BOOT FROM AN EXTERNAL USB DRIVE???

I know apple has made it clear about booting from an external USB drive
http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=106474
but I know that there are people who are able to boot from an external drive, does anybody know how to do this?
It's just that id like to work on final cut studio on an external drive for various reasons:
1st: my powerbook's HD is small and slow (60gb)
2nd: my external usb drive is big (160 gb) and fast (7200 RMPS!)
so a little help would be apreciated
best regards

"Actually, USB II is faster than FW 400."
In theory, probably. In real life Firewire 400 is much faster than USB2, not to speak of Firewire 800:
"Wee Wiebetech" Portable FireWire/USB2 Drive Challenges The Fastest Competitors.

Similar Messages

No application runs after booting from an external (USB) drive

Hi all,
my best hope is that I just embarrass myself with a blatantly obvious question instead of finding a real issue that will be resolved only in later updates. Here it is:
As I want to upgrade my hard drive in my good ol' MacBook, I wanted to backup my present boot HDD to an external USB drive (freshly formatted, HFS+ journaled, GUID partition table). I tried both SuperDuper! and Carbon Copy Cloner. In both cases, the backup/cloning process goes fine, and I can reboot into the external drive, and the OS starts (yes, with wifi working, even iStat menus, textExpander etc. initiating fine). But all applications (not those on the menu bar, though) crash and notify me of some thread having tried some invalid operation, or sometimes I even got some vague reference to kernel protection.
Do you have any ideas what this is? Something new and (supposedly) secure in 10.5.6? I tried a fairly standard procedure, I think. (Also, it is a fairly pressing issue as I would not really want to waste much more time on this drive swap. And I would rather use disk-cloning than the install disk and sucking back data from an apparently unreliable backup.)
Many thanks for any thoughts!
(Just to inform the interested, I ran a fairly extensive cleaning-maintenance-rebuild cycle by the latest Onyx before starting all this, this should clean up the state of the OS pretty much. But I could not run DiskWarrior. Convince me if you think that this would solve the problem.)

Thanks Devin, I think my issue is a bit different.
I am 'long' past the 10.5.6 update (as long as possible), it did not crash, and Software Update checked what it wanted several times since then (as it is set to do so daily).
Thanks for the safe boot tip, I have not tried it yet, though I am skeptical why would this help applications starting up without breaking some kernel protection -- but only if I booted up from an external drive.
I repaired all I could before the cloning of the drive, only the deep maintenance of DiskWarrior was skipped. With the disk or the OS itself, I basically did what you can, even the stuff that you are rarely supposed to do. (Onyx is a great tool to do all these and more, freely.)
I am not sure either that a FireWire drive would have helped, but who knows. (But really, the OS would boot, just the applications would feel that their are on an 'inferior' drive?) In any case, FireWire drives are not that easy to come by, and a risky investment -- e.g. I could not use them with the new MacBooks. Oh, and all my work was done on a firm table, but again, the behavior would be hard to explain as the HDD misbehaving, as the OS had no glitch, just I could not start applications without their crashing immediately.
Thanks again, I hope I run into something useful or if it is a bug then Apple magically pushes out some update before their winter break, or I will sadly watch my precious new drive sitting on a table idly.

I want to dual boot Windows 8 on my 20-inch, Mid 2007 iMac, from an external USB drive.

I want to dual boot Windows 8 on my 20-inch, Mid 2007 iMac, from an external USB drive. The internal drive is completely dead, it doesn't even show up in Disk Utility. I'm running 10.8.2 from the external drive. When I start Boot Camp Assistant, at the Introduction page, when I press the continue button nothing happens. Do I have to have internal drive to run Boot Camp Assistant? Can anyone provide me with the steps to dual boot, with his setup? Thanks in advance!

