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.

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How do I run system recovery dvd from an external dvd drive?

I am having trouble trying to restore my DV 6000 (dv6915nr) from an external dvd drive. I am aware that this laptop has had several hardware issues, including the loss of use of the internal dvd drive and have tried all the fixes that I could find,including changing filter settings in the registry, changinging the boot order in the bios and even removing the intenal drive. Since none of these fixes worked, I removed the hard drive and installed window 7 Prodessional in a desktop computer. After reinstalling drive in laptop, I installed all the Vista drivers from HP. Computer works fine except for sound card and Nic that failed and have been replaced by USB devices. Simce I am not 100% sure the hardware failures are motherboard failures and not software, I would really like to run my System Restore DVDs that I purchased from HP. And that's where I need help.
I am A Plus and Network Plus certified, so I am pretty sure that I have tried all the obvious soutions. Evedrything turned on, checked the cables, accessed dvd in wimdows and even ran restore disk in a desktop machine to the point that it told me I was trying to restore the wong computer. I downloaded a program called Win To Flash that allows you to copy a setup disk to an external hard drive, but that didn't work. HP restore disk does not have Setup file on it, so it wouldn't copy to drive. Tried just copying the disk to external and that didn't work either. Also tried switching drive letters D and E without any success.
Bios choices are:
USb floppy
ATAPI cd/dvd rom drive
USB diskette on key
Notebook Hard drive
Network Adapter
Original restore partition is long gone.
I would rather restore it with an external Hard drive, not an USB memory stick. I think both would work the same. I do have an USB floppy drive, if there is some way of starting installation from floppies.
Like I said, I really like the computer, even with all its faults, but I would like to restore it to its original Operating System.

Some progress, I got it to try to boot from an external hard drive. Downloaded a program called WINToboot. tried to run it, got as far as formatting my hard drive and might have loaded some kind of boot program. Would not copy my restore disks because they did not have set up program. Copied both restore disks to hard drive and tried to boot laptop. F0 produced choose external hard drive choice. Got "no OS found" error. only choice ctl alt del. I think I am headed in right direction. Just need to know what to load on external hard drive.

Booting From An External DVD Burner

Hi,
My Parents' Leopard copy will arrive in a few days, and since the iMac G5's drive is dead, I was wondering if the install process will be possible from an external DVD drive device.
PS: I also have an iPod 30 gig (if it's impossible via the DVD drive, is it possible via the iPod?)

IMPORTANT: is it normal that when I boot from the external Drive (Firewire) the grey screen with the Apple (start up screen) remains static for a long time? (the loading "flower" doesn't show up) .
I need a reply please, because keeping the Mac on that start up screen would be stupid... if it's useless.
Thanks

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.

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)

How can I watch a DVD from my external DVD drive on my desktop?

How can I watch a DVD from my external dvd drive on my desktop?

In addition to garyfromrio linda's excellent response, make sure you go into System Preferences>Hardware>CDs & DVDs. Set it to When you insert a DVD: Open DVD Player

Can an iMac Boot from a FireWire DVD Drive?

My superdrive just died and I'd like to know if its functionality can be completely restored with an external FireWire drive, in particular can it be used to boot the Mac?
Thanks!

Hello Tyler,
Yes you can boot from an External Firewire drive.
You may not be able to restore the broken drive though.
Disk Warrior may help some...
http://www.alsoft.com/DiskWarrior/
Hope that helps
Regards
Ian

How do I install Tiger on a G3 iMAC from an external DVD drive?

I want to install Tiger on my PPC G3 iMAC. It is 500MHZ with 512 MB Ram, running 10.3.9. It has a CD drive, but CD version of Tiger is no longer available. I purchased a retail version of Tiger, and, on the advice of the Apple Store personnel, purchased an external DVD drive. It is a USB Lacie drive. My iMAC sees the DVD, but when I click the Install icon, it has a Restart button. Clicking the button restarts for 10.3.9. Same thing happens when I use the "C" key. When I try to assign the DVD drive as the startup drive, it says "ding" and won't assign it. What can I do next?

Take the DVD drive back and exchange it for a Firewire model. You cannot boot the iMac from a USB drive. This is basic information your Apple store personnel should know unless you failed to tell them what Mac model you have.

Internal DVD drive is shot. Can I install SL from an external DVD drive?

Hi folks, a quick (well actually a few) questions.
I've had my imac since early '06. It's currently running Tiger, and I'd like to install Snow Leopard. The problem is that the internal DVD drive is shot. It's been occasionally refusing to accept DVDs for a while now, and now it has a DVD stuck in it (not mounted), which I can't get out via terminal, rebooting, or jiggling it (technical term I know).
Now, I'm going to assume that getting apple to replace the DVD drive will be more expensive than just grabbing an external drive, especially as I'll most probably only use it once. The question is, if I grab a cheap external DVD drive, will I be able to install Snow Leopard with it? Or will Tiger not recognise it as a boot drive?
Many thanks,
Chris
p.s. Also, I'm using a cheapo windows style keyboard (will be replacing asap), and I'm wondering if this is why I can't see bootable drives when holing option on startup?

