Booting off external firewire drive

Hi Ive cloned my internal imac drive using superduper.
Inside the startup application i can now see my external drive as bootable.
I am trying to boot off the external drive TARGET disk mode. Is this correct to get the os to boot off the external FW drive?

Hello Joe.
You don't use Target disk mode to do so. When connected, you can select the external firewire drive to boot from via System Preferences > Startup Disk or use the Startup Manager during startup or restart.
http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=106178

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Boot from external Firewire Drive-cannot repair or optimize internal drive.

Hi all
Connected my new 300 GB Seagate External Firewire Hard Drive today.
Installed Tiger from DVD. Updated to 10.4.3.
Installed Tech Tool Pro 4. Updated to 4.1.1.
Booted from External Firewire Drive.
Disk Utility cannot Verify or Repair internal drive. Does not say or do anything.
Tech Tool Pro cannot repair volume or optimize. Says, "Cannot Unmount Volume."
Is there a fix for this?
Thank you for the help!
Jeff
eMac 800 nVidia. Mac OS X (10.4.3) 160 GB Internal HD. Pioneer Superdrive. 1 GB RAM.

Hi
I did name the new external completely different from the internal.
After booting from the external Firewire Hard Drive, I tried running Disk Utility and Tech Tool Pro from both drives. No matter which drive I run the Utilities from the same things happen every time...
Nothing happens when trying to use Disk Utility to Verify Volume on internal eMac Drive.
Tech Tool Pro says, "Cannot unmount volume" when trying to check Volume or Optimize internal drive.

My G4 won't boot off a firewire drive cloned from properly-booting drive

I've got a G4 that normally boots 10.3.9 off an external firewire drive. I cloned the drive onto a WesternDigital "MyBook" external hard drive, and connected it via firewire 400. I cloned the 10.3.9 boot drive using SuperDuper to a partition on this drive. But, the G4 refuses to boot off it when I choose it as a startup disk. I see (very briefly) the following
....couldn't read it.... @d/mac-io@7/ata-4@1f000/disk@0:5,\\:tbxi
anyone know what this is, why it won't boot off the clone, and how I can check whether the drive contains a proper 10.3.9 system and is set to be bootable?
Mike

Hi Mike-
How did you know?
I "Googled" it. It's been reported many times, and is included in a couple of reviews.
Problem is, "bootable" can be claimed in Mac's, as it will boot with Intel machines.......
Don't ya' just hate that?????
This review is from a writer for Mac-Centric.

Stupid question: force booting from external FireWire drive

My PowerBook is refusing to boot from it's hard drive (flashing ?/folder), which I'll be attempting to repair using DiskWarrior, etc.
But it's also not finding and booting from the OS X installed on my external FireWire drive (which it could do under normal circumstances). How do I force it to do that given that I'm unable to set the Start Up Volume in the normal manner?
PowerBook G4 17" 1.5GHz 512MB 80GB Mac OS X (10.3.6)

Dale,
Thanks for your response. I've been through the usual stuff as in your reference and I eventually got it to boot off the external HD by just leaving it long enough - it took maybe 10-15 minutes. I'm booted from it now. I hadn't thought of using the Startup Manager, but will try to remember next time.
As for the internal HD, it's looking like it's dead - neither Disk Warrior nor Data Rescue II seem to be able to see it. I tried Disk Utility from the external HD, but it doesn't see it and nor does the Profiler. Maybe it's just a loose connection internally. There is a noise coming from the PB from about just under the division between the left hand rest and the speaker. It sort of sounds like a disk continually being read or written - ie. a sort of very rapid clicking, but I don't think it's the HD. And I don't think it's the fan. Anyone with any ideas before I call AppleCare?
I did have a very similar problem a few weeks ago (http://discussions.apple.com/message.jspa?messageID=1465680#1465680), but Disk Warrior fixed it apparently with next to no problems. I was going to wipe the drive at the weekend & reinstall, but didn't get round to it in the end ... Fortunately I had a backup this time and was able to restore my user simply by copying it.