Hi maczimillon,
Only follow these steps, it works for my:
Open "System Information" and note your "Boot ROM Version" (some like MBP51.007E.B06)
Navigate to "Utilities" in Finder and open the package contents of -BootCampAssistant.app- with right click. Duplicate the "Info.plist" file to the Desktop e.g. and open that with Text Editor.
You must locate the keys "DARequiredROMVersions"and "USBBootSupportedModels"
Add new strings with the information of your machine under booth keys (step 1), always respect the format, such as: <string>MBP51.007E.B06</string> for the frist key and <string>MBP51</string> for the second key.
Save changes and replace the original plist file (it may ask you to enter admin pass)
If you proceeded correctly you will see the checkbox "Create a Windows 7 USB install disk" enabled in Boot Camp Assistant.
Then you can follow the usual Boot Camp installation using your WIN8 DVD iso image . The assistant program will proceed resizing your disk partition and installing necessary drivers for your iMac.
I strongly recomends you to use thirld party's bootloaders like rEFInd (rEFIt) because of the Apple SMC versions of some old machines should not be able to boot properly from external devices like USB drives.

Booting up from an external USB drive

Can I boot up from an external USB hard drive with OS X installed? The Imac G5 manual says you can boot from an external Firewire HD but says nothing about booting from an external USB HD

Yes, because OS X cannot be started from a USB drive.
To make a clone of your hard drive you must use the proper software, you cannot simply use drag and drop. You can use Carbon Copy Cloner, SuperDuper, LaCie SilverKeeper, Retrospect, Synchronize! Pro X, Tri-Backup, or any of a number of such utilities. You can also use the Restore option of Disk Utility. This latter option only does full backups (no syncs or incremental backups) but it's free, part of the OS, and reliable. Follow these instructions:
1. Open Disk Utility from the Utilities folder unless it's already open.
2. Select the startup volume from the left side list.
3. Click on the Restore tab in the DU main window.
4. Drag the startup volume to the Source entry field.
5. Select the backup volume from the leftside list and drag it to the Destination entry field.
6. Check the box to Erase Destination. Skip this step if you've already formatted the drive or if you cannot format it.
7. Double-check you got it right, then click on the Restore button.

How do install Tiger from an external USB drive?

I'm trying to upgrade from 10.2.8 to Tiger. How do I install Tiger from my external USB DVD drive? Tiger only comes on DVD and my G4 only has a CD ROM as an internal drive. Is there a way to boot from an external USB DVD drive?

bamim2,
you obviously just cracked some known hardware restrictions that not even Apple knew how to do: Don't start up from an external USB device.
The procedure you described is the standard procedure for the startup manager. However, as Apple's article explains this does NOT work with USB-devices on PowerPC (G3, G4, G5) based Macs.

Booting from an external DVD drive

I have a 2006 Intel iMac with a Samsung model SE-208 USB DVD drive attached to it. How can I boot from this drive instead of using the internal DVD drive.

Everytime I try to load a DVD-RW disk, it gets stuck in the drive. That's why I am trying to boot from the external DVD drive. When I try to boot from the external DVD drive, it doesn't even show up when I press the option key on startup.
I spoke to a friend of mine who just bought a new iMac with the external Superdrive. It works fine. She can boot from it no problem and it only runs from the USB port.
All of my DVD-RW's mount on the desktop no problem from the external USB burner.

Booting from an external optical drive (Liteon ETAU108-01 or other)

Dear Apple community,
I´m considering buying the external DVD writer "Liteon ETAU108-01" as a replacement for my broken MacBook Pro (2 Duo) super drive.
Does anybody know, if it is possible to boot from this specific USB drive (eg. using DVDs with MacOS or DiskWarrior)? Or can I generally boot from any external optical DVD drive?
I´m also happy for recommendation of alternative DVD drives which would allow booting my Mac in an emergency.
Thank you very much,
Felix

will it recognize the external drive as the primary boot drive?
do I press C or option?
Will any external optical drive work?
Thank you very much!

