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!

Similar Messages

Booting from an external optical drive

Hi everyone.
I have an iMac 24'' 2.4 Ghz.
The superdrive has died...
Since I have no idea if any internal optical drive can be replaced with the superdrive, my next option would be to get an external one.
my question is, can it become bootable?
For example, would I be able to reinall MacOS X from the external one and if yes, how? do I press the "C" key on start (or will that just try to access the dead superdrive)?
Thank you in advance.

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!

Why won't it let me boot from my external optical drive?

Alright here's what I'm working with.
Macbook Pro (late 2011)
16gb ram
128gb SDD
750gb HDD (both internal, took the optical drive out and did a data doubler)
2.2 intel core i7
I'm trying to install windows 7 on a partition of my second hard drive. When I run through bootcamp, all goes well, creates partition and then restarts. Now when it restarts, it comes up with a Windows looking screen with a black screen and white underscore flashing in the top left corner of the screen, as if we were in terminal. I know the disk is not the problem, as I have tested it and run it perfectly on another computer to make sure, and I previously used it to parition my original hard drive. Also, when I restart and hold the option key to determine which drive I want to boot off of, only my Mac OSX drive (SSD) and recovery drive shows up (built into OSX Lion).

mikeboyd941 wrote:
How could I put bootcamp/windows 7 on a paritition of the second hard drive?
You'll have to place the optical drive back into the machine.
Then create BootCamp partition on the primary OS X boot drive and install Windows 7 there.
Then return the other hard drive to the optical bay, run BootCamp and create the partition there (??)
Next use WinClone (MacUpdate.com), it runs in OS X, to clone the BootCamped Windows partiton to the other drive or partition on that drive.
Once Windows is there, you can go to Disk Utility and delete the BootCamp partition, absorb the space back into Macintosh HD partition.
You will have to create a GUID partition table on the other drive first (Disk Utility> Partition> Options, this will delete all data on the drive) as EFI of Mac's can only boot if there is a GPT, then you can have many partitions, one will be for Windows
(format NTFS somehow? or perhaps WinClone will do it for you? Mac's don't format NTFS that Windows requires)
the other partitions can be formatted for other uses. FAT, exFAT, OS X's HFS+ etc.
I do hear that Windows is picky about what partition it's installed in #1 or #2 should be fine , also you should do this before Windows validates with Lord Redmond or else when you Winclone, you'll have to revalidate and it takes a few days to enable it, then to get all the updates you need installed or your Windows could get pwned fast.
I haven't done this WinClone thing, I prefer virtual machines myself so I can update Windows from clean verisons,
Pointing the way is the best I can do.
Drives, partitions, formatting w/Mac's + PC's
Windows in BootCamp or Virtual Machine?

MBP Late 2010, How can I install Win7 Boot Camp using External Optical Driv

Hello:
I have a new MBP purchased in February. It's not the 2011 model. I replaced the Optical drive with an SSD drive and put the optical drive in an external enclosure. The Optical drive works great, reads, writes, etc. My Windows 7, Pro 64bit DVD works also, tested on a PC.
I use the Boot Camp assistant to create a partition. It them reboots and never starts up from the optical drive. I get an Apple logo alternating with a stop sign.
I have got back to OS X by starting with the Option key and choosing my OS X volume.
I tried booting to the DVD by using the option key, that did not work. I then choose the EFI option which allowed me to hit any key and appeared to boot from the external optical drive. Windows setup screen came up and I hit enter to start the file loading process. It eventually stopped when the progress bar was all the way across the screen. Then nothing.
Questions {Please give definitive answers, not guesses, thanks :)}
1) Is it possible to setup a boot camp Windows installation without an internal optical drive? Yes/No.
2) If yes, how?
3) I see the rEFIt utility has helped some but I read mixed reports. Will this help me boot and run Windows setup from an external optical drive? I don't want to install it if it's not known to be a certain fix.
4) Is my only options to reinstall the optical drive?
I chatted to OWC the vendor that sells the bracket. They had no idea how to install a Windows BC partition without an internal drive.
I am seriously discouraged by what seems to be Apple wanting to control everything. I had a Mac Pro and Air book in my future but now, it's on hold.
Thanks in advance,
Kevin

