Can you boot off a usb drive or external hard drive (usb 2.0) on an iMac?

I have an intel iMac that will not boot off of a USB drive with Ubuntu installed (my PC netbook boots off the usb drive fine) or my external hard drive with Ubuntu installed. I heard somewhere that you cannot boot off of usb on iMacs even if they are Intel, but a Genius bar guy told me diffferent. Then why won't it work for me, and how can I make it? Thanks.

I should have been more general in my post - I don't believe any Mac can boot off an external drive with Ubuntu. I could be wrong of course (and if I am, hopefully someone will correct me), but as Mac hardware is so specific that it demands a specific install disk for each build/model/generation, it would be unable to boot with just a "foreign" OS such as Ubuntu installed. As you may know, you can't boot an iMac with an install disk from a different model iMac, Macbook, or any other Mac (unless it is exactly the same build/model), so it doesn't surprise me that it won't boot with Ubuntu.
Edit: and this question begs to be asked: why would you want to boot/use Ubuntu when you have a superb OS to work with already?
Message was edited by: Barbara Daniels1

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My disk utility option to turn off encryption does not highlight so I can't turn off the encryption of my external hard drive with time machine back up

I have an iMac and Retina MBP. I use Time Capsule for backup of iMac and I wanted to use an external hard drive attached to time capsule as time machine backup. The problem is that I encrypted previously that external hard drive and now Time Capsule does not recognize it.
When I try to turn off encryption with Disk Utility, that option is not highlighted so I cannot use it.
I tried with terminal but it answers The given UUID is a not a CoreStorage Logical Volume UUID

Can you plug in the hard drive directly to your MBP and then decrypt the hard drive? You should be able to do this by opening up Finder and then either right clicking the hard drive (holding down two fingers and clicking) or holding down ctrl and then clicking on the hard drive.

How can you back up your ipod onto your external hard drive that you're using in time machine?

I just bought an external hard drive and want to put my ipod music on it but can't figure out how. My ipod has music that my itunes library on my computer doesn't have. Any help would be greatly appreciated.

I would also suggest you get a 2nd, much larger hard drive, partition it if desired, move your data to it, and start a 2nd Time Machine backup on it. You can set Time Machine to alternate between the 2 drives by adding the new drive to System Preferences/Time Machine. If you want to make a copy of your current backup on the new drive, you can do that using the Disk Utility Restore tab. If you chose to do that, make the copy first since using the Restore tab erases all data on the drive or the partition.

Can you file your iTunes movies on an external hard drive and still access them from itunes?

Can you move your Itunes movies from the hard drive on hte computer (C drive) to an external hard drive in order to free up space on your main hard drive (C drive)?

Yes.
I have a 5TB iTunes library stored on a Drobo 5D.
http://ipod.about.com/od/advanceditunesuse/a/Itunes-External-Hard-Drive.htm
It works perfectly.

Can you move your system onto a new, larger hard drive?

OK, so I bought a 4 GB RAM upgrade and a 320 GB 7200 rpm hard disk to beef up my Mini. But it has a lot of apps installed and I don't relish the thought of re-installing it all from scratch. So my question is - Can you migrate the entire system onto another, bigger hard drive, realizing that it will go onto a larger disk partition than it came from? Right now I have the 320 GB disk in an external USB case. So can I back everything over to this USB drive and make it bootable and then swap the disks?

OK campers. This is how it went down. I bought an IOGear external eSATA case for the 320 GB drive. After fooling around a bit I finally figured out how to get the drive initialized so it showed up. I then downloaded SuperDuper and backed all files from the old 120 GB over to the new drive. I selected the new drive as startup disk to make sure I could boot from it. Having successfully done that, I went to Other World Computing's site for Mini Upgrades, and played their installation video on my laptop. I followed the video instructions and had the new RAM and hard disk installed in about 20 minutes. One thing they don't use in the video is an anti static wrist strap. I had one and used it. I highly recommend to all attempting this, to get one at Radio Shack. They are a cheap insurance against damaging your Mac with static electricity. All in all, this was an easy upgrade and I am writing this on the "new" Mini, which is running sweet, with lots of 'elbow room'.

