Boot from second partition on usb hard drive

I have a time machine external usb drive. I have created a second partition of 8GB on this drive and restored OS X Install ESD 10.7.5 to this second partition so that I can easily rebuild if necessary. I would like to be able to boot from this second partition. When I hold down Option key at startup, I see the external drive as an option, but the iMac wants to boot from the Time Machine Backup partition, rather than the Lion Partition. It doesn't give me the choice of the second, bootable partition on this drive. Is it possible to do this?
[Mac 24" early 2009, running 10.7.5 Lion]

rchealey wrote:
Curiously when you boot from this partition, you get virtually the exact same experience as you do when booting from the recovery partition except that the recovery partition tends to suggest that it will download and install Lion, whereas booting from the partition containing the install doesn't mention download.
That's normal behavior. The Recovery HD only has enough code to go to Apple's servers and DL the installer; whereas, the InstallESD contains everything. Do note, however, that running either will check Apple's servers for additional components, whatever those might be. Thus, Internet access is required to do either.

Similar Messages

  • Boot from DVD but cannot find hard drive now

    just updated to 10.7.3, then cannot boot from hard drive. I boot from DVD and cannot find hard drive now

    Did the 10.7.3 update complete the installation process?
    Some updates, when being installed and applied can restart (but not fully start up) the machine a couple of times.
    I'd restart your machine and give it a few uninterrupted minutes to see if it boots up normally. Depending on the specs of your iMac, the remapping of app shortcuts etc can take a little while to complete (but not an excessive amount of time).
    It is unlikely the update caused your hard drive to fail.
    If your iMac doesn't boot up, restart and boot into the recovery partition of Lion by holding down both the cmd & R keys while booting. This will run Lion Recovery which will allow you to repair your Hard Drive, reinstall or install a fresh copy of Lion (network access is required).
    If this fails, boot from the recovery DVD and launch Disk Utility from the Tools option in the toolbar and see if your hard drive is listed in Disk Utility. If your hard drive is not listed, there is a hard drive problem and you'll need to speak to Apple Tech Support to arrange a repair.
    Hope this helps

  • Is it possible to use Boot Camp to partition an external hard drive so there is a OSX partition and a Windows partiton?  I want to use the external drive for backup only, NOT to load Windows and NOT to use as a boot drive.

    I have partitioned the internal hard drive and am running Lion and Win7 Pro on my iMac i5 2.7GHz with 16GB RAM.  Can I use Boot Camp to create a Windows partition on an OSX external hard drive to use for backing up both systems to the same HDD?  I do NOT want to install OSX Lion or Windows 7 Professional on the external drive.  I do NOT want to boot either system from the external drive.  The 3TB external drive is for backup only.

    Use NTFS for Windows and buy Paragon NTFS for OS X
    You can also try Paragon HFS for Windows
    As long as you are using for data and backups, you can leave the drive as GPT too.
    I would recommend strongly to always have a 2nd bootable Mac OS drive, only need 30GB partition. System maintenance. Though LIon Recovery Mode finally makes it less but not totally unneeded.
    And yes you can use Windows to create a partition.
    Boot Camp is too broad. Do you want or mean BC Assistant? not needed but probably possible.
    MBR has trouble with 3TB drives.

  • Partition External Usb hard drive

    Hi,
    Can I partition a 500GB external usb hard-drive to 2 partitions (nfts and HFS)
    The HFS part is for using with Time-Machine (150 GB) and the nfts for storage of photos etc. trough Windows.
    Is it possible to back-up on a partition with Time Machine?
    I know that it is impossible to partition to nfts with the standard Mac program, but it is possible with Gparted Live-cd (the one Ubuntu uses).
    Can all that be done?
    Thanks on purpose
    TheM4inframe

    set up two partitions both fat32.
    erase one and reformat as the apple format. plug the drive into the winbox, use administration>computer management>storage to find and reformat the fat 32 partition as ntfs.
    you can also format both as mac, then have win reformat one (I think)

  • Copying Boot Camp Vista partition to new hard drive

    This is OS X Lion using Boot Camp version 4.0.4 with Vista on a separate hard drive. I want to move it from an 80Gb drive to a 1Tb. Looking for the quick and cheap way of copying the bootcamp partition to the new drive because it's the same Mac Pro so only the drive size will be different. Google searches has me using two software to copy the Apple bootcamp and Winclone to copy Vista.
    Isn't there a simpler way without purchasing software I will only use once? I'd rather just reinstall Vista and the other software manually than pay anything over $20 to do it.
    Any advice is appreciated.

    My apologies. I didn't make myself clear. I followed the proper procedure and got the error message. I tried the other formatting to see if it would help. All the same results.
    I found a possible solution on another Apple thread. I am going to move the drive to have Vista installed moved to the first stall on my Mac Pro 1.1. It is claimed that this will bypass the issue of GP if do that. Then after installation I can switch them back.
    I will post the results. I had no issue the first two times I did this since using Bootcamp when I first got this Mac Pro over 7 years ago.

