Boot from external USB disk

Is there any way to boot from an external USB disk formatted in NTFS or UFS (CD/DVD format)? Basically my idea was to be able to boot the Win7 install image from an USB device. I tried many different ways, I even have my old internal HDD with the boot camp partition in a USB case (I just upgraded to 500GB!! ;)) but I can't in any way boot from USB. Only OSX backup and its installation disk boot fine from an external USB source. Any idea?

It isn't well supported by Microsoft. The problem on Apple hardware is you can't even make changes to the BIOS boot manager.
I have 4 internal hard drives so it is rather easy to boot from one hard drive and run the installer.
You ran into the lack of support for UEFI though which adds another layer and meant most likely having to alter and reburn the ISO to disc with Imgburn or something (and can be done from Windows only so you need a VM).
I got tired of the trouble and work arounds needed though and in the end I just built my own custom PCs - one of which has native eSATA that are bootable (an Intel DX58SO board).
Oh, and it is easy to install Windows 7 on PC, then just move the drive into Mac Pro and boot from there!

Similar Messages

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    I recently bought Toshiba Satellite L20-100 and I wonder if:
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    2. it is possible to attach another internal hard drive?
    Supposing that the both answers above are 'no', how can I solve the following problem: I need hdd space, I need to boot 3 separate Wxp Operating Systems onto the same machine (Toshiba Satellite L20-100).

    Booting from external USB HD - "No" would be the official, mcrsoft sponsored, answer. However, it is possible. Not easy but it can be done. I've seen it done with my own eyes and there are guides how to do this. Just look for it with search engine. But if you have enough disk space you better do what was suggested here - create 3 partitions and use boot manager.

  • Should I boot from external hard disk and how do I achieve this?

    I'm in a downward spiral and need advice about if booting off of an external hard disc is the right thing to do and how to go about it. How I got into this mess I'll write below. My immediate problem is that I want to be able to install a copy of osx 10.5 from the original disks that came with my computer onto a usb hard drive. Then I want to boot from that drive and install software such as disk warrior on the same external hard drive in order to repair and recover the files on my internal hard disk. Not sure if this is easy to do with the install disk that came boxed with my macbook. So is what I want to do feasible and how do I do it? Thanks.
    How did I get into this mess?
    For those with time to read more. A downward spiral (and my macbook was working fine)::
    I have been backing up my work documents onto a 20 GB pendrive waiting to get the money to buy an nas to work with time machine for the two macbooks we have at home as a place to backup photos and video. I bought a network drive but it wouldn't work with my macbook; my time machine backup freezing at 3 gb, but works fine with wife's macbook pro.
    I tried to do TM backup on a usb hard disk and got the same problem. Support forums indicated that hard disk problems could confuse TM, so although I was experiencing problem free computing I ran disk utility from internal  osx. This indicated an <invalid node structure - file system verify or repair failed> at the checking catalog file stage. So I followed instructions to run disk utility and repair from the installation disk. When I ran disk utility from installation disk I get exactly the same <invalid node structure - file system verify or repair failed>. It gets worse.
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    I  plan to try an archive and install installation but first I want to  try a repair with disk warrior as I fear that archive and install won't work and I'll end up having to erase and repair my hard disk.
    I feel like some perverse god is punishing me for trying to do the right thing and back up my hard disk.
    Macbook 5.1 late 2008
    Intel Core 2 Duo
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    I am not sure about this, but my memory is that if you try to partition the drive (in OS 10.5.8) it will erase the data.
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  • Tecra M2: Can I Boot from External USB/Firewire-HDD ???

    Hi All,
    how can I boot from an external USB Drive ?
    The Bios 1.20, 03/15/2004 doesn't seem to support this on my Tecra M2.
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    Hi
    As far as I know its not possible to boot from a USB HDD. I know that in some cases its possible to boot from compatible USB FDD and CD/DVD drives but note from HDD.
    This theme was disused a lot of time here in the forum.
    Please check this other posting:
    http://forums.computers.toshiba-europe.com/forums/thread.jspa?threadID=4534&messageID=14824#14824
    http://forums.computers.toshiba-europe.com/forums/thread.jspa?threadID=8963&messageID=31325#31325
    Regards

  • Booting from external USB drive

    I was wondering if there is any way to boot from a USB drive that I have? I partitioned the drive, erased it, and its basically ready to go. But I can't install Mac OS X on it because it says that I cannot reboot from the drive.
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    If you're computer is having kernel panics there's a conflict; either software or hardware. 2GB of free space isn't enough but I haven't seen anything that suggests KPs are caused by too little free space. Your computer should start fine with 2GB free. It may have problems after a period of use but it would startup and run.
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  • Booting Windows XP from external USB disk drive

    I'm trying to get to some legacy applications on my old Windows XP hard drive. Is it possible to boot my iMac G5 iSight to an external USB hard drive which has an NTFS partition and Windows XP on it?

    Hi Cobyflier;
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  • Slow boot from external usb drive

    I just upgraded my daughter's macbook to the latest fixes on her internal drive. I reformatted her external LaCie drive to Mac OS Extended(Journaled) and did a restore. I did notice that there are less files on the internal than the external drive when comparing immediately after the restore. When I try to boot from that drive, it takes 10 minutes to boot the system. It takes about 7 minutes before I even hear any drive activity. In the past this system used to take about 2 minutes to boot at most vs 30 seconds from the internal drive. I have repaired permissions without seeing any effect. I did attach another USB drive that had a copy of her old OSC 10.5.8 image and that booted in less than 2 minutes. Any thoughts on what could be causing the long boot time on the external drive? I have seen comments on GUID formatting. Doesn't that come automatically with Mac OS Extended(Journaled) on an Intel machine? Should I have selected an option when doing the format to specify GUID? I did run a verify Disk as well and the extrnal checked out without any problems.

