Booting from a external drive with Option key?

I have made a clone of my MBP's drive via Carbon Copy Cloner.
Now I can boot from USB 2.0 extra drive selecting previousely the startup disk in MBP preferences.
My hard disk has some problems and I want to have an emergency bootup so I have some questions about this:
1-Restart the computer and hold down the Option key until disks icons appear on screen, does't work. It appears only HD (HFS+ journaled) icon and not LaCie USB drive (HFS+) icon why? Any solution?
2-HD with a few bad blocks and volume structure error (other hardware tests passed) can be repaired with reformating and reinstaling OS X?
3-Do I have to format the disk with Disk Utility erase and "zero out data" security options and reinstal OS X from my OS X Installer Disc?
Thanks for the help

Yes I have a LaCie USB and Firewire external drive.
I can boot from USB or Firewire if I select the drive previousely with startup preferences.
The problem is, when restarting with USB (or firewire) external drive, I can see only the HD icon when hold down the alt key of my MBP.
In your case have you two icons at the startup? Your firewire drive is HFS+ journaled formated ? Is this relevant?

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Can I boot from an external drive with a "Virtual CD"

I just purchased a Hitachi LifeStudio external hard drive for use as my Time Machine backup. When I plugged it in to my MacBook running 10.6.4, I realized that it had one of those "Virtual CDs" that contained the manufacturers crapware, similar to Western Digital's MyWare or whatever its called. It shows up in disk utility as an actual separate disk and not just another partition that can be wiped.
I reformatted the drive using GUID and and created 3 HFS+ Journaled partitions. One was going to be for the 10.6 installer, one for the 10.6 boot, and one for my time machine backup. I restored a 10.6 install dvd disk image I created using disk utility to the 10.6 installer partition (with erase destination checked) then option booted my mac and the partitions did not show up. The only thing I could see was my internal hard drive.
I have done this many times before and it has always worked so Im trying to figure out what Im doing wrong. The only thing I can think of is that the "Virtual CD" that Hitachi put on this external drive is stopping the Mac from seeing the bootable partitions I created. I even went into system preferences>startup disk and blessed the 10.6 install partition. That didn't work either, the computer just booted to my internal drive.
So my questions are. Is it because of this "Virtual CD" that I can't boot from my external drive? If so, is there a way around it? I already searched their web site and emailed their tech support asking for a firmware update to remove the virtual cd.
Thanks in advance.

Yes, it's a known issue. You've already referred to the issue with WD systems. WD has a long list of products that are either not compatible with Macs or won't boot a Mac.
There are practically no problems with bare drives, but once installed in an enclosure there is no guarantee that the package will function as a bootable device. This is especially the case if the manufacturer uses some sort of "virtual" scheme intended for using the device as a sort of one button backup device.
External drives don't have to specifically say anything about being Mac bootable or compatible. It's up to the consumer to verify compatibility and usability.

Booting from an external drive 10.3.2 with new i7 mac mini

How to boot from an external drive with 10.3.2 using a new i7 mac mini. Seems to be a build problem?

Your Mac is incapable of running 10.3.2. The version of OS X 10.3 is PowerPC only and your Mac has an Intel processor.
Why do you want to do that?
Allan

Mac Mini i7 (Mavericks) will not boot from the external drive

Mac Mini i7 (Mavericks) will not boot from the external drive with Disk Warroir 4.4. or Drive Genius or Lion.
Not even from the external Firewire hard drive with Mavericks

Does the external HD have a GUID partition table?
Is the external drive formatted Mac OS X Extended (journaled)?
Is this a 2011 or late 2012 Mac?
How was Mavericks installed on the external drive?
Who is the builder of the drive mechanism in the external drive?
Who is the builder of the external enclosure?
What type of interface does the external drive have USB2, USB3, Firewire 400, Firewire 800, thunderbolt?
Is the external enclosure directly connected to the mini?
Have youtried a different interface cable?