  • Booting from an Iomega 500GB UltraMax  Hard Drive

    Are these suppose to be Leopard bootable?

    I've never used SuperDuper, I know they had to update it to get it work with Leopard. Do you have the latest version?
    If you have some time, you might try using the Disk Utility Restore function to make a clone onto one of the partitions and see if that boots better. If so, there might still be some sort of problem with SuperDuper and Leopard.
    As for whether there are too many bootable clones on the drive: don't know, my clones have always been to drives with one, two or occasionally three partitions. Recently had trouble with a 2 partition drive that had one partition for a clone of my G4 tower, and the second for my iBook. The iBook just did not want to use its own clone, kept defaulting to the G4 tower's clone (and it would actually boot from it too). The only way I could get it to boot from its own clone was to select it in System Prefs-Startup, then reboot.
    Francine
    Francine
    Schwieder

  • Booting from clone with malfunctioning internal hard drive

    I have a MBP 15" core 2 duo 3,1, OS 10.6.8. I am getting sudden instant shutdowns without warning signs.
    It has been suggested to me that this is a hard drive on the way out.
    I've cloned the internal drive to an external drive Firewire 800 connected.
    I have 2 partitions on the external drive. The clone and a clean install of 10.6.8.
    I've tried booting from the clean install but am still experiencing sudden shutdowns.
    My question is if the internal drive mounts but then experiences problems while I am booted into my fresh install on the external drive can that cause a shutdown? I had assumed that this would not be the case but now am not so sure.

    Well it seems to be a hardware issue of some sort, it's likely not software related as it occurs on the externals even with a fresh install.
    It could be the internal drive, but you won't know until you disconnect it and boot from the externals.
    If it's something else, at least you got a clone off.
    Try a hardware test
    https://support.apple.com/kb/ht1509
    Try resetting your SMC
    https://support.apple.com/kb/HT3964
    Heck your PRAM too
    http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?path=Mac/10.6/en/26871.html
    That's the best we can do from here, you'll have to open her up and place pressure on things to make sure they are snug and a secure connection, perhaps disconnect the internal hard drive cable and see if your problem continue.
    http://eshop.macsales.com/installvideos/

  • Booting from Win 7 bootable USB flash drive?

    What I thought would be rather simple has turned really frustrating, I wanted to install Windows 7, on my iMac, on a different partition.
    I don't have a retail DVD but I have the product key for activation. So I downloaded the ISO Image from Microsoft. First I burnt it into DVD-R and booted it. It ended up getting stuck on 0% in Expanding Files. Then I tried to 'burning' it into USB and make it bootable, but I could not boot the USB flash drive on the Mac. How can I boot it? (I used the Windows 7 USB DVD Download Tool)
    Thanks

    I don't know about the answers to your issues, as I have never tried any disks that large.  But it would probably be wise not to mention that you are trying to do this on a non Arch system, as now I am pretty sure you will not recieve the help you desire.
    I don't mean to say that I encourage you to try to dupe our community into helping you with your debian system by not mentioning it.  But it seems pretty silly to come to the Arch threads looking for debian support, even if it is a universal (os independent) issue.

  • Can't Mount Second Partition on External Hard Drive

    I have a 1 TB Seagate External HD that I have two partitions on...a 700 GB one for Time Machine and 300 GB for my personal files (called Nick's External). I was initially having trouble with it and transferred the files from the Nick's External partition to a Western Digital external. I then reformatted the Seagate one into two partitions (Mac OS Extended) and transferred everything back. After attempting a time machine backup and it seizing up, I attempted to eject both partitions. It wasn't done correctly, and now when I plug in the external I can see the drive in Disk Utility and see the first Time Machine partition, but the second partition only comes up as the disk identifier (disk2s3). It cannot be repaired.
    I've tried running Disk Warrior but it only sees the first partition (Time Machine) and not the partition I actually have files on (Nick's External). I am also unable to mount the second partition, either through Disk Utility or Terminal.
    Any ideas would be greatly appreciated!!

    Brad Cook wrote:
    Disk Utility stopped reparing "Time Machine." Disk Utility can't repair this disk. Back up as many of your files as possible, reformat the disk, and restore your backed-up files.
    Does this mean the drive itself is failing?
    Possibly, but not necessarily.  The File System on the disk was so badly corrupted that Disk Utility couldn't fix it.  That might indicate a problem with the drive.  It's not unusual for consumer-quality (ie, inexpensive) drives to fail after 2-3 years, although many will run for several years.  It's a bit of a crapshoot.
    Before this problem happened, both partitions dropped off the Finder and the light on the drive went off.
    Whatever caused that is another good possibility -- if a drive is improperly disconnected, OSX can't "close it out" properly, and that can cause damage to the file system.  Sometimes Disk Utility can fix it, sometimes it can't.  And sometimes heavy-duty 3rd-party disk repair apps like DiskWarrior can fix things Disk Utility can't.
    A power dip or spike could have caused it, or an overheated electronic component, etc.  If it has it's own power supply, be sure it's on a good (ie, not cheap) surge protector or U.P.S. system.
    Otherwise, keep an eye on it.  If you don't have "secondary" backups, this would be an excellent time to get another drive for that purpose.  See #27 in Time Machine - Frequently Asked Questions for some suggestions.
    Bottom line:  personally, I'd not trust my only backups to that drive.
    (But then, I'd never trust my backups to any single drive, no matter how new or high-quality.)

