Booting from external hdd

booting from an external hdd through the usb port - can it be done on my g3 imac indigo?

For the FireWire port, it's not a theory; it will work. However, I do not know of any adapter that will allow a USB 2.0 drive to connect to the FireWire port.
You should buy a good quality external drive enclosure and transplant the drive. You can often find cheap ones by looking on dealmac.com
http://dealmac.com/categories/Computer/Storage/Drive-Enclosures/Fire-Wire-Drive- Enclosures/369.html
However, I prefer better quality enclosures even if they cost a bit more. OWC (www.macsales.com) sells some good enclosures with no drive. I have a Macally aluminum (fanless) case that I got from Amazon; it has been reliable with several different drives inside.

Similar Messages

Help booting from external hdd

So I ran disk utility on my internal HDD and received a message telling me to back up as much info and reformat. I purchased a 3TB WD My Studio external and CCC. I followed the instructions via CCC to format and create the recovery partition afterwhich I cloned my internal HDD. When I go to boot from the external, holding the option key down, I first get a message to connect wireless keyboard followed by Disk Utility activation. After quiting Disk Utility I'm promted to select startup disk which I selected the WD Mybook drive followed by restart. After restart nothing except a light grey screen. Any help is greatly appreciated! Thanks in advance.

babowa Pacific NW
Anyway, I don't use TM as I don't care for it. I use bootable clones - I have two of every system I'm running. However, I also still want the recovery partition. And, when I upgraded my MBP to an SSD, I installed the "ex" internal drive in the external enclosure for an instant backup copy.
Yeah, the board is messed up tonight lots of posts you cant see.
I just posted this 2 days ago on this topic...., see what you think:
Ideal philosophy and security of your valuable data
I dont care for TM either, same reason DS store doesnt. Also there are no Pros using TM as an archive or storage utility.
Agreed, but if you have this >
http://support.apple.com/kb/DL1433
Then you youve got a recovery partition.
babowa Pacific NW
However, I also still want the recovery partition.
But WHY?? If youve got clones like myself, what use for a recovery partition? ...I Dont need it, never will.

Cannot boot from external HDD on Satellite L100-130

My os is Wxp-Pro,when i create a image with Acronis treu image, put the image on the ex HDD.
Restart en boot from cd/dvd,,my system will not see the ex H-D.
How is this possible ???
(SATELLITE L100-130)
Please mail to :[email protected]

My new install(xp PRO)see the usb,because when i put in my ex-H-D it works,but only in windows.
When i restart,boot from cd/cdrom,put in acronis cd,my notebook will not pickup my ex-hd.
I don't have to enable usb in acronis.
That's why I find it strange.
It works,,only when I juse the recover cd(xp HOME) from toshiba,and install it,then i can boot from cd/cdrom,put in acronis cd,and there i can SEE my ex H-D.and replace the image!!
I have give it a try on my desktop,the same version xp pro,and it works,it see my ex H-D,why not on my notebook,is there something wrong whit the usb on my notebook??
Gr.Gerrie

No BIOS support for USB? Cannot boot from USB HDD

Hi,
I was attempting to install a couple of operating systems (Linux, Windows Vista CTPs) on my external hard disk (USB 2.0, Firewire). And I cannot seem to - because there does not seem to be any way to specify USB device support in your boot sequence. It seems the BIOS configuration is limited to these 5 basic icons (no text underneath to even let you know what they stand for) - which seem to stand for HDD, CD/DVD, network, etc, but no USB hard drives (I don't believe FDD counts)?
Windows Vista's installation for example complains that the BIOS does not support booting off my external hard disk - as does linux.
Or am I missing something . . . ?
Regards,
-krish

Hi Krish
As far as I know it is not possible to boot from external HDD. If you want to install more different operating systems you can do it directly on the notebook HDD or even install them as virtual machine. I use VMware Workstation and I have install two different operating systems there (W2K and Linux).

Boot from external USB HDD - Tecra M5

Hi!
Does anyone know is it possible to boot OS from external HDD connected to notebook via USB-port? There is "HDD priority" in BIOS setup with an ability to choose: USB - Built-in - Second HDD. But it doesn't work :(
I tried to boot Windows 98 from the same external USB-HDD on my home computer. Everything is OK...
The version of my Tecra M5 BIOS is 3.20.
TIA

Hi
You can boot from the second HDD if this HDD was placed in the SelectBay but not if the HDD was connected to the USB port.
Only this devices are bootable:
USB FDD, Primary HDD, SelectBay devices, Network(LAN), SD-CARD

A40: Booting from external USB HDD

Hi guys.
Who could help me? The problem: I've recently bought USB 2.0 HDD case, the device is working properly and everything is OK, but I can't boot from it.
The model is A40 and USB FDD boot option is available, how could I go around it and make my laptop boot from USB HDD?
Thanks in advance.

