how do i use a Windows 10 HDD from laptop to boot up on a mac?

[SuperSpowart]

I have an old acer laptop which doesn't meet the specs i need so i thought about using the hdd from it to boot on a mac by using a usb to sata adapter and it almost bricked my mac but is there any way to do this without opening my mac mini from 2012 and to be able to boot from that hdd.

[Electronics Wizardy]

What do you want to do?

 

Your not booting the macs drive on  your acer laptop.

[SuperSpowart]

3 minutes ago, Electronics Wizardy said:

What do you want to do?

 

Your not booting the macs drive on  your acer laptop.

i want to use the hdd from an acer laptop to boot windows 8 on my mac by using the hdd out of it and plugging into a usb to sata adapter to boot it via my mac over usb or over ethernet. i could add a picture if needed to show what i mean but to get that image i would need to remove the hdd from the laptop again

[Electronics Wizardy]

Just now, SuperSpowart said:

i want to use the hdd from an acer laptop to boot windows 8 on my mac by using the hdd out of it and plugging into a usb to sata adapter to boot it via my mac over usb.

windows doesn't like to boot from a usb drive.

 

Just partition your mac drive and install windows there.

 

Also don't use windows 8, its not supported. Run 8.1 

[SuperSpowart]

1 minute ago, Electronics Wizardy said:

windows doesn't like to boot from a usb drive.

 

Just partition your mac drive and install windows there.

 

Also don't use windows 8, its not supported. Run 8.1 

i believe it is already running 8.1 but i dont have any installation media at all or the tools to open up my mac to put the hdd in it

[Electronics Wizardy]

1 minute ago, SuperSpowart said:

i believe it is already running 8.1 but i dont have any installation media at all or the tools to open up my mac to put the hdd in it

so what is your goal? If you want windows on your mac run it in a vm or make a partition. If you want the files from your laptop just put it in a usb to sata enclosure and copy the files over.

[SuperSpowart]

1 minute ago, Electronics Wizardy said:

so what is your goal? If you want windows on your mac run it in a vm or make a partition. If you want the files from your laptop just put it in a usb to sata enclosure and copy the files over.

to use a partition because virtualbox makes it impossible to run anything else on my system and it also makes the software i am trying to run on windows go slow, the software i am trying to run is some games like portal 2 and minecraft

[Electronics Wizardy]

1 minute ago, SuperSpowart said:

to use a partition because virtualbox makes it impossible to run anything else on my system and it also makes the software i am trying to run on windows go slow, the software i am trying to run is some games like portal 2 and minecraft

why can't you just run those games in osx?

 

Just go download windows 10 and put that in a partition. I don't see why you need the hdd from your laptop at all. 

[TrueMegaManiac]

2 minutes ago, SuperSpowart said:

to use a partition because virtualbox makes it impossible to run anything else on my system and it also makes the software i am trying to run on windows go slow, the software i am trying to run is some games like portal 2 and minecraft

Both of those games have Mac ports.

[SuperSpowart]

3 minutes ago, Electronics Wizardy said:

why can't you just run those games in osx?

 

Just go download windows 10 and put that in a partition. I don't see why you need the hdd from your laptop at all. 

i am trying to run the windows 10 edition of minecraft but also other software like razer audio visualizer for my keyboard mouse and mousepad, if you are able to would you be able to provide a URL for a step by step installation guide of windows 10 on mac that would be great.

but also i cannot currently afford windows 10 so i have been looking for a cheaper option that is free

[Electronics Wizardy]

Just now, SuperSpowart said:

i am trying to run the windows 10 edition of minecraft but also other software like razer audio visualizer for my keyboard mouse and mousepad, if you are able to would you be able to provide a URL for a step by step installation guide of windows 10 on mac that would be great

Look at apple for bootcamp instructions. You can download windows 10 here https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/software-download/windows10

 

https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT204990

[SuperSpowart]

6 minutes ago, Electronics Wizardy said:

Look at apple for bootcamp instructions. You can download windows 10 here https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/software-download/windows10

 

https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT204990

will using this to install windows require any product keys after or during installation and do i use the one that is for my acer

[Electronics Wizardy]

2 minutes ago, SuperSpowart said:

will using this to install windows require any product keys after or during installation and do i use the one that is for my acer

yes you need a product key for windows 10(you can run it without a key but you get a watermark and can't change desktop picture). Can't reuse the key from the laptop. 

[SuperSpowart]

3 minutes ago, Electronics Wizardy said:

yes you need a product key for windows 10(you can run it without a key but you get a watermark and can't change desktop picture). Can't reuse the key from the laptop. 

will that watermark appear in full screen software like portal 2, i have never really experienced this on windows myself at all when i have used it

[Electronics Wizardy]

1 minute ago, SuperSpowart said:

will that watermark appear in full screen software like portal 2, i have never really experienced this on windows myself at all when i have used it

yep, it will appear all the time unless you buy a key.

[SuperSpowart]

Just now, Electronics Wizardy said:

yep, it will appear all the time unless you buy a key.

thanks for letting me know that, ill probably run stuff in windowed to avoid it getting in my way, ill let you know if all goes well later on

[SuperSpowart]

15 hours ago, Electronics Wizardy said:

yep, it will appear all the time unless you buy a key.

Thanks for your amazing help and all has went well! Alough so far no watermark has popped up but once it does I have my ways of getting around it without removing the watermark or getting a product key.