  • Can't boot from Windows partition or any external drives...?

    My iMac just stopped booting from both my boot camp partition, and any external drives. I tried booting from a bootable flashdrive with drive genius installed, but it just booted OS X. Despite holding TAB, it just boots normally, as if I wasnt even holding it. I also tried installing rEFit, but OS X still ignores it and just boots normally. What's going on?!

    ...wow....nevermind, i just realized that i was hitting tab not option...good lord...ive been running boot camp for a long time too...alright well...thanks anyway lol

  • How to boot from OS X DVD after hard drive upgrade with wireless keyboard

    This may be a dumb question. I know that you press "c" key on a MacBook to boot from DVD. But what about a Mac Mini with wireless keyboard? Does the Mini see the keyboard when there is a NEW drive inside?
    I've searched but can't find the answer.
    Thanks!

    I believe This will help.
    It says to Hold "C" while booting to boot from the install DVD.
    Hope this help.

  • Once you delete a second partition on your hard drive and there is only blank space how do you enlarge the original "Macintosh HD" to cover the entire hard drive space?

    I just delete a partition on my drive and wanted to 1 either enlarge my original partition to cover the entire space, or 2 create a new partition in the free space. The problem is when I attempt to drag down the Macintosh HD partition and hit apply nothing happens. When i try to partition the free space (80 gigs) I hit apply and the new partition is only 200 mb with the 79 gigs still free space... HELP PLEASE.

    Ah...so you've now learned why it's best not to change your mind after partitioning the bootup volume. 
    As far as I know, there's no "built-in" way to recover the free space after deleting a partition.
    You're probably looking at third party software to accomplish what you're looking for.  Here's one:
    http://www.drivetoolbox.com/volume-manager.php
    I can't speak to how well it works....I've never used it.  But, according to the site, it will do what you need it to do.
    I hope this helps.

  • Won't boot from USB hard drive?

    Hi, all. My daughter has a brand-new Aluminum Macbook a week old, with all Apple software updates applied and everything running smoothly. She has a Seagate FreeAgent Go external USB 2.0 hard drive divided into two HFS+ Journaled partitions using the GUID partition scheme: a large partition on which to back up her internal drive, and a small partition for use as an emergency boot "disk." We've used the latest version of SuperDuper to make a bootable clone of her internal drive on the large backup partition, and I've just begun installing Leopard from her MacBook installer DVD onto the emergency boot partition as I write this (using my own computer). After 25 minutes, the installer DVD is still being "checked for consistency"; I hope things will finally begin to move along faster when the installation actually starts.
    We'll see what happens when that installation is done, but before I began it, I checked to make sure the SuperDuper clone on the backup partition would boot the MacBook. To my dismay, it did not, although I held down the Option key during startup, selected the backup partition in Startup Manager, and clicked the arrow to proceed with booting from that partition. The MacBook booted from its internal drive anyway.
    You'll note that I'm not a Leopard or Intel Mac user myself, so I'm not familiar with any issues that may be more familiar to regular users of that OS or of Intel Macs. Can anyone tell me whether SuperDuper has problems creating bootable USB clones that work in Leopard or on those machines? Is there something else I should be doing to boot from the clone we made, instead of using the Startup Manager? Any other thoughts on why this hasn't worked?

    I have noticed that the start-up disk appears just about anywhere except in the upper right-hand corner. I too, was convinced once that I was booted from the wrong drive. However, I have implicit faith in SD and since it has never let me down, I searched and found the boot drive hiding amongst some files littering my desktop.

  • Satellite L20-100 can be booted from external USB hard drive?

    I recently bought Toshiba Satellite L20-100 and I wonder if:
    1. is there any possibility to boot this machine from external usb hard drive?
    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.

  • C30: Booting from external USB hard drive

    I carry my OS on an external portable USB drive, and then make use of whatever hardware is available where I visit.
    I recently attempted to boot a Lenovo C30 Thinkstation with this external drive, and was unable to do so.  In looking at the BIOS settings, there is no option to boot from USB (other than floppy(?!?) or memory stick).
    Is it possible to boot from an external USB hard drive, and if not, why?
    jerry

    The boot sequence section of our setup menus has been troublesome to say the least (at least through the development phase).  There are various reasons why it is the way it is now....from spec requirements to customer requirements.  So long story short it really needs to be this way, even though situations like the one you encoutered is inconvenient. 
    The USB issue is actually done for security reasons.  For example, many large customers don't want users to have the ability to just walk up and plug in a USB device and allow the system to detect that and attempt to boot to it right away as it is a risk to their image/security.  For this reason, USB devices don't automatically get added to the boot order, and must be added throught he setup menu if needed.

Maybe you are looking for