I tried what you are doing with a 2007 MBP, and could not get any Windows CD s to boot from an external optical drive, firewire or USB.
I think this is fundamental to Windows which won't boot from an external USB drive either even on a Windows machine (although I believe there may be complex ways of achieving this). I don't think this is Apple trying to control the world.
I ended up taking the MCE Optibay out and putting the original optical drive back in.
Just possible that something has changed between a 2007 MBP and 2010 MBP, but I doubt it.
If you want the second internal HD, you have two options:-
1. Put the Apple optical back in, install Windows, then take out the optical and refit the SSD. The external optical will still be able to install windows apps and data etc, just not boot any windows install CDs or utilities (like Paragon rescue disks). You will not be able to do a Windows repair install without refitting the optical.
2. Parallels, which has come a long way in the last two years. I am 99% certain that Parallels will install from an external optical.
Message was edited by: Mike Boreham
Message was edited by: Mike Boreham
Message was edited by: Mike Boreham

How do you reinsatll snow leopard from an external optical drive

Both my hard drive and superdrive crapped out. How do i reinstall from an external USB optical drive? I am having a complete brain **** at the moment!

If your replacing your internal hard drive, why not also get the Superdrive replaced?
The OS X install disk supposedly won't boot from a external optical drive, only the internal one.
To OS X onto your new internal drive, your going to need another Mac with optical drive to take 10.6 off the disk and place it onto a bootable USB. Any Mac should do, as the 10.6 installer isn't going to be booted .
http://www.maciverse.com/install-os-x-snow-leopard-from-usb-flash-drive.html
Other methods, requires another compatible Mac.
If you have machine specific 10.6 disks and you have another exact model of Mac, you can use a SATA to USB adapter (or enclosure) to use boot the second Mac with the disk and install 10.6 on the "extenral" drive, then place it back inside the other Mac.
If you have the 10.6.3 white retail so called "upgrade disk" for 10.5 (it also has the full 10.6 on it) and you have another Intel Mac that it's OS X version originally came with anything 10.6.2 or earlier, then it will boot that disk to install on the "external" drive, then it can be placed back into the other Mac.
How to erase and install Snow Leopard 10.6
Another internal drive access method is to use Firewire Target Disk Mode
http://support.apple.com/kb/HT1661
Also one can use a external drive to install the compatible OS X version onto, then option key boot the Mac with the new drive off the external, install Carbon Copy Cloner and clone the extenral to the newly formatted internal drive.
Most commonly used backup methods

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)

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.

How do I boot from an external CD drive?

On a different thread, I've been reporting problems with my internal HD.
When I went to Disk Utility and ran Verify Disk on the HD, I got the error back telling me that the Mac HD needs repairing. Now, to run the repair facility, I seem to have to reboot from the OS X CD rather than the Mac HD.
Trouble is, my internal optical drive failed some time ago (seems to be a known fault with iMacs that have the MATSHITADVD-R UJ-846 optical drive) and I've been using an external optical drive connected via firewire with no problems...until now. When I went to reboot from the CD (holding the C button down whilst selecting Reboot), my Mac just booted again from the internal HD.
How do I reboot from an external CD?
If I can do this, I can run the disk repair utility and hopefully all will then be well...
(Please spell out any suggestions for me as I am really quite new to all this stuff - Thanks!)

Hi Chris.
What is the version of the OS on the computer and what is the version of the OS Disc that you have inserted?
Make sure you have inserted the same version of the OS disc that is currently running on the computer.
For Example. If there is 10.5.x running on your computer, you have to insert 10.5 Disc and boot to it.
Cheers,
Gop's.

How do I boot from an external hard drive if my MacBook Pro only recognizes the internal drive?

Hi there, I recently got the white screen of death (w/ circle slash) on my 13" 2009 MacBook Pro. Most people are saying that it is hard drive failure, so I am trying to boot it from an external hard drive to save some of my data before having it repaired. Unfortunately, every time I press "option" while it boots, it only shows the internal drive on the grey screen. I have my external drive connected, but it won't recognize it. What should I do?
Thanks!

Welcome to the Apple Support Communities
You can only start from an external drive if OS X is installed there. If not, it won't appear as a bootable volume because there isn't any operating system inside it.
As you have a Mid 2009 MacBook Pro, it's better to start from the Mac OS X disc that came with your Mac. Insert it and hold the C key while your Mac is starting. After starting, go to Utilities menu > Disk Utility, select "Macintosh HD" in the sidebar and repair it. If you can't get it repaired, take the computer to an Apple Store.
If the hard drive can't be repaired, the only option to recover your files is to use an application as DiskWarrior, but it's expensive and it's not sure that it will work, because it may fail

Advice needed: Cannot boot from new external SATA drive/enclosure.