How can i install snow leopard on my mac G5 using a command line and booting from an external usb rom, since my disk i have is not a bootable media

How can i install snow leopard on my mac G5 using a command line and booting from an external usb rom, since my disk i have is not a bootable media

Hi.
You simply can't. Snow Leopard is compiled in Intel binary only.
Good Luck.

Can a time machine usb drive backup the data from an external usb drive connected to and airport extreme*

can a time machine usb drive conected to my mac book backup the data from an external usb drive connected to and airport extreme ?

Hi Adam, if you think yoiur HD may be failing you could do a TM restore onto the new disk. I would rather see you do a clone either SuperDuper or CarbonCopy Cloner.Of your internal drive. That way you have a bootable backup in case it does fail.
btw - what are the symptoms of your failing drive?
-mj
Message was edited by: macjack

How to run windows from an external usb drive

Hi,
I've just install windows using bootcamp. after that i restore that windows installed bootcamp volume to an GUID partitioned external HDD. Now it is shown in startup disc, but when i select that (external HDD) volume it is unable to start.
I don't know what to do? I just want to run windows from an external usb drive like i can run mac osx.
please help. thanks

Windows will not run from an external drive.

I can't boot from OS install USB drive Mac Mini Model 1176

How I can't boot from OS install USB drive, Mac Mini Model 1176

Thank you Eustace Mendis for your answer.
I rebooted the Mac Mini holding the Option key down but it doesn't work. I used an USB drive with O.s 10.7 from Apple that I have used previuosly with other computers and I also tried with a CD install O.S 10.6
It seems that the Mac Mini can't recognize the keyboard inputs and I tried with 3 different keyboards but still didn't work.
I also reset the SMC and PRAM but I had no luck. Any clues?

My Macbook air flash had gone for a month and I saw Apple's Macbook air flash storage drive replacement program. I'm not sure whether that program is still available for the broken device or not. Now, I'm booting from the external hard drive. Thank you.

My Macbook air flash had gone for a month and I saw Apple's Macbook air flash storage drive replacement program. I'm not sure whether that program is still available for the broken device or not. Now, I'm booting from the external hard drive. Warranty has gone in October 2013..
I want to send back my macbook air back to apple store. The problem is that I bought it from US and now, I'm using it in Myanmar. If the program is free of charge for my device, it's worth trying to send back to US. Since mine is broken, I'm afraid Apple will take charges for reparing.
So, if anyone having the same problem as me, I would like to get suggestion....
Thank you!!

I have no idea about how to handle the international aspect of your question.
But here is the Apple writeup about the problem and the remedy. Maybe that will help you.
http://www.apple.com/support/macbookair-flashdrive/

My computer shows the grey screen that says i need to restart when i tray and boot from an external hard drive

It shows the grey screen that i need to restart when i try to boot from an external hard drive. both drives have snow leopard

Kernel Panics? Don't panic too!
"You need to restart your computer" (kernel panic) message appears (Mac OS X v10.5, 10.6)

Can I boot Vista OS from an external USB drive

Hi, I would like to install Vista onto an external (USB) drive and boot from that occasionally whilst retaining XP on the internal drive. Is this possible please. I realise I would need to change the boot order in BIOS.
I know I could create a dual boot internal but would like to retain as much space as possible on the internal drive as I will only rarely need to use the dreaded Vista.
Thanks
Ron

And how you want to install Vista on USB device? Have you already tried it?
Please post a little bit about your experience with it if you have some.
Anyway, as far as I know something like this is not possible.

Booting the Mac from an external USB drive

I was under the impression that you could only boot a Mac from an external firewire drive. However, I have just successfully booted my new MacBook from an external SuperDuper backup connected via USB.

I was under the impression that you could only boot a Mac from an external firewire drive.
That basically only applies to Mac OS X on PowerPC Macs, not on an Intel Mac such as a MacBook.
(37425)

BOOT FROM AN EXTERNAL USB DRIVE???

Similar Messages

Maybe you are looking for