Yes, you can install from an external drive, although I wouldn’t go for a cheap one. There are good, relatively inexpensive, drives out there. And you are going to need that option key to select the install disk as your startup. I believe there is a corresponding key on a PC keyboard, but I don’t know what it is (maybe Alt?). I’m sure someone can jump in here and tell us.

How to boot from an external dvd/cd because your superdrive is broken

This is in response to a previous archived thread that was never fully answered, found here:
https://discussions.apple.com/message/12410086#12410086
Advice given on previous thread that did not work for me:
You have to hold the ALT key in order to boot from the external drive.
~Lyssa
This advice is correct, except here are the full directions:
1. Press power and startup macbook OR click on apple icon in upper right corner and click restart.
2. As computer starts/restarts, hold down the option (ALT) key until you see a choice of options to boot from. There will not be an option for external cd/dvd, until the computer has finished reading that drive.
3. Wait as much as a 30 seconds to 5 minutes as macbook recognizes the bootable disk in the external cd/dvd drive. As long as the drive is making noise/reading disk, wait it out. The new selection will appear on its own.
4. Select dvd to boot from, then click the arrow below. It will begin to boot from that drive and install/reinstall your OSX.
5. Follow the prompts to install OSX
Notes: I was using a macbook 4,1 and external dvd burner with separate power supply, and Mac OSX Install disc that came with my macbook (OSX 10.5.4)

Your Mac requires a firmware (Boot ROM version in System Profiler) update to 4.2.8 See Mac OS X: Available firmware updates
http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=86117 The update should be installed (using OS 9) BEFORE you install OS X.
If you depress the Option key at startup, which activates the Startup Manager, does the external drive show up?
 Cheers, Tom

Can I initialize my hard drive and install from an external DVD drive?

My PowerBook's showing signs of problems and I think it needs to be reinitialized. The only sticking point is that its Super Drive is jammed and I can't get an audio CD out that's been stuck in there for an embarassingly long time. Last year I was able to update OS X from Panther to Tiger with my external firewire DVD-RW. It booted from the external drive without any problems and the update went smoothly. Now, though, I want to boot from the external drive so that I can erase and rebuild my hard drive. Does anyone foresee any problems doing that?
PowerBook G4 1.33 GHz Mac OS X (10.4.8)

should be no problem - external drive can be either selected as startup drive form System Preferences or by holding down "option" key on restart.
after machine is booted from the external drive, formatting/installing supposed to work.
if there is power on built-in optical drive, sometimes it's possible to get stuck disc out by poking at it with some thin stiff piece of paper like business card etc.

Install Tiger from an external DVD drive?

I have an old blue & white G3 OS 9.2.1 and I want to install Tiger.
Internal cd drive but an external dvd reader/writer.
Does anyone know how to get the CPU to recognize the external dvd drive for startup?
I tried changing in startup menu - drive was not allowed to be accessed.
Is it all possible to install with a dvd internal drive?
Hughrayfeather

That machine will not recognize an external DVD reader/writer as a bootable system.
You can get the Tiger Media Exchange on http://www.apple.com/macosx/upgrade/ on the right hand side, which is a CD version of Tiger.
Only newer AGP PowerMac G4s and iMac G3s and iBook G3s with Firewire can boot off external Firewire drives.
For more on upgrading to Mac OS X, also see this FAQ:
http://www.macmaps.com/macosxnative.html
Disclaimer: Reference to links I make to my Macmaps.com website are a for your information only type reference. I do not get any profit from this page, and it is open to the public.

Notebook NB200 cannot boot from USB CD/DVD drive / flashing cursor

I have a toshiba nb200-11L just under 2 years old (no warranty!). Recently it developed a problem which prevents it from booting up and all that happens is that I get a flashing cursor in the top left corner of a black screen. The only options availavle are F2 and F12 but these will not allow me to enter either safemode or to use the toshiba recovery option.
I have purchased the toshiba recovery disk on cd rom in order to complete a re-install but the bios only shows HDD and FDD as options, and there does not appear to be any way of adding further options.
I have checked the hard drive which appears to be ok. I am concerned that the problem may be the motherboard which I suspect will make any repair uneconomical.
Any suggestions will be much appreciated.
Thanks. Keith

I do not know what BIOS version it is, but I have set the BIOS to default. I suspect that there may be a problem with the external dvd drive, as I have plugged it in to another laptop and it is not being recognised. I am going to try another one tomorrow - fingers crossed!

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!

Booting from an external DVD drive

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