Hello
There is no problem at all because this possibility is absolutely not possible. There is no way to do this.
Dont compare external FDD and HDD. They are two different external devices.
Bye

Macbook pro cant boot from external dvd device please help !!!!

hello everyone please help me i have macbook pro 2011 core i5 version
i just installed 2.5 ssd as second hdd
i cant boot from external dvd device to install any os the external dvd keeps on spining and mac is just thinking it doesnt show press any key to install
it shows the device when a boot into mac parition
i am trying to install windows on origianl 500 gb hdd and linux on ssd
but not luck
the external dvd drive works i pluged into my pc and it works
please help thansk in advance
200 gb mac
300 gb windows
120 ssd linux

I do not know about Disk Warrior but if you have a compatible OSX on an external HDD you certainly can boot the MBP. Use startup manager:
https://support.apple.com/en-us/ht1310
Ciao.

2010 13" MBP Wont boot from internal. Will boot from external

This is fairly long winded, I will try to be as clear as i can.
Last week my 13" MBP refused to boot after running out of battery during sleep.
I have done the following to the original drive:
Booted from Lion Recovery, repaired, verified, and repaired/verified permissions.
Booted from Snow Leopard DVD, done the above.
Used Disk Utility on another Mac, done the above.
The drive still will not boot from the internal cable.
I can see the drive when attached internally, but cannot do any of the above actions as it is "unable to unmount"
I can boot from the drive if I use a USB external adaptor.
I bought a new hard drive....
I have done all the same on the new HDD with additionaly installing fresh Lion / Snow Leopard to the new drive whilst its in the internal position (Leopard from the DVD originating with my laptop, Lion from Lion Recovery whilst the other drive was on USB) but still having the same problem when it comes to booting - i.e. wont boot from internal. will boot from external USB.
Ideally I would like to end up with a lean install of lion, on the new hdd, booting from inside the laptop.
Please help, this is driving me mad.

I think you have solved your own problem. If you have two different HD's and they both do not work once connected, but do when placed in an external enclosure, then I would think it has something to do with the connection.
Slap the old drive back in the machine, and take it to the genius bar, and have them diagnose it. Hopefully they will have an answer for you. If not, bring the other drive too inside he external enclosure, and show them that it boots via the external.
Then, lay the whammy on them, and tell them that the original drive works inside the enclosure too.
Would be interesting to know what the actual issue is, and the resolution as well...

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.

Cannot boot from external SSD ...

Hello,
I have just made a fresh install of Mavericks on a brand new Samsung 840 EVO SSD (I initially erased the drive and formatted it to Mac OS Extended Journaled, then created a USB installation drive and performed the installation on the SSD …). It all went well, the computer restarted during this 30 min or so process … However, the problem is when I try to boot in the Samsung SSD at startup having the ALT key pressed, I can only see the 10.8.5 and its recovery partition … Any ideas as to why it doesn't show up the SSD which is connected via USB 3.0 to my laptop ?
Also, even if I go in Mountaion Lion at the Start-up disk option and select the Samsung SSD with 10.9 it still boots into ML … Has anyone encountered this before ?
Thank you.
*non-Retina Macbook Pro 15 inch, mid-2012

Hi Ralph,
thanks a lot for the helpful information! But the problem still persists, and I don't know what's wrong about the installation. I again checked the case and device are fully compatible with Windows 8 on USB 3 and the current boot camp drivers are installed - so everything should work perfectly fine as Windows 8 does natively support booting from external USB-3-devices.
I personally still assume it's rather a driver related problem as the external SSD doesn't even show up whilst booting into the boot menu with "Alt" pressed - I can only choose to boot from the external SSD within the "start volume" menu in OSX (which then doesn't work out when rebooting, unfortunately). I mean, if there was a chance to boot from the external SSD with the configuration I got right now, but OSX/the iMac just "doesn't know" it shall boot from the external partition and therefore rather chooses the internal boot camp partition, the SSD would at least show up in the boot menu when pressing "Alt" on start-up, or do I go completely wrong? I even tried to rename the internal bootcamp partition (which did not work out) or disable it in order to prevent OSX/the iMac to boot from the internal bootcamp partition, but it didn't help: After rebooting it again chose the internal boot camp partition to start from.
Might the deletion of the internal partition be worth a try? Meaning is there a realistic chance that the issue might be caused by that? I would give it a try although I really don't wanna loose the internal boot camp partition for no good reason (btw: would it be possible to clone an image back from the external SSD to the internal HDD then?). Or do you maybe have any other idea what driver could miss resp. could be wrong about the installation so the boot process from the external SSD fails...?
Again MANY MANY THANKS in advance for your further assistance, everybody!!

