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I've Win7 on my Sony Vaio laptop (VPCF11PFX/H), which is very slow even if I've just one application open and lot of bloatware. I'm planning to upgrade to Win10 soon, but was wondering if it would be beneficial to add SSD to it (5yrs old).

  1. If I want Win10 to be booted through SSD, would an external SSD work? I read apps can't be installed on external drives.
  2. If I use external SSD, would I be using the speed it offers - specs say my laptop has [USB Port(s): 2 (USB) 2.0, 1 (eSATA)].
  3. Can I have both existing HDD and internal SSD operational together(if external isn't worth).
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    You are going to get terrible performance over USB. It will be slower then what you have now. You shouldn't even be considering an external storage device solution for that reason.
    – Ramhound
    Commented Sep 1, 2015 at 11:53

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For #1 and #2, you should connect your SSD using eSATA. It has the highest bandwidth.

For #3, yes. If you install Windows on the internal SSD, you can definitely use an external HDD (just like any normal external hard drive). But if you are asking about using them together as RAID, you might be able to use Intel Rapid Storage to create a JBOD of the SSD and the HDD (RAID-0, RAID-1 won't be beneficial since the capacity and speed are too different on them). It also depends on if Sony enables this feature in the BIOS though.

Also you CAN install apps on an external drive (or even a SD card) on Windows 10 (http://answers.microsoft.com/en-us/insider/wiki/insider_apps-insider_other/basics-using-apps-in-window-10/04957790-31a0-4922-ae89-3a3e56450a5b, Choosing where Universal Windows Apps are installed). Although it probably wouldn't bring that much performance benefit than installing Windows itself on a SSD.

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    It wouldn't be recommended to run your Operating System on an external drive, solely because if the connection breaks; either through accidental cable disconnection between the HDD & Laptop, or the port completely fails - you could corrupt your operating system. If you run the OS from your internal HDD, or place your SSD inside your machine - that would be better & then have your data stored on an external drive.
    – James
    Commented Sep 1, 2015 at 11:16
  • Thank you Jim & James. Should I first upgrade to (Internal) SSD and then update to Win10 or the otherway so that my license doesn't get invalid?
    – Shiva
    Commented Sep 1, 2015 at 11:50
  • This article should come in handy: arstechnica.com/gadgets/2015/07/…
    – Jim
    Commented Sep 1, 2015 at 12:27

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