USB 3.0 External hard drive working only as USB 2.0

Hello all.
I have a MacBook Pro mid 2012 (specs below) which has two USB 3.0 ports. I have a Kingston USB 3.0 stick and a Toshiba 1TB USB 3.0 external hard drive. With Lion/Mountain Lion/Mavericks, both stick and hard drive worked fine, but since I updated to OS X 10.10 Yosemite, both work as USB 2.0 devices, with slow transfer speed and, in the case of the hard drive, it has a blue/white LED that indicates the mode (blue = USB 3.0 / white = USB 2.0) and it only lights up with white color.
It's not a device problem, because both work on Windows 8.x machines. I was guessing that it was some kind of firmware or motherboard's usb driver problem but I looked for firmware updates and found nothing.
Is anyone having issues with USB 3.0 ports? Can you help me with this? Any advice would help.
Thanks a lot for your patience and help.

Hi jesusbet,
Thanks for visiting Apple Support Communities.
It sounds like the USB 3 ports on your MacBook Pro are not operating at the expected speed.
The first troubleshooting step I'd suggest in this case is to reset the System Management Controller (SMC) on your MacBook Pro using these instructions:
Shut down the computer.
Plug in the MagSafe power adapter to a power source, connecting it to the Mac if its not already connected.
On the built-in keyboard, press the (left side) Shift-Control-Option keys and the power button at the same time.
Release all the keys and the power button at the same time.
Press the power button to turn on the computer.
Note: The LED on the MagSafe power adapter may change states or temporarily turn off when you reset the SMC.
From:
Intel-based Macs: Resetting the System Management Controller (SMC)
If the symptom continues, you can also reset the PRAM:
OS X Yosemite: Reset your computer’s PRAM
These two hardware resets can resolve many unexpected behaviors that affect hardware on a Mac.
All the best,
Jeremy

I just backed up my mac to an external hard drive using Time Machine. What would happen if I turn Time Machine off and then plug the external hard drive back into my computer?

I just backed up my mac to an external hard drive using Time Machine. What would happen if I turn Time Machine off and then plug the external hard drive back into my computer?
What I am ultimately wanting to do is make more room on my computer by backing up all of my files onto the external hard drive and then deleting them off of my computer. However, neededing to be able to retrieve them from the external hard drive later down the road.
From what I have read and am trying to understand, is that I probably shouldn't have used time machine. I need to use the external hard drive like a basic flash drive where I can put things on and get things off without having it automatically update through time machine everytime I connect it to my computer.
Not tech savvy at all and barely understand basics. I need very simple and easy to understand explanations.

sydababy wrote:
and then deleting them off of my computer.
BIG BIG MISTAKE ..... youre making a linchpin deathtrap for your data trying to shove everything on a single fragile HD.
Dont suffer the tragedy other people make, buy another or 2 more HD, theyre cheap as dust.
The number of people who have experienced terror by having a single external HD backup is enormous. One failure that WILL HAPPEN, and kaput,......all gone!
Dont do it, its all about redundancy, redundancy, redundancy.
follow here:
Methodology to protect your data. Backups vs. Archives. Long-term data protection
Deleting them off your computer is fine....having only ONE copy is extremely BAD.
The Tragedy that will be, the tragedy that never should be
Always presume correctly that your data is priceless and takes a very long time to create and often is irreplaceable. Always presume accurately that hard drives are extremely cheap, and you have no excuse not to have multiple redundant copies of your data copied on hard drives and squirreled away several places, lockboxes, safes, fireboxes, offsite and otherwise.
Hard drives aren't prone to failure…hard drives are guaranteed to fail (the very same is true of SSD). Hard drives dont die when aged, hard drives die at any age, and peak in death when young and slowly increase in risk as they age.
Never practice at any time for any reason the false premise and unreal sense of security in thinking your data is safe on any single external hard drive. This is never the case and has proven to be the single most common horrible tragedy of data loss that exists.
Many 100s of millions of hours of lost work and data are lost each year due to this single common false security. This is an unnatural disaster that can avoid by making all data redundant and then redundant again. If you let a $60 additional redundant hard drive and 3 hours of copying stand between you and years of work, then you've made a fundamental mistake countless 1000s of people each year have come to regret.

