Running Applications from a Portable Device

[Sturmfrau]

There exists portable versions of popular applications like adobe products. But what I'd like to know is are there any major differences between running something from a portable device like a flash drive, external hard drive, or an external SSD plugged in at a USB 2.0, USB 3.0, as well as Thunderbolt versus the internally installed applications.

As a developer I find it annoying to set up the stuff I use every time I get on a new pc/laptop or my pc/laptop gets reformatted (this probably happened 4 times in the last 5 months, why it needs reformatting, I honestly don't know but the administrator in our company told me that it's got something to do with McAfee being a *****). I'm an android developer who's based in the philippines so it's kind of annoying to download I think 7GB+ of android sdk again and again even with the company's "fast" internet connection.

So my idea is this, if it's feasible (can run applications like mysql, eclipse, vim, and emulators without any big downsides such as running significantly slower than internally installed applications as well as be read by windows, mac, and linux), would it be ideal to have the applications run from the portable device instead of installing it internally. As well as if it's feasible, would it be possible to make a controller that has an internal usb port built in it with a plugged in flash drive (that corsair 2TB would be nice) or SSD meaning there'd be a flashdrive/ssd inside the keyboard.

[heedpantsnow]

Feasible, yes. But some apps will load slower or menus will hang a bit for example. Other apps won't like it and crash. You can accomplish some of that with sym links but you can't really force an app to not write to the registry...so while you install it to the thumb drive and run it off of it when you plug that into a freshly formatted machine it won't run right.

[heedpantsnow]

You can get creative with your imaging and do a really nice one that doesn't set you back so far each time. I did that for a while.

Or you can make excuses and string IT along endlessly until they give up and leave you alone about it.

[Sturmfrau]

Feasible, yes. But some apps will load slower or menus will hang a bit for example. Other apps won't like it and crash. You can accomplish some of that with sym links but you can't really force an app to not write to the registry...so while you install it to the thumb drive and run it off of it when you plug that into a freshly formatted machine it won't run right.

Any notable applications that didn't run right or everything just doesn't run right?

[user 18]

AFAIK, Eclipse actually supports installs specifically for USB media. I don't know how exactly it deals with the registry though. Can't speak to the other specific applications. With some apps I've run into (Adobe CS, for example), the installation requires putting some data onto the boot drive, which I haven't figured out a way around.

I second having a fully working image to just completely restore, and keeping as much downloaded as possible so there's no need to redownload.

[rowdy]

http://portableapps.com/

There's quite a few!

Basically they just store their settings on the USB stick (or whatever) instead of in the registry or some pre-defined path on the hard drive.

[user 18]

I remember playing around with the portableapps stuff about five years ago -- mostly to use something other than IE on school computers.

It was quite slow, but maybe it's improved in the years since.

E: Quite possibly running over thunderbolt or USB 3.0 could give a boost to speed.

[IvanIvanovich]

Thunderbolt or esata would have no performance penalty using ssd/hdd in portable enclusre it's the same as an internal disk. USB3 mostly has no major performance penalty with ssd/hdd... there are some sticks like the mushkin ventura also that are just as good as many ssd. Anything on USB2 will suck, especially for writes. As far as software running properly, it will depend on the software. Some it is possible to set up in 'portable' mode or semi portable mode where it will still touch the registry, %appdata% and possibly other locations of any machines it's used on. Other software... not so much.

[Sturmfrau]

Thunderbolt or esata would have no performance penalty using ssd/hdd in portable enclusre it's the same as an internal disk. USB3 mostly has no major performance penalty with ssd/hdd... there are some sticks like the mushkin ventura also that are just as good as many ssd. Anything on USB2 will suck, especially for writes. As far as software running properly, it will depend on the software. Some it is possible to set up in 'portable' mode or semi portable mode where it will still touch the registry, %appdata% and possibly other locations of any machines it's used on. Other software... not so much.

Very informative thanks! XD Now for the second part, would it be possible to stick in a SSD or a USB 3.0 flash drive inside a keyboard?

[heedpantsnow]

Thunderbolt or esata would have no performance penalty using ssd/hdd in portable enclusre it's the same as an internal disk. USB3 mostly has no major performance penalty with ssd/hdd... there are some sticks like the mushkin ventura also that are just as good as many ssd. Anything on USB2 will suck, especially for writes. As far as software running properly, it will depend on the software. Some it is possible to set up in 'portable' mode or semi portable mode where it will still touch the registry, %appdata% and possibly other locations of any machines it's used on. Other software... not so much.

Very informative thanks! XD Now for the second part, would it be possible to stick in a SSD or a USB 3.0 flash drive inside a keyboard?

What keyboard?  You might need to put in a hub pcb as well. There needs to be physical space and you might need to do a bit of soldering.

[IvanIvanovich]

You would definitely need to have a usb3 hub of some sort... cramming stuff inside should be possible with almost any keyboard, though some will be harder than others in the work involved and perhaps expense if you need to get more specific things like 1.8" thin (the non enclosed type) or other tiny model like stec mach16 ssd, or usb3 board with an msata ssd so it will fit. Most things you can manage to de-case without complete destruction on the usb hub and flash drive front too... then you could hard solder the things together if space is ultra tight. I'm highly certain I could cram one of the above in even a 60% if I were motivated.

