all) and then install bootcamp drivers from the usb disc that bootcamp will make for you and then update windows 8 and all drivers using windows update from inside your windows install . This isexactly what I’d do if in your shoes:
1. make/burn dvd of Windows 8 if you don’t have one already and insert in your mac.
2. open Bootcamp installer from Applications/utilities/BootCamp assistant
3. select the option in bootcamp installer to create a boot camp driver usb stick (make sure you have one that can be formatted because bootcamp will format it and prep it for the drivers that will download.
4. Bootcamp will ask how much of your existing harddrive you want to dedicate to the windows install, select maybe 120GB or so but this can be different based on your preferences, you just slide the bar to the left to tell it how much to use.
5. Bootcamp will then start downloading the drivers for the usb stick that is IN the computer (leave it in after formatting it in the bootcamp utility setup process).
6. Bootcamp will start the procedure and your mac should reboot into the windows setup, click throught he motions and process….when you get to the installer select custom and FORMAT the BOOTCAMP partition int he windows shown and ONLY the bootcamp partition. Bootcamp will say at one time it needs to update the usb driver disc, let it do so.
7. once formatted windows install will begin and install onto the bootcamp partition leave the usb driver disc you made in the computer during all steps so the windows installer can find the drive and install the base drivers so the trackpad and lcd etc will work.
8. Setup the windows setup when it’s finished using a usrname and whatnot when it asks you to do so (just like a regular windows install does)
9. once setup and your at the desktop level, open my computer and then open the usb drive (probably D or E) and open the bootcamp folder and run setup (this will install more bootcmap drivers and prompt you to reboot when finished) do so.
10. once back in windows after reboot, run windows update control panel (make sure connected to internet) and download and install everything it will find…this is crucial…there will be updated drivers and security patches etc. will propb take an hour or so, maybe more
11. once Windows 8 or 8.1 is installed THEN you can update it to Windows 10 preview form the disc you made OR the downloaded windows 10 installer….I would just redownload windows 10 preview inside windows 8 and run the setup….
12. Windows 10 preview WILL install over Windows 8/8.1 so you can’t go back to windows 8.1 unless you REALLY know what you’re doing but it’s a LOT of work….
when you want to boot into the mac side of things if in windows, you’ll open the bootcamp control panel and select reboot to MAc OS or you can restart machine and after the startup chime, hold down option until you see both the Mac and Windows partitions and click on the one you want to boot into (Mac or Windows) and it’ll do so.
You DON’T want to install Windows 10 before windows 8, you WILL have problems and probably have to start all over agian because the bootcamp drivers arent updated to fully support windows 10 yet so you want to get windows 8 working perfectly first, then upgrade.
What I want to know is why can’t I get one of these “pocket SSD” drive with a thunderbolt connection rather than USB3. Then it would perform like an internal drive. I remember Intel had a working prototype years ago, but nothing has ever come to market. I’d buy one for sure.
True but it’ll cost a pretty penny for sure. If you have a newer Mac with usb 3.0 and a ssd or usb to sata connector it’ll run very fast in most cases. what I did was bought an internal HD tray that replaces the dvd drive alltogether because I never use it so I can have dual HD in my 13″ MacBook Pro (retina models won’t do this as there is no room and no internal DVD drive on retina models) but I installed an additional SSD to host my windows installation so I have dual boot, dual drives, each one dedicated to the Operating system on it.
I have a Retina MBP, so no go on the dual drives. I did do that a few years back before I switched to the Retina model.
I know there are plenty of people out there like me that aren’t particularly price sensitive when it comes to gear with top performance. If I could get a Thunderbolt 128GB flash drive for $199-$249, I’d buy at least one right now. It would be great to be able to have that internal-like-speed in a small drive for VMs or large video project files. There are tons of different applications and Thunderbolt is getting to be more and more common. It would be great if the big PC manufacturers would include it.
Absolutely!! It’s be as fast as internal PCIe bridge too! I’d certainly buy one and its WEIRD they haven’t manufactured it (or kept up on manu.) sucky…. :-/
You can get a usb-sata connector of course and run an ssd 2.5″ via usb but the bus speed is nowhere near TB either. I have an “all-in-one” 32GB SSD and an Apricorn usb-sata connector that works great out in the field (IT work) when needing to boot from usb but it’s still large compared to a thumbdrive and of course slower because of usb rather than TB. +1
So it’s a flash drive that they decided to call an “SSD”. Oh marketing!
Typically you see that when the I/O speed is really fast. Technically, all flash drives are SSDs, just USB connected ones. Semantics.
Use a UASP USB 3.0 enclosure and a full-size SSD and you’ll get FAR more throughput for the price.
Can this drive be used to share a Windows Boot Camp between 2 mac computers?
Besides being more compact, is there much of a difference between this “thumbdrive” ssd and my external ssd that connects via usb3.0?
I don’t get it running. Win 7 Home Premium ends with Bluescreen after booting from USB SSD. Have tried anything I could but didn’t get it to run. So I have to stick with my local installation. :(
The how-to link uses an external HD though. If you try and follow this guide using a thumb-drive then you encounter all kinds of problems when trying to partition it. Any suggestions?