I replaced my two internal drives with 1Tb Seagate ST31000340AS drives.
I also bought a Mercury Elite Pro external enclosure from Other World Computing (OWCMEFW924AL2K) and populated that with two more of the same drives.
I have RAID disabled and am using Super Duper! to backup/clone my two internal drives to the two external drives. The drives are all working fine, as are all the possible connections (USB2, FW400 and FW800).
After a backup/clone, the Disk Info in Disk Utility shows the external system drive clone to be bootable (which it should be, as my previous external drives were). However, any attempt to boot from the drive via the launch-option key method or by changing the startup disk in the preference panes fails. With the latter I get a brief blinking folder question mark, then it reverts to booting from the internal system drive. With the former, I am not even shown the external drive as a boot volume.
So, what could possible going on here? All the hardware and cables check out, and in all the time I've used Super Duper! it has always created bootable backup drives.
I have tried both FW400 and FW800 connections for the boot, and nada.
I'm really at a loss to explain what might be going on.

After a lengthy live support session last night, and a further phone call to their tech support today, we both realized we had run out of ALL options to fix the problem. (There is nothing you could imagine that we didn't try).
In the end, OWC were kind enough to offer an overnight crosship of a replacement enclosure. I guess their suspicion is that there is a defect on the board in the enclosure. We'll see once I get the replacement...

Booting from an external firewire drive

I bought an external hard drive (Western Digital, 320 gb, firewire). First, I erased the disk and formatted it as Mac Os Extended (Journaled).
I cloned my internal drive (using SuperDuper) on to the new external drive. My goal is to have an alternate bootable drive in case my internal drive fails. However, it will not boot on it even though it may be selected as the startup disk. And will not come up as an option when holding down the option key while booting. I've read about a similar problem that was posted but the solution confused me. Can you give me a solution to this problem?

First you should prep the drive correctly as follows:
Extended Hard Drive Preparation
1. Open Disk Utility in your Utilities folder.
2. After DU loads select your hard drive (this is the entry with the mfgr.'s ID and size) from the left side list. Click on the Partition tab in the DU main window.
3. Set the number of partitions from the dropdown menu (use 1 partition unless you wish to make more.) Set the format type to Mac OS Extended (Journaled.) Click on the Partition button and wait until the volume(s) mount on the Desktop.
4. Select the volume you just created (this is the sub-entry under the drive entry) from the left side list. Click on the Erase tab in the DU main window.
5. Set the format type to Mac OS Extended (Journaled.) Click on the Options button, select the button for Zero Data (single pass) and click on OK to return to the Erase window.
6. Click on the Erase button. The format process may take up to several hours depending upon the drive size.
Steps 4-6 are optional but should be used on a drive that has never been formatted before, if the format type is not Mac OS Extended, if the partition scheme has been changed, or if a different operating system (not OS X) has been installed on the drive.
After formatting has completed select the volume you must created from the left side list, then click on the Restore tab in the DU main window. Drag the new volume to the Destination field. Drag your startup volume from the left side list to the Source field. Click on the Restore button.
After cloning has completed quit DU. Open Startup Disk preferences, select the new volume and click on the Restart button. Your computer should boot from the external drive.

Installing Windows from an external optical drive?

My superdrive recently died, and I replaced it with an external drive that's been able to read and burn everything I need it to without a problem, including using it to install Snow Leopard.
I tried to use it to install Windows (Vista Home Premium, if that matters) with Boot Camp, but when it comes to starting the actual installation, the computer doesn't seem to see the drive at all. It will start up, with the chime and the grey startup screen, but that's as far as it gets. It will stay on that screen until I restart it and go back into the Mac partition by pressing option at startup.
Is there a way to make it boot to the Windows disc in the external drive? Failing that, is there a way to use Boot Camp successfully with a non-disk source, like an external hard drive or flash drive with the Windows data on it? Any help will be greatly appreciated.

The Hatter:
Thanks for your reply. My purpose is temporary and to document the process of installing Windows in to a Boot Camp partition on a system that does not have an internal Optical drive.
I did this succesfully using bits of information from three documents. I want to go through the process again, this time documenting my steps for the benefit of others and me in the future. You may or maynot know, installing Windows with Boot Camp without an INTERNAL optical drive is difficult and require a hack using Parallels, copying the VM MBR, etc.
I should have documented it the first time but I doubted if it would work.
So, I want a second BC partition, on my second internal drive without touching my working BC patrition on the SSD.
Make more sense?
Thanks,
Kevin