[MOZ]

I've been using portable applications instead of installed applications for a long while now. I prefer to use a portable (legit) version of an application if it exists rather than an installed version. There are multiple reasons for this. One, I don't want to clutter up the registry, be it myth or fact, but I've noticed the more the registry builds up, the slower the system becomes. Two, my portable apps are on my dropbox synced folder, so when I'm using different machines at home or my synced devices, I know the configurations will be the same. Third;y, being on dropbox means, I can often just pull my applications from the cloud if I am elsewhere. Fourth, with portable apps I don't have to worry about installs in restricted environments like my office, and can run the application directly.

Different portable applications work differently, some are portable natively and will store their settings either in the registry/system or in its own folder in an XML/INI?CFG or something of the sort, you can choose the portable mode during install. These generally run the same installed or portable. Some are made portable by providing a virtual %appdata% folder and will usually be equivalently fast to an installed app. Some use launchers, where the launcher takes a snapshot of registry, then using some magic and virtual folders start your app and see the registry changes made, and then on exiting the application remove those changes. These apps will generally be slower.

Things like shell integration will obviously not be possible with most portable apps, so if your app is one that might have explorer integration, then that particular feature might not be available in portable mode.

I do not recommend using custom made portable applications, because of piracy and pure execution. These often just crash on me.

These sites are legit:
http://www.portablefreeware.com/
http://portableapps.com/
http://www.winpenpack.com/en/news.php
http://www.liberkey.com/en.html

[IvanIvanovich]

Other thing to consider... just use Windows to go, or some some version of live linux in persistence mode.

[Coreda]

These sites are legit: http://www.portablefreeware.com/

Portable Freeware is the best source for portable apps, and has the most comprehensive collection of any site, I stay away from others.

[MOZ]

These sites are legit: http://www.portablefreeware.com/

Portable Freeware is the best source for portable apps, and has the most comprehensive collection of any site, I stay away from others.

That's why it''s the first one on the list. Almost all if not all the apps on their site fall under the first category of apps, ie those apps that have a portable mode, whereby there is nothing stored in system or emulated, thus zero performance difference.

[Sturmfrau]

Thunderbolt or esata would have no performance penalty using ssd/hdd in portable enclusre it's the same as an internal disk. USB3 mostly has no major performance penalty with ssd/hdd... there are some sticks like the mushkin ventura also that are just as good as many ssd. Anything on USB2 will suck, especially for writes. As far as software running properly, it will depend on the software. Some it is possible to set up in 'portable' mode or semi portable mode where it will still touch the registry, %appdata% and possibly other locations of any machines it's used on. Other software... not so much.

Very informative thanks! XD Now for the second part, would it be possible to stick in a SSD or a USB 3.0 flash drive inside a keyboard?

What keyboard?  You might need to put in a hub pcb as well. There needs to be physical space and you might need to do a bit of soldering.

Well at the moment I only have an HHKB. But hopefully I'll make my own 60% board. Would want to try it out first with flash drive then try with a SSD. I'm also planning to get a hasu controller for my hhkb so I'll have to do some research to see if it's compatible (I'm not that good with hardware >.<)

I've been using portable applications instead of installed applications for a long while now. I prefer to use a portable (legit) version of an application if it exists rather than an installed version. There are multiple reasons for this. One, I don't want to clutter up the registry, be it myth or fact, but I've noticed the more the registry builds up, the slower the system becomes. Two, my portable apps are on my dropbox synced folder, so when I'm using different machines at home or my synced devices, I know the configurations will be the same. Third;y, being on dropbox means, I can often just pull my applications from the cloud if I am elsewhere. Fourth, with portable apps I don't have to worry about installs in restricted environments like my office, and can run the application directly.

Different portable applications work differently, some are portable natively and will store their settings either in the registry/system or in its own folder in an XML/INI?CFG or something of the sort, you can choose the portable mode during install. These generally run the same installed or portable. Some are made portable by providing a virtual %appdata% folder and will usually be equivalently fast to an installed app. Some use launchers, where the launcher takes a snapshot of registry, then using some magic and virtual folders start your app and see the registry changes made, and then on exiting the application remove those changes. These apps will generally be slower.

Things like shell integration will obviously not be possible with most portable apps, so if your app is one that might have explorer integration, then that particular feature might not be available in portable mode.

I do not recommend using custom made portable applications, because of piracy and pure execution. These often just crash on me.

These sites are legit:
http://www.portablefreeware.com/
http://portableapps.com/
http://www.winpenpack.com/en/news.php
http://www.liberkey.com/en.html

Liking the idea of having stuff in the cloud but yeah, the internet in our country is probably the slowest in the world so that's not a feasible thing to do in my case. Wanted to cram a usb/ssd inside my board since it's very portable, light and I pretty much have a hard time now using normal layout boards so this will probably be brought always.

Other thing to consider... just use Windows to go, or some some version of live linux in persistence mode.

What are those? first time hearing about those.

[MOZ]

Basically carry your whole OS setup with you.