Running software off USB bad idea?

[orangecat]

So my USB drive is fairly fast but it seems like it can only do 1 thing at a time and everything else needs to wait. I run Foobar 2000 off my USB drive so I can keep a portable version setup the way I want anywhere I want to take it but when I close it it takes a really long time to close. Are USB drives bad for running software directly off them or is something else slowing down Foobar.

[KayTees]

So my USB drive is fairly fast but it seems like it can only do 1 thing at a time and everything else needs to wait. I run Foobar 2000 off my USB drive so I can keep a portable version setup the way I want anywhere I want to take it but when I close it it takes a really long time to close. Are USB drives bad for running software directly off them or is something else slowing down Foobar.

This is actually the first time I've heard of running programs off a USB. I'm even skeptical on running programs from external drives.

[orangecat]

This is actually the first time I've heard of running programs off a USB. I'm even skeptical on running programs from external drives.

Any reason why?

[KayTees]

Any reason why?

I just think of USBs and External drives as things where I would store files.

[AnnoyedShelf]

This is actually the first time I've heard of running programs off a USB. I'm even skeptical on running programs from external drives.

You've never used the PortableApps.com Platform?  It's so damn useful when you're on a computer that isn't yours.

[Malandrix]

It can be useful for when you want to run programs on multiple devices. So sure, go ahead and do it.

[Mighty_Miro_WD]

Hi there @Kilobytez95!

 

Basically you can run software from an external drive, but I wouldn't recommend to do so because of a few possible complications.

 

First, it's essential to make sure that all programs installed on the external drive are shut down before attempting to remove the drive because if a program on your removable drive is running, "safely remove" may fail. 

 

Second, if the drive is not installed when you boot your system, you may get error messages on start up if a prior installation of software onto that drive also added startup items. Without the drive installed, those startup items may not be found, and errors may result. Menu items and shortcuts relating to the software installed on the external drive may also revert to Windows defaults until some time after the drive is reinstalled.

 

And lastly, don't expect application portability by installing it to an external drive. By that I mean that installing an application to an external drive, and then taking that drive to a different computer and expecting the application to work on that machine. This may work for simpler applications, but setting up a complex application is as much about setting up the Windows registry as it is about just placing files. The registry will have only been set up on the first machine. Theoretically it might be possible to set up the software on machine A, then set it up again on machine B if the drive letters are identical, but I'd expect that to be highly error prone. It's also quite possibly against many applications licenses or terms of use since you're technically installing it on two machines. 

 

Hope this helps.

 

Cheers!