Booting from external usb3 drive

Hi, I am trying to boot Linux from an external USB3 drive.
Here are the symptoms.
1. I have uefi boot disabled.
2. I connected a Toshiba USB3 drive to an USB2 port. The device is NOT recognized as a bootable device under Legacy Boot Devices list hence I cannot boot from the USB drive.
3. If I boot from internal HDD, then I can access the USB3 drive without any problems.
4. Plugged in an external USB3 Docking Device to the USB2 socket.
5. Then the USB3 Docking Device is recognized as a Legacy Boot Device and I can boot from the Docking Device.
6. Installed USB3 PCIe card.
7. Connected the USB3 Docking Device to USB3 port.
8. Now I the Docking Device fails to appear as a Legacy Boot Device.
9. Connected the USB3 Docking Device back to the USB2 port and straight away it is now recognized as a Legacy Boot Device.
I would appreciate if any one can give some hints on how to get the USB3 devices recognized as legacy boot devices.
Many thanks.

gdesilva wrote:
Hi, I am trying to boot Linux from an external USB3 drive.
Here are the symptoms.
1. I have uefi boot disabled. (did you mean secure boot?) Did you enable Legacy support?
2. I connected a Toshiba USB3 drive to an USB2 port. The device is NOT recognized as a bootable device under Legacy Boot Devices list hence I cannot boot from the USB drive
3. If I boot from internal HDD, then I can access the USB3 drive without any problems.
4. Plugged in an external USB3 Docking Device to the USB2 socket. This won't help
5. Then the USB3 Docking Device is recognized as a Legacy Boot Device and I can boot from the Docking Device.
6. Installed USB3 PCIe card.
7. Connected the USB3 Docking Device to USB3 port.
8. Now I the Docking Device fails to appear as a Legacy Boot Device.
9. Connected the USB3 Docking Device back to the USB2 port and straight away it is now recognized as a Legacy Boot Device.
I would appreciate if any one can give some hints on how to get the USB3 devices recognized as legacy boot devices.
Many thanks.
Help us to help you by posting the following information.
1. The full Model No. and Product No. of the desktop PC - see This HP web document if you don't how to locate the model number and\or product number.
Enter the BIOS after you have setup the bootable Linux hard disk as shown in the following video andenable usb 3.0 configuration in Pre-OS if it is available in the BIOS. That will enable you to use the USB 3.0 port to boot your usb3 external hard disk with Linux installed.
Which flavor of Linux? The video explains how to do this with Ubuntu.
****Please click on Accept As Solution if a suggestion solves your problem. It helps others facing the same problem to find a solution easily****
2015 Microsoft MVP - Windows Experience Consumer

Yosemite won't Boot from External SSD with Firewire Connection

Seeking help, I boot from external SSD drives from my 2010 iMac. I recently installed Yosemite on an External SSD with a firewire connection and all went well with the installation and first boot. After completing set up and restarting my iMac Yosemite will no longer boot from the firewire connection it will boot to the loading bar and then get the dreaded Goest Buster Emblem, if I swap out the SSD to USB connection it boots normally. I have 6 SSD Drives with Mavericks and Lion installed on that will boot from the Firewire Connection. Any suggestions ?

Additionally when testing while the SSD is connected to a USB Connection and booted if I attach any firewire device they are not recognized or connected to the operating system.

Mobo Support for booting from USB hdd

Hi,
I have a K8N Diamond.
How can I check whether my mobo can support booting from USB hdd?
I know it can boot from the USB-CDROM.
If not, do I need a bios update?

Quote from: Stu on 21-January-08, 00:38:45
How to identify your BIOS and m/b version
But please don't go flashing your BIOS just for the sake of doing so.
Your USB HDD will be listed under Hard Disks in BIOS, there won't be a USB-HDD option
Wow, thanks for the link and the pointer. I've found out where the USB hdd is now.
I won't flash my bios for the sake of that thanks to you, but I'm upgrading to a Dual-Core soon and I realised my bios is w7100nms v1.0.
So I have to flash my bios soon. Any tips regarding this?

How to boot from external Hardisk where sap is installed

Hi friends,
I have an External Hardisk where SAP is installed in it i.e., Win 2003 on C drive & SAP on D drive.
In my laptop Win XP is there, but I am trying to boot with External Hardisk where Win 2003 is installed.
I am selecting to boot from External Hardisk where Win 2003 is installed but it shows the Win 2003 booting screen and the next moment screen becomes black.
So can anyone help me How to boot from Hardisk.
Thanks
santhosh

Hi,
You can not boot OS from USB devices in Windows.
Create the separate drive on your existing disc and install windows on that drive and use ur USB disc for installing SAP.
Hope it'll help u....

How to prevent boot from external devices?

Hello,
Does anyone know how I could disable my imac's boot from external devices (firewire/USB disks etc.) like it can be done on PC hardware by changing BIOS options? Also, how can you password protect your machine pre-boot? I believe both issues are important to protect from unauthorized access (know the "evil maid attack"?)
Many thanks,
Georgios

There is a firmware password feature
http://support.apple.com/kb/HT1352
but there is an ominous Warning below the Summary. It basically sets the hardware so that a password (not the same as you user account password) is needed when you start up the Mac and nothing much can be done without it.
At the most basic level, if you turn off +Automatic Login+ in System Preferences Accounts pane, a login window will appear when you start up. If a different account (or a different drive) is used to start up your iMac, your user account home folder will not be accessible directly. However, the data is not encrypted in any way, so a determined hacker would be able to access your data.
If you want to encrypt your user account home folder, you can use the File Vault feature which is set up in System Preferences Security pane FileVault tab.
http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?path=Mac/10.5/en/8727.html

Booting from external hdd

Similar Messages

Maybe you are looking for