Elitebook 8440p - recovery disc creation & booting from an external drive

I have a brand new Elitebook 8440p & I have a couple of issues that I cannot seem to resolve.
1. I expected to get some sort of system install, or recovery or repair discs - or the ability to create such disks with this laptop. Nothing came with it, and I cannot find any place to create some sort of system recovery disks, nor is there anything listed for this laptop on the HP site to acquire them from HP. I am not comfortable having no way to recover this computer should a hard disk go south. Any ideas how to create or get an op system disk or recovery discs or something?
2. I have an encrypted company/business hard disc inside the laptop for work. I also have the original hard disk that came with the computer in an external eSata/USB case. I have configured and installed software on the external drive to include my personal software and programs, leaving the company hard disc inside the laptop for business use only. However, I cannot make this laptop boot from the external drive if the company drive is inside the laptop. I have read and tried everything, but if a drive is inside the laptop, it will not boot from the external eSata/USB drive. If I simply remove the laptop hard drive, it boots perfectly from the external drive via eSata and works fine. How do I manage to get this laptop to boot from my external drive without having to remove the internal hard drive?
Any help or ideas someone can offer are greatly appreciated. Thanks very much.

Hi, Rich:
If you live in the USA or Canada, you can get a set of restore disks from HP for $10. I am surprised you didn't get a set but maybe they only come with the business desktops.
Here is how you order them:
1. Write down the part number and serial # on bottom of the computer on the white tag. The model # is an HP-Compaq 8440p, but the part number will be found on that white tag below the serial #.
2. Call HP at 1-800-952-7689, option 1 (ordering restore disks is part of the list in the option).
3. Provide the info asked by the rep that answers the phone. Some just ask for the serial #, some want both, or they will just want the serial number and type of computer (8440p).
4. Have a Master Card or Visa ready for purchasing. They don't take Discover. You will be charged $10.00.
You will receive the disks by First Class Mail or you can pay an additional $10.00 for FedEx shipping.
Sorry, I can't answer your second question. I assume you have already tried hitting the F9 key at the HP splash screen to select the device to boot from?
Paul

OSX 10.4 not booting from an external drive..

I have an 1 Ghz G4 iMac that is causing some major headaches.
It started by the machine crashing every 15-20 minutes.
A fresh re-install seemed to be the best option.
In order to sort out the problem I decided to install a fresh copy of OSX on an external firewire drive.
The install went without any problems but then I was unable to boot from the firewire drive.
Even holding down the option key and selecting the drive manually didn't do anything.
I then decided to do an archive install on the internal drive. This crashed in mid-installation making the internal drive in-accessible.
Anybody have any tips on how to get out of this mess?
E.

Since your machine crashed while running from the install disc, it sounds like there is a problem not related to the Operating System on your drive. Have you installed any ram, other than that which came with your iMac? If so, remove it and try to boot from your firewire drive again. (The installation onto that drive was sucessful, right?)If you're successful in booting the computer and it runs with more stablility minus any extra ram, you have a bad ram stick.
My fear here is that since your previous re-install failed I'm not certain that another attempt to install on that drive wil save all your stuff... if you can boot from your external drive, I'd rescue your data, photos, music, etc., to the external before trying to re-install on your internal drive.
Dual 1.8 G5, Powerbook G4 1.5GHz Mac OS X (10.4.8)

Booting From An External Drive in OS 9.2?

I have a G4 with a bad internal ROM drive. I am currently running OS 9.2.
I would like to upgrade to OS 10.
I have an Iomega USB 2.0 external drive connected to my computer via the USB port in the back.
How can I boot from the disk in this external drive?
I tried holding "option"- it only found my regular hard drive.
I tried holding "cmd-opt-shift-del" but my mac got very confused and blinked a ? at me.
How can I boot from the external drive so I can upgrade?
Thanks
O.

Welcome to Apple Discussions!
Mac OS X will not boot from USB drives on a PowerPC.
You need a Firewire optical drive to boot, and an AGP PowerMac G4 at that to boot Mac OS X. To identify your PowerMac G4, see this article:
http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=58418
Once you've identified it, boot the machine into Mac OS 9 on the hard drive and make sure your firmware is up to date:
http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=86117
And then you'll be able to install Mac OS X. Follow these precautions on my FAQ before doing so:
http://www.macmaps.com/upgradefaq.html
If it turns out you have a PCI PowerMac G4, you'll have to replace the optical drive internally to boot Mac OS X or Mac OS 9.
Also make sure your clock battery is under 4 years old before attempting to upgrade the firmware. It is a 3.6 V 1/2 AA battery you can buy from Radio Shack item 23-026.

