I have Oracle VM on my Windows 10 laptop and installed Kali Linux on it.
But after using the VM several times, Kali Linux crashes and does not launch.
So, I decided to install Kali Linux on an external HDD. What is the performance like, and what problems may I face? And is there another way to use Kali Linux and Windows together?
It's a bit slower than an internal drive.
If you will use an external HDD, expect slower performance but manageable usage for light tasks.
It depends on the read/write speed of the device and whether you're using USB 3.x or USB 2.x. and how your hardware setup looks like.
You can also install and run Kali on a USB stick. A live usb with persistence is also a good alternative if you don’t want to use a VM.
With a USB stick, the read and write speed is important!
The problem is that there are huge differences between USB sticks. If you have a cheap, slow USB stick, it won’t run very well.
An USB 3.2 with 400 MB/s runs very good and stable.
Sometimes it makes sense to completely wipe/erase USB sticks that were in use, delete all partitions, data and then try installing something on them again.
For learning and basic practice, it should be completely sufficient.
For penetration testing or heavy tools, an internal SSD (VM or dual-boot) or a Live USB with persistence is a better choice.
If you are decided to install Kali Linux in a different HDD that's a good idea, this will not interfere your Windows 10 anymore and OS stays stable. But if you want things portable, then i have some better suggestions for you.
Rather than using an External HDD get the internal one, and at least use SSD for a faster load times or to prevent crash or hanging problem. Any cheap SSD with the speed of below 350 MB/s, Size of 128GB will be better than a old HDD.
Well Why External HDD? This may create a problem, plugging it in different system, transferring files here and there may cause your OS to be get corrupted. Better use a separate internal SSD, weather you are using a PC or a Laptop.
Things you may need to set up your safe dual boot. If you are using a Laptop.
Benefit of doing this is now you have a Internal Drive with OS that nobody can interfere or misplace. It is separated from you Windows OS and not even windows user can see the other hard drive data (because linux uses ext4 file system).
So in the means of safety and privacy its fits the best.
How to boot after installation. Go to your Laptop or desktop Bios setting, there set your Windows 10 drive 1st boot device. So if you turn on system it will normally open Windows 10. Now if you want to boot Kali Linux then restart system and this time press boot menu key. In the Boot Menu select Linux drive.
Boot Simple and easy like a cake.