How can I set up my TC as an external hard drive only?

How can I set up my TC as an external hard drive for my iMac and my MacBook?
I baught it for the extra space but don't know how to use it. I just keeps on wanting to back up files.
Help me please.

Hi,
Thank you for great advice re SuperDuper.
You wasnt to know we didnt live in USA. We will try to get the full retail version of Leopard off the net. We will also phone round the apple resellers.
In the meantime, we are happy running Tiger with the knowledge that SuperDuper has cloned our hard drive in case of a disaster.
SuperDuper recommended backing up the hard drive with a new user account if we were using filevault on the master account. We backed up our hard drive without creating a new user with filevault as we could not read the pdf `Instuctions as preview was not responding.
Is this copy safe to use as a bootable drive or should we copy our entire HD again using a new user account without filevault?
Keith & Shem

How can I backup my MacBook Pro to an external hard drive

How can I backup my MacBook Pro to an external hard drive?

Basic Backup
For some people Time Machine will be more than adequate. Time Machine is part of OS X. There are two components:
1. A Time Machine preferences panel as part of System Preferences;
2. A Time Machine application located in the Applications folder. It is
     used to manage backups and to restore backups. Time Machine
     requires a backup drive that is at least twice the capacity of the
     drive being backed up.
Alternatively, get an external drive at least equal in size to the internal hard drive and make (and maintain) a bootable clone/backup. You can make a bootable clone using the Restore option of Disk Utility. You can also make and maintain clones with good backup software. My personal recommendations are (order is not significant):
1. Carbon Copy Cloner
2. Get Backup
3. Deja Vu
4. SuperDuper!
5. Synk Pro
6. Tri-Backup
Visit The XLab FAQs and read the FAQ on backup and restore. Also read How to Back Up and Restore Your Files. For help with using Time Machine visit Pondini's Time Machine FAQ for help with all things Time Machine.
Although you can buy a complete external drive system, you can also put one together if you are so inclined. It's relatively easy and only requires a Phillips head screwdriver (typically.) You can purchase hard drives separately. This gives you an opportunity to shop for the best prices on a hard drive of your choice. Reliable brands include Seagate, Hitachi, Western Digital, Toshiba, and Fujitsu. You can find reviews and benchmarks on many drives at Storage Review.
Enclosures for FireWire and USB are readily available. You can find only FireWire enclosures, only USB enclosures, and enclosures that feature multiple ports. I would stress getting enclosures that use the Oxford chipsets especially for Firewire drives (911, 921, 922, for example.) You can find enclosures at places such as;
1. Cool Drives
2. OWC
3. WiebeTech
4. Firewire Direct
5. California Drives
6. NewEgg
All you need do is remove a case cover, mount the hard drive in the enclosure and connect the cables, then re-attach the case cover. Usually the only tool required is a small or medium Phillips screwdriver.

Can i download and run itunes from an external hard drive

can i download and run itunes from an external hard drive?

The iTunes application should be on the boot drive but you can keep the iTunes library on an external.
hold Shift when launching iTune sand select Create library and select the external.
This will create an iTunes folder on the external with all the library files and all media will also go into this folder.

Time machine: can i create a separate backup for an external hard drive?

I am already backing up my internal hard drive to External Hard Drive A
I would like to back up another external hard drive (External Hard Drive B) to another hard drive (Hard Drive C). Is this possible with Time Machine in Mac OS 10.7.5. If so, where might I find instructions?
Thank you!

Sounds like you (or somebody) encrypted the disk with FileVault2.
When you enabled FileVault2, you should have received a message similar to the following:
WARNING: You will need your login password or a recovery key to access your data. A recovery key is automatically generated as part of this setup. If you forget both your password and recovery key, the data will be lost.
(That's the wording when encrypting the boot volume in Security & Privacy preference. The wording when creating an encrypted non-boot disk with Erase in Disk Utility is slightly different, but also includes red-letter WARNING about data loss if you forget the password.)
If the disk is encrypted with FileVault, better hope you can remember the password. As the help says, "The disk encryption in Mac OS X uses the government-approved encryption standard, the Advanced Encryption Standard with 128-bit keys (AES-128)."