Booting from an external drive when the internal has died

Hello, I have an older iMac mid 2007 2.4 GHz Intel model. Around 2009 my internal hard drive failed and for the last few years I had a nice work around using an external drive to boot into OSX. I was curious however if anyone knew of an official or well documented method of using this method because for what ever reason the drive is not being recognized. My method is a combination of trial and error until it booted properly but recently it has just stopped recognizing the disc or when installing the OS it will just fail near the end of the install. Tried to hold Option with the disc installed on boot to see if I could boot from CD but it never seems to show up as an option.
I thought that the drive was damaged but I was able to reformat and use it for a few months with my PC so I have confidence it is not that.
The other problem I was curious about is the format of the drive and how I can even go about reformatting to the mac journal. I cant seem to get into disk utility all I get is a white screen.
Any help is greatly appreciated.
Original Information
OS: 10.4.x
Ram: 2g ddr2
I have been able to many time before reinstall using my leopard and snow leopard disks.

Okay just clarifying my INTERNAL hard drive is most likely dead, I am looking to install and boot from my external hard drive. According to this AHT article
Before you begin
Important: If your Mac was released after June 2013, you will use Apple Diagnostics rather than Apple Hardware Test (AHT). See Using Apple Diagnostics for instructions.
Consider doing some preliminary troubleshooting to determine if your issue is related to hardware. You can try to determine if the cause of your issue is related to hardware or software by following Isolating issues in Mac OS X. AHT can help determine which hardware component may be causing the issue.
Before starting AHT, be sure to disconnect all external devices except the keyboard, mouse, display, and Ethernet adapter. Also disconnect any external optical drives.
My goal is to find a way to boot from my external drive.
"Won't matter, as long as you have the Disc.
To make it botable, you will need to set the Partition Map Scheme (GUID Partition Table) and Format it (Mac OS Extended Journaled) before installing OS X."
The disc or the drive? I assume you mean the drive but according to the document that should be removed.

How Do I Always Boot From An External Drive

I successfully installed Mac OS X 10.4.8 on an external hard drive. It boots successfully into OS X, but only if you press option on boot and select the drive or if you boot from the drive inside my Mac Mini and go to startup disk and select the external. Is there any way to just always boot from the external drive without doing anything? Thanks in advance for all of your help.
Mac Mini PowerPC Mac OS X (10.4.8)

If booting from a cold start doesn't work but restarting after selecting the drive does work, then most likely the drive isn't ready when the Mac is doing the cold boot.
Try turning the drive on several seconds before turning on the Mac.

How do I boot from an external drive?

I've just Carbon Cloned my 60GB drive to a firewire external drive. I'm about to replace the 60GB with a 160GB drive and the CCC instructions say boot from the external drive I'd just created once the new disk is installed. Then CCC the cloned drive back to the new hard drive.
So, how do I boot from an external drive? Do I have load anything to the new drive? Will the macbook detect the external drive and boot from that? Or what??????
Thanks
Dick

Thanks DWB. Being the rash impetuous guy I am I didn't wait for replies and just switched on the macbook after installing the new disk (which was so easy it was unbelievable - had to go and buy a a little torx bit though) to see what would happen.
Blow me down with a feather if it didn't just boot off the external drive all by itself :-O It did come up with the disk was unverified and I could see it in FINDER and I was prseented with a screen to ERASE/RESTORE etc.
When I went to CCC the external drive back to the new hard drive it didn't give show me the new hard drive so I guessed I'd have to do something to format (?) the hard drive.
I don't know if I did the right thing but I went to disk utilities and chose ERASE in the vague hope it would maybe format the disk in some way.
Seems to work now and the CCC replaced the system perfectly as far as I can see.
Basically very impressive all round. Piece of proverbial to replace the disk and CCC made life so easy.
Thanks again.
Cheers
Dick

FV2 and booting from an external drive

Hi,
When Lion came out I decided to enable filevault as I take my laptop everywhere.
Periodically I take a full SuperDuper backup of my hard drive just in case the worst happens.
I have read that its best to remove the FileVault protection before entertaining an upgrade so I have removed FV and took another full superduper backup.
Part of my upgrade plan is to test the backup by booting my MBP from the external drive so that I know I can get back to my old machine but I am finding that I can reboot my MBP and select the backup drive from the bootable selection and I get the apple logo and the spinning cog but it doesnt go any further.
I think this has happened since enabling FV as I have never had an issue before booting from an external drive.
I have formatted the drive and started a fresh SuperDuper backup and this hasnt made a difference either.
Any help would be appreciated.
Thanks
Gavin

They all are formatted Extended and with Guid partition map. So I am good that way. I will have to experiment I suppose. Thanks for your response.