Trying to boot from an external hard drive - drive not recognized at boot

I am trying to upgrade my Operating system. I am going from Mac OS 10.4.11 to Mac OS 10.6.
Hardware:
Model Name:
MacBook Pro 15"
Model Identifier:
MacBookPro1,1
Processor Name:
Intel Core Duo
Processor Speed:
2.16 GHz
Number Of Processors:
1
Total Number Of Cores:
2
L2 Cache (per processor):
2 MB
Memory:
2 GB
Bus Speed:
667 MHz
To backup my existing environment I bought Seagate Free Agent GoFlex 500GB for PC and Mac. USB 3.0 but backward comaptible to USB 2.0 which is what my laptop is. The system requirements included support for 10.4.11. I attached the drive to my lap top and used disk utility to format to Mac Extended OS (journaled). It recognized the drive immediately.
I used SuperDuper 2.6.4 to copy all files to the external drive. It seemed to copy just fine. It said it made the drive bootable. TO test it, I shutdown the system and started it back up with the option key pressed, but it only gave me my original HD as a choice to boot from. When the system came up, it didn't recognize the external drive. I unplugged the drive and re attached it and it seemed to recognize it, I trued to reboot again and it doesn't recognize the hard drive on reboot. Only when I un attach and reattach it.
Any ideas?
Thanks in advance.

I haven't forgotten, it just takes forever to get to a result when backing up an entire system.
So here's what I did. I agree with this idea:
Limnos wrote:
mac-sales.com I mentioned above is the OWC Ogelthorpe uses.
I suspect StartupDisk is seeing a nicely mounted drive connected in a bootable interface (USB) with all the needed files (palced there by SuperDuper). However, what it doesn't know if that drive isn't really accessible until the computer has properly booted because the chipset doesn't work without full system support. This is not at all unusual in external drives. Many years ago you really has to insist upon having an Oxford chipset in an enclosure to guarantee booting, but for general backup use any chipset was fine.
I had an old Lacie drive I have used for file backups over the years:
Disk:
Name :
LaCie Group SA
Type :
Disk
Disk Identifier :
disk1
Media Name :
WDC WD80 0BB-00JHC0 Media
Media Type :
Generic
Connection Bus :
FireWire
Connection Type :
External
Connection ID :
58629628097197639
Partition Type :
GUID_partition_scheme
Device Tree :
/PCI0@0/PCIB@1E/FRWR@3/node@d04b560c0bf647/sbp-2@c000/@0:0
Writable :
Yes
Ejectable :
Yes
Mac OS 9 Drivers Installed :
No
Location :
External
Total Capacity :
74.5 GB (80,026,361,856 Bytes)
S.M.A.R.T. Status :
Not Supported
Disk Number :
1
Partition Number :
0
Name :
Macintosh HD
Type :
Volume
Disk Identifier :
disk1s2
Mount Point :
/Volumes/Macintosh HD 1
File System :
Mac OS Extended (Journaled)
Connection Bus :
FireWire
Partition Type :
Apple_HFS
Device Tree :
/PCI0@0/PCIB@1E/FRWR@3/node@d04b560c0bf647/sbp-2@c000/@0:2
Writable :
Yes
Universal Unique Identifier :
438A4768-6F2C-3A0A-96A3-AEF60B7B8815
Capacity :
44.5 GB (47,768,887,296 Bytes)
Free Space :
4.2 GB (4,464,005,120 Bytes)
Used :
40.3 GB (43,304,882,176 Bytes)
Number of Files :
432,903
Number of Folders :
97,585
Owners Enabled :
No
Can Turn Owners Off :
Yes
Can Be Formatted :
Yes
Bootable :
Yes
Supports Journaling :
Yes
Journaled :
Yes
S.M.A.R.T. Status :
Not Supported
Disk Number :
1
Partition Number :
2
I moved everything from the Lacie to the SEaget - at least is it will be useful for something!
Erased the Lacie, partitioned it to 2 partitions.
Formnatted the partition GUID as suggested. I had named the partition for the backup something cutre like 10.4.11 OS clone.
Used Disk Utility>Restore to backup/clone the environment.
During the backup, it renamed the partition Macintosh HD, which was encouraging. After waiting a very long time for the backup, I was able to try to test booting from it and received many diagnostic errors including permission type errors, some of the files in /etc did not beloing to root. I have a couple of things I am going to try but thought I'd throw it out here since you guys have kept me pointed in the right direction.
Any more ideas as to why the drive won' t boot? Did I not give the partition enough space? Is it the chipset thing?

Booting from an external optical drive (Liteon ETAU108-01 or other)

Similar Messages

Maybe you are looking for