My hard drive that is sync to my ipad crashed! Good thing is all my photos were transferred to my ipad for viewing - now my quesiton is how do I back up my ipad on another computer without losing my pictures? can I back up my ipad on a external hard drive

My hard drive on my computer crashed! This is the computer my ipad was sync with! All my photos of my three girls are on the ipad, but how do I get them transferred to either an external hard drive or to another computer - or just have them all printed - nearly 1000 photos!
Also, can I back up my ipad with an external hard drive? If I try to sync to a new computer it will erase everything I currently have on the ipad , correct?
Thanks for your help - I am worried if I don't do something quick, my ipad will crash too!

Right. You didn't read the post, you only read the title.
The title came from an earlier step in the process when I was posing a question to the systen.
The pertinent part of the question is "How to I back up documents that are stored in iCloud"
That the destination for the backup is NOT my internal HDD should be clear from the rest of the post.
And frankly, even if that is where I want to back up to, that would at least give me two copies, at least giving me one duplicate of the stuff on iCloud.
So please stop wasting my time if you can't answer the actual question: How do I backup content that is stored in iCloud. The destination of the backup is irrelevant.
--P

On imac 10.6.8 using current version of Aperture. How can I access the Aperture Library on my external hard drive that I use with time machine for backup? I can only access the application but not the library..

On imac 10.6.8 using current version of Aperture. How can I access the Aperture Library on my external hard drive that I use with time machine for backup? I can only access the application but not the library..

Go into Time Machine (the program not the bundle on the extrnal disk) and using Time Machine's browser go to the Folder where the library lives. You could look in the library bundle in Time Machine but that won't really tell you much,
If you want to make sure it truely has backed up your library you will need to restore it and open the restored library with Aperture.
If all this still has you confused you need to read up on Time Machine in order to get a feel for how it works, for what it is doing and for how to restore files from it.

I can't access password protection manager on my External Hard Drive to unlock it

I can't access password protection manager on my External Hard Drive to unlock it , its kind of infected by a virus I guess and it is not bring me the password protection manage screen to enter password and access my data...
Solved!
Go to Solution.

Hi vahid22! Please provide the model number (usually on the bottom of the unit) of your Sony External Hard Drive. Thank you!

Why can't I simply drag music from my external hard drive to my ipod classic?

Why can't I simply drag music from my external hard drive to my ipod classic using my mac?

downpat wrote:
So after I get my music put on my computer, then moved to my ipod, do I have to delete music from itunes to free up space?
Not a good idea.
What you could do, is have the Library content on the external hard drive and simply tell your iTunes programme to look on the hard drive for your music etc.. However, once you set that up, that hard drive needs to be connected and ready to read, before you start the iTunes programme. If it isn't ready, iTunes will simply go back to the default location for the music, find nothing and then you'll be back here saying that you've lost your Library.

Can't access Password Protection Manager on my External Hard Drive to unlock it

I can't access password protection manager on my External Hard Drive to unlock it , I got updated antivirus and I always use safely remove to remove the hard drive. I see the UNLOCK APP Drive, and the Public Area, but when I run the "Password Protection Manager.exe" file at UNLOCK APP Drive, the bar will just be fulfilled by approximately 60% by showing "Loading...", then it stops for many seconds, and it starts to run the Installation file (PasswordProtectionManagerSetup_F.exe) which will delete all unlocked files if I accept it to install.
2 TB External Hard Drive Model HD-E2
Model No.: OAW1AGK370300BF
201307
Please let me know how I can access my protected files (the locked drive).

Hi vahid22! Please provide the model number (usually on the bottom of the unit) of your Sony External Hard Drive. Thank you!

Can you boot off a usb drive or external hard drive (usb 2.0) on an iMac?

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