Can a PowerBook G4 (6,4) boot from an OS installed on an external USB HD?

I have a late 04 12" PowerBook G4 and I'm getting an external USB HD. Can I install an OS on the external drive and boot from it?

One other thing I just thought of - your powerbook will only have USB 1 ports, does it not?, so a USB drive is going to be dog Sloooooow.  I have a '06 Powerbook G4 that still runs, and it was/is horrid with a USB drive.
Hmm - just looked, and no, you have USB2, still - firewire is a huge step up.  OWC sells drives with both firewire and USB ports, so you'd still be able to use it with other devices or later on.

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    Any chance anyone could offer some advice for my asthmatic iBook G4?
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    My Mac is starting to really test my patience.
    Any help would be greatly appreciated.
    Message was edited by: AlAlexander
    Message was edited by: AlAlexander
    Message was edited by: AlAlexander

    Limnos wrote:
    *In order to produce a bootable copy of the system on another volume you have to copy it using a cloning utility. Plain drag and drop will not work with OSX*.
    [CarbonCopy Cloner|http://www.bombich.com/software/ccc.html] (donationware)
    [SuperDuper|http://www.shirt-pocket.com/SuperDuper/SuperDuperDescription.html] (shareware)
    [IBackup|http://www.grapefruit.ch/iBackup/index.html] (free)
    The Restore function of Disk Utility included in OS X. [Kappy's directions|http://discussions.apple.com/message.jspa?messageID=8799711#8799711]
    [Tri-Backup (commercial)|http://www.tri-edre.com/english/tribackup.html] (payware)
    [Silverkeeper|http://www.lacie.com/silverkeeper> (free) - version 2 has some issues (references: [here|http://www.macintouch.com/readerreports/backup/index.html#d12jan2009], and [here|http://www.macintouch.com/readerreports/backup/index.html#d13jan2009]) and it is recommended Tiger users stick with 1.1.4.
    [Kappy's Backup Software Recommendations|http://discussions.apple.com/message.jspa?messageID=9065665#9065665]
    [Overview of Mac OS X Backup Programs|http://8help.osu.edu/1247.html]
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    steps should be helpful for many similar scenarios.  <o:p></o:p>
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