Can WinXP be loaded and booted from external firewire drive?

The subject line probably says it all but:
Does the recent firmware upgrade and/or BootCamp allow you to install WinXP on an external Firewire drive rather than partitioning the iMac Core Duo's internal drive?
Mike
Intel iMac Mac OS X (10.4.6)

The other problem is XP itself doesn't support booting from firewire. Even if someone could figure out how to install to an external from bootcamp, you would still have to contend with XP.
Glor

Booting from external Firewire drive.

Hello there.
I got a brand new 17" 2g intel iMac and I'm very happy with it.
However I missed my 2 internal drives so I bought another firewire drive to make backups, having an emergency system, etc.
But apparently I can't install a system with this external drive (nor in the second ext. drive I got).
Is this a common issue? Do I have to do something?
(I'm using the Installer CD I got with the iMac).

It is important to note that a traditional APM partition can, in fact, boot an Intel Mac - I have done it on numerous occasions. Specifically,
- A GUID partition is required to install (new) an Intel version of 10.4.x. If the partition is APM, the installer will not recognize it as bootable and will not allow for installation. In this case, the GUID format is required.
- an APM partition can be used to boot the Intel as long as it is cloned.
I've used (and continue to use) Mike Bombich's Carbon Copy Cloner. Despite being a PPC app, it works as expected. I tested this when I first received my Intel iMac since I would inevitably need to use one drive (with multiple partitions of course) to boot a mixture of PPC and Intel Macs at work. As such, I have one external Firewire drive with 3 APM partitions - 1 with 10.3.9 (PPC) for labs that still run Panther, 1 partition with 10.4.x for labs that have upgraded and 1 partition with 10.4.x Intel for the 1 lab where the new Macs are slowly being integrated.

Booting from external Firewire drive--possible?

If I add a USB/Firewire card to my Beige G3 minitower (300MHz), can I then boot from an external Firewire hard drive on which I have installed Panther? A comment by Tina Garfield in another thread seems to suggest this is indeed possible. (I didn't want to "threadjack" that discussion, so I created this new one. I hope Tina sees it and can help me.)
Tina wrote the following:
Having Firewire allows you to have external drives,
which you will be able to boot from, and make
backups and maintenance especially easy.
I was under the impression that the Beige G3 can't see iadd-on Firewire/USB cards until the machine has booted from the internal hard drive. I really hope I am wrong! If it is indeed possible to have the machine recognize the external drive at startup, and there is something I need to do to enable this, please let me know.
Thanks!
GeeKay

Hi GeeKay,
Ditto to everything Grant posted, with an extra reminder to be sure to download XPostFacto 3.1 and not version 4. I believe on the XPF page ( http://eshop.macsales.com/OSXCenter/XPostFacto/Framework.cfm?page=XPostFacto3.ht ml ), the download for 3.1 is a little bit down the page.
If/when you buy an external FW drive be sure it has an Oxford chipset. If the description does not include mention of the the Oxford chipset, I would strongly recommend finding another external drive that does specify this. Our Beiges are very particular about what they will accept for external booting, and the Oxford chipset is a critical component.
Also, I've found, since I do partition my external firewire drives, that I can boot only from the first partition of the external drive, similar to the behavior of our internal drives. In addition, with one of my Beiges, my "helper" disk that I specify to XPostFacto to allow me to boot externally must be the first partition of my internal drive.
I don't believe that you can actually INSTALL to an external drive. I simply cloned my internal drive's system over to the FW drive. This can be done with software such as the free Silverkeeper ( http://www.lacie.com/silverkeeper/ ) or with shareware SuperDuper ( http://www.shirt-pocket.com/ ) which are both great for all backups. I happen to prefer SuperDuper because of its redundancy -- it explains EVERY step before you take it and then, even after you tell it to go ahead, it asks you again to be sure That's what you want to do.
Once set up, however, it is extremely cool, and helpful, to be able to boot externally. If your external drive is dual USB/FW, you will only be able to boot when connected via Firewire. None of the Beiges are USB-bootable.
Hope this helps, and keep us posted,
Tina

