Joe, yes, you can run the program completely from the external drive.

Since you have a laptop, there is a good chance the external drive is a faster RPM speed than your internal drive.

There is another solution I use. I kept the program on the boot drive, but moved the RealTracks and RealDrums onto another drive and told the program where to find them in Opt., Preferences, RealTracks and Opt., Preferences, RealDrums. The RealTracks and RealDrums are comparatively much larger than the rest of the files for the program.

About upgrading, keep in mind that the RealTracks in version 2011 take up only about 1/3 the space that the older versions did. That alone might give you the space you need on your laptop, if it's reasonably fast enough to run 2011.


BIAB 2025 Win Audiophile. Software: Studio One 7 Pro, Swam horns, Acoustica-7, Notion 6, Song Master Pro, Win 11 Home. Hardware: Intel i9, 32 Gb; Roland Integra-7, Presonus 192 & Faderport 8, Royer 121, Adam Sub8 & Neumann 120 monitors.