Bootable external drive issue ... help please

I installed os x lion in 2 different partitions on a WD external hd. I can boot from it fine on my mac book pro i7, but when I try to boot from it on my imac, they are not an available option when i hold down the option key to choose where i want to boot from. however when i boot regularly ... they WD hd shows up as external drives ....
any clue ?

Which machine created the bootable cloen the MBP or the iMac,? My guess is you used the MBP which is why it won't work on the iMac. To create a bootable clone for the iMac use the iMac to create the clone.

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