IMac 2.8Ghz + booting from external FireWire Drive

I was wondering if anyone has 'booted' from an external FireWire drive using the FireWire 400 port?
After going through the issue of reformatting my external drive with the GU-ID partitioning scheme, I found that the drive would mount on the FW400 port but wouldn't boot. In the end I used the FW800 port and the drive booted up first time. On my old PowerBook I could boot from both FW400 & FW800, does anyone know why FW400 doesn't work or is it my iMac?

If it mounts then you can install OSX or clone OSX and then boot from it. From what you are saying a bootable partition will boot on 400 just not on 800, which is quite odd, I concur.
Note that they are notorious for needing the right power supply and they all look identical - I had problems of recent with a triple extreme 1 TB on FW 800, and took it to LaCie (a mile from where I work) - they told me I was using the wrong power supply and gave me the right one free. When I got home I did have the right one in a pile with others. 4.2 A vs. 2.2 A and it worked great. And I have a spare free power supply.
I don't think drivers even enter into it at all with firewire, e.g. drive specific drivers.

Panic when booting from external firewire drive

Hi all
I have just returned from holidays to the following problem:
While I was away a colleague upgraded a PowerMac G5 from OS X 10.3 to OS X 10.5.1 . He also upgraded an OS X 10.4 installation on an external firewire drive to 10.4.11 while connected to the G5. Now suddenly the 10.4.11 installation on the external firewire drive will not boot when connected to the PowerMac G5 - it kernel panics almost immediately. However it will still boot when connected to a PowerMac G4.
Has anybody seen or experienced this? Any ideas?
Thanks in advance.

My colleague has just decided to format and recreate the OS installation on the external drive.

Booting up off External Firewire Drive

Hi
I just got a LaCie mini 250GB Firewire drive, which works very nicely and certainly improves performance. However, I find when I do a cold start that it usually defaults to booting up off the mini's internal drive. This is when the mini has been shutdown using the shutdown software command, but the LaCie is still left switched on.
I understand I can force the LaCie by using a key on start-up, but I am not present when doing the start-up (it's being used as Home Theater setup).
Anyone got any ideas how I can always force the external drive to be used unless it absolutely can't be found?
Thanks
Ian

Something you might want to try, although its a workaround and has no guarentees:
It seems that the only way you can boot externally is a warm restart, right? So, make an applescript to restart your machine 30 seconds after it is launched. Place that script as an application in your startup items for the internal drive. Theoretically, the mini starts from the Int HD, auto-logs in, runs the apple script application. If - after thirty seconds - no user input has occured, it restarts the mini. At this point, it should just do what its told - use the external. If you need help with the scripting, just shout (or post here).

How to boot from external firewire drive

Apparently my internal HD on the powerbook has died as it repeatedly gives me the black screen "restart" message and re-install of system software fails.
I have an external bootable firewire drive, which is a "carbon copy" of my iMac, however, it's SnowLeopard not Leopard, so is there any way I can use the firewire drive to boot off of on the G4 or any other suggestions?
Also, does anyone know what Apple typically charges to replace the internal drive in the PB G4? I looked at the video for doing it myself and that is not an option for me.
Thanks!

The black screen restart message, or kernel panic, can be caused by a number of causes, most which are typically hardware-related, and many times a problem with memory. Try re-seating the memory to see if that makes a difference.
This is a good read on kernel panics: http://www.thexlab.com/faqs/kernelpanics.html
If you have the original OS X disks that came with the system, find the first one that should say 'AHT Version x.x' in small print on the label. Insert it and reboot while holding the alt/option key down. Choose the Apple hardware test, and when prompted, choose the extended test. That might give you some additional information on any hardware issue(s).
You can't use your Snow Leopard bootable drive on the Powerbook, as Snow Leopard requires an Intel-based system.
If it turns out it is a hard drive issue, be aware that Apple will keep your current hard drive as a trade in on a new drive. Some people have private data on the hard drive and have a concern with it leaving their ownership (even if the drive isn't working).

