Can I boot an internal hard drive through USB?

I have an old 2008 Mac Pro running Snow Leopard 10.6.8 that just quit on me. When I boot up, I get to the apple logo and then the screen turns white and stays that way until I power off my machine. I have a few hard drives with operating systems installed and a boot partition. When I hold option on start up, I'm able to pick a hard drive to boot from, but I get the same problem. This leads me to believe that the issue lies with my computer, not the disks.
I've also tried booting in safe mode and get the same problem.
So I'm looking at purchasing one of these bad boys:
http://www.amazon.com/dp/B0099TX7O4/ref=wl_it_dp_o_pd_nS_ttl?_encoding=UTF8&coli d=169XE2BWHBJ2P&coliid=I1JKOUV0BWEUFR
So here's my question:
I have an early 2013 Macbook Pro running Yosemite 10.10 that I want to use to boot my Mac Pro internal hard drives from. Is it possible to do so? I figure I can access it through pressing the option key during start up.
Thanks!
Jon

I'm sorry, but that won't work because your MP only has Firewire ports and no Thunderbolt ports while your new MBP has Thunderbolt ports but no Firewire ports. Therefore, you cannot connect the two together except using Ethernet or Wi-Fi from which neither can be booted. If you use the device from Amazon, then you need to remove one of the drives to insert in it. Then you could boot from it provided the drive is actually bootable in the other machine. Snow Leopard is not capable of booting a 2013 MBP.

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how can i get an internal hard drive cable replacement?

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Thank you for your attention!
This question was solved.
View Solution.

What is the installed operating system?
Did you make a recovery disk set?
Did you happen to make a Windows 8.1 startup disk or USB recovery thumbdrive?
Have you tested the hard disk?
Press the power button and then immediately tap the Esc key. In the Startup menu, choose F2 for Diagnostics. In the HP Basic System Diagnostics menu choose hard disk. Run the test and post the results here.
The issue you are facing has nothing to do with the SATA ports. It is a configuration issue. Your PC is a modern one and its BIOS (UEFI) is far more advanced than what you may have seen before.
If you want to install a different operating system then you will have to make a few changes in the BIOS configuration. Secure Boot is turned on by default for Windows 8 and Windows 8.1. If you try installing a different OS without turning this off then your system won't boot up. You may be running into this if you are trying to install another operating system.
The image below is what will be seen in the BIOS of your PC in the security tab --> . In the secure boot configuration options do not clear the secure boot keys! Those keys are your operating system license activation keys.
****Please click on Accept As Solution if a suggestion solves your problem. It helps others facing the same problem to find a solution easily****
2015 Microsoft MVP - Windows Experience Consumer

Snow leopard installation disc won't boot. Can I reset computer to boot from internal hard drive at startup?

I recently installed snow leopard on my macbook (mid 2006). I used system preferences to set the snow leopard boot disc as the install disc, and now my computer won't boot. It stalls at the apple icon with the grey screen. Is there any way I can set my computer to reboot from my internal hard drive at startup without having access to system prefernces (a keyboard code or something)?

Thank you so much for responding. I actually just pushed the trackpad button at startup. It ejected the install disc and automatically booted from the internal. I am sure your method would have worked as well. Thanks again!

Can't boot up - damaged hard drive?

I've put all info here so hope it helps - 3 questions at bottom.
My system:
iMac G4 800MHz 80GB HD can't remember how much RAM but I think I'd put the max possible in it.
Mac os: 10.4.11
partitioned for 0SX and classic 9.9.2 (approx split 90%/10%)
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I tried normal and safe boots and then reset the PRAM. Then it chimed on startup but wouldn't startup.
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Now either using disk utility or system software install, they do not recognise the disk.
When trying safe, single user and verbose boots, after about (est) 2-3 mins I get after about half a screen of text ending with:
diskOs10: I/O error.
Invalid key length
(4, 16111) -which I assume is the problem location on the disk
** volume check failed
syncing disks... Killing all processes
continuing
done
CPU halted -then the computer turns off.
As I haven't opened the computer up at all, I was hoping that it was a software problem that could ulimately be resolved by reformatting and reinstalling system software but with all the forced shutdowns and restarts (including having to restart with mouse key held down to remove/change installer disks) I fear the worst and think the hard drive is terminal or an outside chance that the superdrive is somehow at fault.
All of the above has happened in the last 24 hours.
I would like to try to at least copy off my email messages (100's) before giving up and replacing the internal hard drive.
Three questions:
1. Is there anything else I can do to try to reinstall system software?
2. I also have a MacBook (OSX 10.5.7) and a couple of LaCie 250GB firewire drives - is there any way I can hook these up or boot from the the MacBook or its DVD drive to see what's on the iMac G4 in it's current state?
3. Is replacing the hard drive straightforward or should it be done by a pro? (back in the day I often switched and replaced internal hard drives in old beige macs 6100's and as recently as tower G3's/G4's but I haven't looked inside a iMac other than to add RAM.)
Please help!!

