[Sam]

Does anyone know what I mean? Just wondering how do you setup an external hard drive to behave like the main hard drive, so that you can run programs straight from it, etc without installing it on the minis small ssd, thanks.

[WolfKeeper]

Do you want to install the OS to the drive as well?

[Sam]

No, just want to install and use applications such as ms office, itunes, etc.

[holmes4]

When you install the product, select the "Custom" install - this is usually where you can specify where it should be installed. Just change the drive letter. A couple of cautions. First, some installers won't let you select a removable disk. Second, drive letters can change depending on what other USB devices you have connected, or if you insert a SD card.

[Bobumc]

I do this all the time - I'm running Photoshop CS4 from a 120 GB external drive on my Thinkpad T42 and I run Microsoft Office 2007 from a 2GB SD card on an EEE PC 4g Surf. Never had any problems. As noted, though, be careful how you plug it in so that you always get the same drive letter. When I use Photoshop I make sure the external drive is the only thing plugged into my USB ports.

[Ian Anderson]

I installed every game I have (that would run passably on my Mini) on an external 250gb drive. The only things I install on the SSD are things I want to stay no matter what I have hooked up, like antivirus.

[Bud Pritchard]

Change-the-drive-letter using Disk Management. Then the USB drive or memory card will always use the same drive letter.