Imac G4 700 - can I boot off a firewire drive?

The internal hard drive in my iMac G4 has died. I'm not afraid of working inside computers, but from what I've read online, it appears to be a major pain in the *** to replace the hard drive on this generation of iMacs.
Is it possible to boot off an external firewire hard drive instead of trying to replace the internal one? I would probably just buy a firewire enclosure off newegg and stick a standard IDE hard drive in it. Will this work?

Hello and Welcome to Apple Discussions.
I would
also like to say that some cheap Firewire chipsets are unreliable for booting. I could never get the Prolific 3507 chipset in one of my Firewire drives to boot. Go for an Oxford chipset if you can. There's loads of choice here:
http://www.macsales.com/firewire
Best regards
mrtotes

Booting off external hard drive

I am trying to boot off an external Seagate 160GB USB hard drive. I used SuperDuper to create a full system backup to my drive. When I reboot, I should hold option, right? When I hold option, the grey screen comes up when booting after the chime and then the system reboots again with the chime. It doesn't give me the bootable drive option. Can someone help? Thanks.

hello i have a similar problem with my mac mini i aquired a 160GB western digital drive and cloned my current 40GB seagate drive into it using a software called carbon copy cloner but after replacing the drive the flashing ? appears iv tried almost everything possible i have zapped the pram,reset the nvram and nothing seems to work but i see the drive when i connect to my mac via usb as an external harddrive i guess my question is how do i make my new hard drive bootable since its going to replace my old one in the mac please help.
thanks
aden

G4 Sawtooth won't boot off of firewire drive

I have a G4 Sawtooth that I connot get to boot from my firewire external drive.
The machine is running Panther(10.3.9) and the firewire drive has Tiger(10.4.5).
Don't know if this is the problem, but don't believe it is.
Just updated the firmware to 4.2.8 and still won't go.
What should I try now?

Nicolas, welcome, did you boot from OS 9.1 or 9.2 for the firmware update. And exactly what happens when you attempt to boot from the external.
Joe
Power Mac G4 Gigabit Ethernet Mac OS X (10.3.9)

Problems booting from external firewire drive

Here's a weird one...
I'm trying to help a buddy with a 3rd gen MBP and a new WD 'My Studio' firewire external drive.
He can mount and use the drive but is unable to boot from it. When starting up his machine with option, the drive doesn't show up as selection. The really odd part is the drive does work if plugged in with the USB cable!
The drive in question DOES work as expected on my 5th gen MBP with firewire. Further, I can stert my MBP in target disc mode and it will function as expected as a bootable external drive for his machine. The system in question was cloned with Carbon Copy Cloner. And again, it boots from my MBP.
I've tried different sets of cables (even though everything works on my system). I actually had him send the drive back for warranty replacement but of course the new one behaves the same way.
What could be the cause of apparently certain firewire drives not being bootable (but otherwise working) on a 3rd gen MBP? The intended workflow is to be studio/audio work so using the USB connection for a workaround would not be an option.
Any clues? Windows is not even installed on any of these machines!

baltwo wrote:
FWIW, many WD HDs won't boot Macs and booting Macs isn't supported. Details at their site. That's the main reason I never recommend their crappy HDs.
Actually I'm very familiar with that list- spent a lot of time looking at this past week!
Ironically, the majority of that page is a list of drives which they claim WILL boot Macs. In fact, the list is entitled "List of Mac-bootable WD external drives..."
And yep, mine is on there...on the list that reads "The following external hard drives should be bootable on Intel-based Mac computers systems through FireWire (1394a/b)" is "MyBook Studio" as well as my drive model number.
But that's all beside the point. Like you, I couldn't recommend their drives at this point. At least make sure if you buy one that the vendor has a good return policy.
Dave

Booting off external firewire drive

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