Success! - this was my solution - it may help someone else avoid the three weeks of trial and error that I've been through.
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I reinstalled OSX 10.3.4 and updated to OSX 10.4.11 to get back to where I'd started. I then tried using Carbon Copy Cloner to clone the disk images onto the new partitions but it kept crashing after a few hours. I also tried cloning to another IDE drive in another G3 (running 10.3.9) which also crashed. This left me thinking that the original problem had been that the hard drive was somehow in a knot and the 'knot' was still contained in the dmg file.
When I reinstalled OSX 10.3.4, I couldn't avoid using the setup assistant but as I didn't know a lot of the settings (I guess there are ways of getting this info from the dmg file but I didn't know how to and also, I wasn't sure if using OSX 10.4.11 settings in OSX 10.3.4 would cause more problems) I just entered basic details, restarted and updated to OSX 10.4.11. I then ran Software Update which updated a number of items.
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I've already made new disk images!

How can I replace my internal hard drive on my Macbook?

I have a 13 inch aluminum late 2008 MacBook. The processor is 2 GHz Intel Core 2 Duo, Memory 4 GB 1067 MHz DDR3 running OS X Lion 10.7.4. The hard drive is currently set up as follows:
Macintosh HD 132.5 GB (with only 1.32 GB free)
BOOTCAMP 26.69 GB (with 6.15 GB free)
I am unsure if this matters but here is the info just in case:
On my Macintosh HD I have:
Audio 3.04 GB
Movies 33.11 GB
Photos 36.98 GB
Apps 15.27 GB
Backups Zero GB
Other 42.78 GB
I only use 1 software program on my Bootcamp (which I hardly use but must keep to run an electric vinyl cutting machine). I have thought of re-partitioning the drive. But then I got thinking that maybe the drive is just too small and it's no use.
I also have an older Lacie 300 GB external hard drive that I use to keep all of my iTunes Library, most of my iPhoto library and most of my data. I have another older Lacie 300 GB external hard drive that I use exclusively for my Time Machine back ups.
I also have a Western Digital 2 TB external hard drive that I use to put all of my movies on so that I can play them on any of my computers or plug into my Play Station 3 and play them on any of my TV's.
I have considered just getting another Western Digital 2 TB external hard drive to use for virtually all of the files/pictures/movies/music etc. on this internal hard drive.
Right now I am unsure what the best move is to make. I spent 30 minutes on the phone with Apple Tech Support today trying to buy an internal hard drive to install myself. They were not very helpful (in fact he told me I would have to ship in my machine just to replace the battery which is NOT true). Is there anyone out there who can give me some advice on this situation? Any help or suggestion would be appreciated.
Thank you in advance.

For a new hard drive try Newegg.com http://www.newegg.com/Store/SubCategory.aspx?SubCategory=380&name=Laptop-Hard-Dr ives&Order=PRICE
Or OWC http://eshop.macsales.com/shop/hard-drives/2.5-Notebook/
Here are video instructions on replacing the hard drive on the Aluminum Unibody http://eshop.macsales.com/installvideos/macbook_13_unibody/
To transfer your current hard drive I like the free application Carbon Copy Cloner. It makes a bootable copy of everything on your hard drive http://www.bombich.com/index.html You'll need a cheap SATA external hard drive case. Put the new drive in the case then format and partition the new drive and clone your old drive to the new one. Check that it's set up right by booting up from the external drive. Then replace your old hard drive with the new one and put your old one in the external case.
Here's a cheap SATA external hard drive case on Amazon. http://www.amazon.com/Drive-Aluminum-External-Enclosure-Capacity/dp/B000XPS3U6/r ef=pd_cp_pc_3
If you don’t have the tools to open up the MacBook OWC has a set for $5
http://eshop.macsales.com/item/OWC/TOOLKITMHD/

Can I replace the internal hard drive if my old one died?