Will Mac allow you to boot from an external drive...specifically for windows programs?

Will a new Mac allow you to boot from an external drive...specifically for windows programs?

ps...I've read the threads on Bootcamp.

I have a new macbook pro 2,6 Ghz i7, 8GB 1600Mhz internal ram. He will not boot from an external disk with operating system Snow Leopard

I have a new macbook pro 2,6Ghz i7, 8GB 1600 Mhz internal ram, but he will not boot from an external disk with operating system Snow Leopard.

These Macs shipped with 10.7, and will run nothing older than that:
MacBook Pro
Date introduced
Original Mac OS X included
(see Tips 1 and 3)
Later Mac OS X included
(see Tip 1)
Mac OS X Build(s)
(see Tip 2)
MacBook Pro (Retina, Mid 2012)
Jun 2012
10.7.4
11E2068
MacBook Pro (15-inch, Mid 2012)
Jun 2012
10.7.4
11E2617
MacBook Pro (13-inch, Mid 2012)
Jun 2012
10.7.4
11E2617
MacBook Pro (13-inch, Late 2011)
Oct 2011
10.7.2
10.7.3
11C74, 11C2002, 11D2001
MacBook Pro (15-inch, Late 2011)
Oct 2011
10.7.2
10.7.3
11C74, 11C2002, 11D2001
MacBook Pro (17-inch, Late 2011)
Oct 2011
10.7.2
10.7.3
11C74, 11C2002, 11D2001

Will the late 2013 Mac Pro boot from an external drive (4Tb, USB 3) with a cloned Win7 x64 partition on it?

Hello all,
I ordered a CTO Mac Pro for heavy rendering and animating work, and I am planning on using bootcamp to install a windows partition (for 3DsMax). As I am now using a HP Elitebook 8770W that has several valuable files and projects on it, I have bought a Seagate 4Tb external Desktop Drive that uses USB 3.0 to use as a backup drive. Now, as I saw that Bootcamp Assistant only supports installing a x64 version of Windows 8, my question is:
Will a late 2013 Mac Pro using bootcamp assistant boot from an external USB drive with a cloned partition running x64 win7? Or do I really have to buy Windows 8 and install that to my internal SSD, and then use the migration assistant to copy over my projects?
Thanks!

Posted? or found in new builds?
BCA should really just pull whatever the latest drivers are when run.
If it is with how it partitions and sets up nMP and its partition for Windows that is another matter and makes sense.
Some people want UEFI native booting in Windows, and my experieince with that on PCs has been that it boots faster and runs well, but has different partitions that it wants. For one thing, there is now a backup "system reserved" partition, just as Apple GUID has some volume information blocks and backup and areas that were once optional (and if format erase was not able to, it would not create one) are now mandatory.
Windows 8.1 is req'd, reason a backup should be a big must - is it might overwrite and use another OS's partition table entries. Especially when doing UEFI install.
There was something about which linux OS was safe and how they would each add entries in the table, but one would not place nice. That one had to be done first or not at all.

How can I boot from an external drive?

I am unsuccessful trying to have the external backup drive to boot the Powerbook. I tried first a USB Lacie Mobile Disk, then thinking USB was the problem I got a FireWire Little Disk of the same brand. None will boot even if the disk appears in the startup disk control panel. When I boot with option key, the choice is no longer there. Maybe they require a power supply other than the USB power lead? Any experience?

USB drives are not bootable for PowerBooks. FireWire drive usually needs to be used with the power supply since it consumes more power than the USB
Right! So there is no way to boot from an external without a power source.
Thanks Arnie.

Booting from a external drive with Option key?

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