Installing OSX on FW Drive?

Hello all.
I am new to these forums and have had my iMac for about a year now.
I read something somewhere about installing Mac OSX on external FW drives. Is this difficult or even possible?
I use VoiceOver and also wonder if the install will talk. I have heard that it will, but I don't quite believe it. I've never booted from a CD with a Mac so don't even know how to get started.
Any links to howto's would be cool if explaining it all has been done already.
Thanks and I look forward to hanging around here as most of you seem more helpful than people on most support forums.

As an alternative, I use SuperDuper! to make a complete bootable clone of my hard drive on an external drive. You end up with a bootable backup, including all the functionality of you main drive. There is a free version and a paid version that allows you to schedule periodic updates. You can also select another drive to boot from (including a DVD) by holding down "option" when you start the mac.

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    Glad we could be of service.
    Why reward points?(Quoted from Discussions Terms of Use.)
    The reward system helps to increase community participation. When a community member gives you (or another member) a reward for providing helpful advice or a solution to their question, your accumulated points will increase your status level within the community.
    Members may reward you with 5 points if they deem that your reply is helpful and 10 points if you post a solution to their issue. Likewise, when you mark a reply as Helpful or Solved in your own created topic, you will be awarding the respondent with the same point values.

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    If this answered your question please consider granting some stars: Why reward points?

  • Can't install OSX on external drive...

    Hi ----------------------------
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  • How can i install OSX on a drive with having the dvd or an OS on it

    am new to Apple,
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    Need more information.
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    Back to the drawing board with my older post (see title). I re-formatted the HDD on another PRO and installed a fresh version of OSX on the drive. It boots without issues on that PRO hence no HDD issues. After putting this HDD in my PRO same problem occurs, it runs perfect on Windows XP (including all features) but wont boot past the Apple logo after boot up on the installed OSX (same with newly installed OSX on external drive and disc). Can it be a hardware issue? If yes how can i check this when the PRO only runs on XP?

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  • How do I install OSX onto a new SSD (in the place of my optical drive) without transferring all data across.  However, with the applications, system and library on the SSD to improve the speed, but keep non essential items (the home folder) on the HDD

    I have a mid 2009 13 inch unibody 2.53GHz MacBook Pro.  I'm finding that it doesn't run as quickly as it used to. 
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    If you got the data transfer cable with your SSD, the procedure should be pretty simple - and there should be step-by-step instructions in the box. You're simply going to remove the bottom case of your computer (using a Phillips #00 screwdriver), take out the two screws in the bracket holding the hard drive into place (using same screwdriver), remove the drive and (use a Torx 6 screwdriver) remove the four screws that hold the hard drive in place. Then put in the SSD and reassemble the machine.
    Then you'll plug up the old hard drive by using the SATA to USB cable and use the option key to boot from the old drive. I don't know what data transfer software Crucial provides, but I would recommend formatting the SSD  using Disk Utility from your old drive ("Mac OS Extended (Journaled)" with a single GUID partition) and then use Carbon Copy Cloner to clone your old drive to your new SSD (see this user tip for cloning - https://discussions.apple.com/docs/DOC-4122). You needn't worry about getting an enclosure since you have the data transfer cable and you don't want to use your old hard drive.
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    Clinton

  • My new blank hard drive won't install OSX from the disk?

    For some reason my Mac book pro won't install OS through the install cd or through the flash drives. It will load the disk but then freeze when I click install. It won't load through the USB either. I have done multiple diagnostics at the mac store and they tell me that my hd is bad. Twice the hd was fresh out of the box and installed that day. I spoke to a supervisor via phone when I called apple care and he told me that unless I have all apple parts in the computer they can't accurately diagnose the issue. It feels like they're trying to con me into paying double for a "apple hd". What can I do to get my computer working?

    I would purchase an external USB enclosure for the HDD. With the HDD in the enclosure, install OSX and then mount in your MacBook. If you continue to have problems, it could be a faulty internal SATA cable.

  • How do I Install OSX to an External Drive Partition?

    I have an external FW800 drive that I've made two partitions on. One partition I want to install OSX to, for external booting; the other partition is just for storage. I'm trying to use the SNL install disk but It's not installing, it just stalls out. I must be doing something wrong.
    Thanks,
    John

    Is the external drive prepped correctly?
    Drive Preparation
    1.  Open Disk Utility in your Utilities folder.
    2. After DU loads select your hard drive (this is the entry with the mfgr.'s ID and size) from the left side list. Click on the Partition tab in the DU main window.
    3. Under the Volume Scheme heading set the number of partitions from the drop down menu to one. Set the format type to Mac OS Extended (Journaled.) Click on the Options button, set the partition scheme to GUID then click on the OK button. Click on the Partition button and wait until the process has completed.
    4. Select the volume you just created (this is the sub-entry under the drive entry) from the left side list. Click on the Erase tab in the DU main window.
    5. Set the format type to Mac OS Extended (Journaled.) Click on the Options button, check the button for Zero Data and click on OK to return to the Erase window.
    6. Click on the Erase button. The format process can take up to several hours depending upon the drive size.
    Steps 4-6 are optional but should be used on a drive that has never been formatted before, if the format type is not Mac OS Extended, if the partition scheme has been changed, or if a different operating system (not OS X) has been installed on the drive.
    When formatting has completed quit DU and return to the installer.  Complete the OS X installation.
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    Open Disk Utility from the Utilities folder.
    Select the destination volume from the left side list.
    Click on the Restore tab in the DU main window.
    Check the box labeled Erase destination.
    Select the destination volume from the left side list and drag it to the Destination entry field.
    Select the source volume from the left side list and drag it to the Source entry field.
    Double-check you got it right, then click on the Restore button.
    Destination means the external drive. Source means the internal startup drive.

  • Installing OSX on an External Drive

    Hi,
    My harddrive on my iMac recently died and I am unable to afford to replace it, but I do have the use of an external USB harddrive which I hoped to install OSX onto. However once it was formated properly and I ran the instalation DVD it said that I could install it onto that drive. Please is there anything I can do to get osx installed and bootable from the external hard drive as my work is tied up in the use of that computer and without it I can't do any work and therefore can't get any income.
    Regards,
    John Curwood

    John, I am sorry to say that a USB drive is not able to boot a G5 iMac, only a firewire drive can do that. You can install OS X onto the drive, but it will not be able to boot your machine. The only thing I can think of is to take the drive out of the USB enclosure, and if it's a 3 1/2" SATA drive, replace your current hard drive with it.

  • Replaced hard drive can't install OSX

    A friend gave me an iBook G3 500 MgHz. I want it to coordinate with my iMac G5 to be able to use same Tiger software. I put in 640 MB of Ram, then installed OSX 10.4. Everything OK but the modem was broke and there was not much room on HD. So I bought new 80Gig Toshiba HD and new modem, did the surgery using excellent iFixit instructions and went to reinstall OSX from my cds. The computer works if I start it with OSX installer cd, and the disk utility and System Profiler show the hard drive properly,
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    Hi, and welcome to Apple Discussions.
    In a Mac, it's called Open Firmware, and you get there by holding down the Command (Apple) Key + Option + o + f.
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  • My optical drive is broken, any other way to install OSX?

    I have my OSX discs and I was thinking about upgrading to an SSD. The issue is that one day I noticed the part where you put a CD in was dented. I do not recall dropping my Macbook at all, but it still had a dent. I initially thought no big deal. I do most of my CD/DVD related stuff on my desktop computer.
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    Carbon Copy Cloner
    SuperDuper!
    Either will do it, I'm a SuperDuper! user but I have used CCC too.

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