I guess the questions should be should I replace it? My iMac's (early 2006 model) internal hard drive is totally dead, but I think if I install a new internal hard drive it will work again. If I get it up and running, I will use it in my classroom. Would this work? Can I put Tiger on an external hard drive and run the machine from there? (I am thinking the answer is no to the last question but thought I would ask. LOL!) I have already upgraded the RAM to 1 gigabyte (easy to do).

jolly....
I had mine open last week and removed the faulty hd (160GB) and put it in a USB drive adapter. I was able to see it on a linux machine so I put it back in my iMac and it worked just fine for about a week. I was able to make a bootable copy on a 160GB usb drive and save all my data. Good thing too since it just died again (clicking a whirring sounds).
Any way... to answer your question. I recall that once you get to see the drive there is a clip and catch type connection where the drive and a metal plate come out as a single unit. It has 2 pins that fit into holes toward the bottom of the case and the catch is on the top. Once you pop the catch you can take the drive out with the plate. The pins screw out of the mounting holes on the drive and so does the metal plate.
Hope this helps. I'll take some pictures of mine when I take it apart again since I have to get a new drive soon myself.

Won't Boot from Internal Hard Drive

I received the "Startup Disk is Full" message and neglected to do anything about it before my Mac stopped booting. To remedy this, I installed and booted from Snow Leopard (10.6) on an external hard drive, found what was eating my space on my internal hard drive (currently Mac OS 10.5.8) and freed up about 35 GB of space.
I then went to my System Preferences to change the default Startup Disk back to the internal drive. It's not booting past the gray screen.
Any ideas on how to fix this? Do I now need to update my internal hard drive to Snow Leopard? If so, will this erase anything on my internal drive?

Hmm.
Do you have your external drive connected?
Try booting with the ALT key held down. Is your internal drive an option here? Choose it, then give the computer 5~10 minutes to boot.
If that doesn't work, try holding the Shift key and starting up in Safe Mode, which will take 5~10 minutes.
Do you have your OS X install discs for 10.5?
~Lyssa

Pavilion g6 internal hard drive not working , Can I use WD internal hard drive ?

I have pavilion g6 series laptop . I don't know RPM .
HP internal hard drive is looking very costly.
Can you tell me whether I can use WD internal hard drive or not . If yes then How much RPM hard drive I need to buy?

Hi,
We won't concern about RPM, faster (more rpm) is better. The HDD's are much, much, much, much cheaper now. They were more expensive during a flood in Thailand few yours back. Yes, you can use WD HDD for your computer. You can pick one from the following list:
http://www.newegg.com/Laptop-Hard-Drives/SubCategory/ID-380
My suggestion:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822136835
or this:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822178340
Regards.
BH
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My MacBook Pro can not find my internal hard drive.

My computer does come on. And I have a MacBook Air 2009. Just some history, my computer froze on me one day. So I restart it and a screen with a folder and question mark showed up. So I called apple and got some trouble shooting done. Nothing worked. So they ended up sending me another installer disk. And that did not work. Could not find my internal hard drive. So I took it to a apple store and the guy who looked at it told me that it was water damaged and would cost $700 to fix. So I pushed it to the side for year and decided to take a further look into it recently. And found some information where people had the same issue and was advices their hard drive could be dead. So I'm thinking about getting a 2nd opinion and taking it some where else. I'm just wondering could I really just replace my hard drive and be fine with my computer? If its really water damaged wouldn't it not work? Does replacing the hard drive cost a lot to do?

Its extremely unlikely your HD is water damaged, everything on your internals in your macbook Pro would FRY long before water seeped its way into your HD,....the HD circuitry on the outside of the HD however is another story.
If your computer IS in fact water damaged, then yes, replacing the hard drive wouldnt fix anything.
Replacing the HD yourself , IF your HD is dead and at fault, can be done by yourself easily and cost around $65.
In any regard, on a 2009 computer....., 700$ could buy you a nice MUCH NEWER and faster like new refurbished MAC,........as such it would be best not to consider such an option.

Can I upgrade my internal hard drive?

I have a MacBook Pro 13-inch late 2011 and I would like to upgrade my hard drive on it. I think this hard drive works becuase it is 2.5 inches, but I just wanted to make sure that it would work. So, could you verify that this hard drive works, that'd be great.
Internal Hard Drive (Link):
http://www.amazon.com/HGST-Travelstar-2-5-Inch-7200RPM-Internal/dp/B0097LG9U8/re f=sr_1_2?s=electronics&ie=UTF8&qid=1364584917&sr=1-2&keywords=1+tb+internal+hard +drive+2.5

Yeah - That works - good brand too.

Can I boot an internal hard drive through USB?

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