Will Parallels run fast enough from a USB 3.0 Thumb drive?

256GB Thumb drives are starting to become VERY inexpensive relative to SSDs. Before purchasing, I'd like to know if anyone has real world feedback on running parallels from a USB 3.0 Thumb Drive.

 

Not such a great idea. SSD R/RW speeds are in the mid 500MB/s, while even the fastest USB 3 flash drives are between 1 and 200 MB/s . Not to mention speed lost due to using the USB bus vs the SATA bus.

Edit: The USB 3 drive I used for comparison was over $200, which is the same price as a 256GB 840Pro SSD. What USB drives were you looking at?

 

This 256GB Pny USB 3.0 Thumb drive is like $97 after rebate and instant discount code : http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820178725

Think it would be faster or slower than a Sandisk 128GB MicroSD?

Right now i'm using a SSD that works great...i'm really just trying to find something more portable.

 

That 256 PNY is decent by USB standards with 185/135 MB/s.

Do NOT go to MicroSD. Even the Class 10 Micro SD/s are 10MB/s

So.. you're talking about a quarter of the speed with the Flash Drive, and 1/50th of the speed with the Micro SD.

Both are poor options for running a virtualized operating system.