running lightroom and photoshop from an external hard drive

[defaultag7mmf9ym1xo]

Hey everybody, I have a surface pro 5 with 4GB RAM and only 14GB of free space. I have lightroom installed and just installed photoshop. My computer freezes up and slows down tremendously anytime I open either program. I tried deleting some files and programs from my computer but it's still sluggish.

Is it possible to run these programs from an external drive? If so, what would be the best drive for this? Would I have to uninstall and reinstall onto the hard drive? 

[Nancy OShea · Accepted solution]

[Moderator moved from Using the Community (forums) to Download & Install.]

@defaultag7mmf9ym1xo,

On an external drive, no.   You need a computer with ample resources to run Creative Cloud, plus all other apps.  Without it, you will have a less than optimal user experience.  See links below for details.

- https://helpx.adobe.com/creative-cloud/system-requirements.html
- https://helpx.adobe.com/photoshop/system-requirements.html
- https://helpx.adobe.com/photoshop/kb/photoshop-cc-gpu-card-faq.html

Creative Cloud apps must be downloaded & installed on the primary boot drive to access your operating system's Program Files folder.  But you're welcome to keep the synced Creative Cloud Files folder and other work files on an external drive if you wish.

[Test Screen Name]

You'll not really get anywhere with just 4GB of RAM. That's enough for a moderately comfortable experience with browsing and Microsoft Office, but it's not enough for high-end apps like Photoshop.

[Nancy OShea]

8 GB is the minimum requirement. 

16 GB or more is recommended.

[John Waller]

My computer freezes up and slows down tremendously anytime I open either program.

You'll always encounter those issues trying to run PS/LR on such a below spec Surface Pro 5.

Unfortunately, you'll have to forget about external hard drives for this. You need a more powerful device which meets or exceeds the recommended specs.

The Surface Pro 8 with 16GB RAM would work.