    +" ... and did a restore ..."+
    How, of what, from where, to where?
    +" ... I have seen comments on GUID formatting. Doesn't that come automatically with Mac OS Extended(Journaled) on an Intel machine? ..."+
    No, it does not happen automatically when you format the drive. GUID is a partition type, not a format. You specify GUID partition scheme at the time you partition the drive. Formatting is a separate operation, occurring after partitioning. Drives that will be used to boot an Intel Mac must be GUID partition scheme and formatted as Mac OS Extended Journaled.

  • Wont Boot from External USB HD

    Hi Guys,
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    Boot the "old white MB" from the external, and double-check the version of OSX on it. Make sure it's not earlier than the version that came with the MBP. Check the MBP's DVD, or plug it's serial number in here: http://www.appleserialnumberinfo.com/Desktop/index.php
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  • Cannot boot from external USB device

    Hi,
    I have an iMac with a superdrive that is not working. This gives me a lot of trouble, because I want to install windows.
    Some month ago, I bought an external USB DVD drive, and hoped that it would help. But I quickly experienced that it did not, since I could not get boot camp to use it.
    Today, I was sure that I found a good solution. I ran into a site that explains how to use en external DVD to install windows on macbook air which have no internal DVD.
    http://www.tech-recipes.com/rx/9136/macbook-air-install-windows-7-with-boot-camp -without-an-external-dvd-drive/
    Unfortunately this do not work - for me and my iMac.
    First I installed the rEFIt tool and this works fine. The external DVD shows up as a bootable device.
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    Any suggestions will be appreciated.

    I don't know about the link you gave, I can only pass on my experience.
    I made my bootable Windows7 X64 install disk by this method:-
    "This method is used to create a new install disk if you have your authentic Windows 7 disk. Don't sweat it; it's much easier than it looks.
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    Go to this link http://rapidshare.com/files/297067205/oscdimg.exe and download Oscdimg.exe. Place it into c:\window7exe folder
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    oscdimg.exe -n -m -bd:\boot\etfsboot.com d:\ c:\windows7x64.iso
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    Press Enter. This will begin creating a new disk image. You should see a response in the DOS window that displays its progress.
    When the process is complete, you will find a new disk image of your Windows 7 disk in the folder labeled c:\windows7X64
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    Launch ImgBurn and select "Write image file to disc". In the Source window, find your newly burned image in the c:\windows7X64 folder. Click on the disc icon at the bottom of the window to begin the burning process.
    Voila! You have a new Windows 7 installation disk which will install with no problems. "
    .....which is on this thread
    May not be any use to you without an internal DVD RW which works.
    In your shoes I would really want to get my internal superdrive working.
    A quick look at iFixit suggests the iMac uses a standard laptop DVD RW which are readily available, but perhaps I am missing something.

  • Kernel panic booting from external usb key or CD

    I detected small Hard disk problems on my Macbook Pro (10.6.8 totally updated)  using disk utility so I decide to restart from CD but have a kernel panic when booting from CD. I also tried to boot from an external USB key that had 10.6 installation on it (the usb key is working because my friend test it on its own computer) and the same happens: a constant kernel panic when I try to boot from an external drive.....
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    It looks like you are trying to run a Mac OS X version which isn't compatible with your Mac, so I suppose you have a Mid 2010 or Early 2011 MacBook Pro.
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    Hi!
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    Hi
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  • Failed booting from external usb hdd

    Hey Community!
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    timeout 5
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    color light-blue/black light-cyan/blue
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    initrd /initramfs-linux.img
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    tmpfs /tmp tmpfs nodev,nosuid 0 0
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    UUID=8f7f3e77-8acb-4724-862a-6c9678cadd29 /boot ext2 defaults 0 1
    UUID=b5cba3a9-5009-485f-b53c-6be526b51f55 /home ext4 defaults 0 1
    UUID=c21b9563-ebf9-4b28-882d-fd8322693627 swap swap defaults 0 0
    The /boot/grub/menu.lst of the backed up (on hdd) OS is:
    # (0) Arch Linux
    title Arch Linux
    root (hd0,0)
    kernel /vmlinuz-linux root=/dev/sdb1 ro
    initrd /initramfs-linux.img
    # (1) Arch Linux
    title Arch Linux Fallback
    root (hd0,0)
    kernel /vmlinuz-linux root=/dev/sdb1 ro
    initrd /initramfs-linux-fallback.img
    I don't have a clue what to change, since it is not clearly specified in the wiki...I followed exactly the instructions in the wiki, besides the include and excludes for rsync but that doesnt really matter
    Appreciate your help
    Last edited by athal (2012-06-25 21:09:16)

    You should adapt the menu.lst of the backed up OS like this:
    # (0) Arch Linux
    title Arch Linux
    root (hd1,0)
    kernel /boot/vmlinuz-linux root=/dev/sdb1 ro
    initrd /boot/initramfs-linux.img
    explanation:
    - Your root should be (hd1,0) because the external disc is the second hard disc (assuming root=/dev/sdb1 is correct).
    - The kernel and initrd line should have /boot, because you don't have a seperate boot partition.
    Also, you didn't adapt your fstab of the backed up hard disk. In particular, you have to remove the entries for /boot, /home and swap. The entry of root file system is also wrong, because you still have the old UUID in it:
    # /etc/fstab: static file system information
    # <file system> <dir> <type> <options> <dump> <pass>
    tmpfs /tmp tmpfs nodev,nosuid 0 0
    /dev/sdb1 / ext4 defaults 0 1
    Finally, I think not following the excludes in the wiki will also cause problems.

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