Creating external boot disk from an earlier time?

I've put a lot of progs on my MBP. No probs with that, but for my work, should it ever go down, I'd like to have a boot-able external drive with only the progs I need at the time so I can be back up and running asap. (Yes, I know I should have thought of this earlier.)
I could uninstall all the new stuff, create a boota-ble drive, then re-install...
but I don't want to.
So is there a way to create a boot-able drive from an earlier time using TM? so that, for instance, it could boot up to what it used to be a month ago? In theory all the data is there in TM to do just that...
or
Here's a workaround: Can I take the MBP to a month ago and create a boot-able drive, then use TM to come back to the present?

Karel Bata wrote:
So is there a way to create a boot-able drive from an earlier time using TM?
Try restoring from the previous TM backup to a clean disk or partition. Then use SuperDuper or CarbonCopy Cloner to create a bootable clone.
-mj

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I want to use desktop PC as real time target and for this i have to boot this desktop using RT operating system. I tried to use RT disk utilities in TOOLS menu in MAX but at the end it says no disk found in A drive or B drive since i do not have flopy drive in my laptop. I can not make a PC utility USB drive also since this option is not highlighted in the options hence i can not select it. Is there a way to create this RT operating system on a CD drive or can i download this operating system from somewhere so that i can boot desktop PC as real time target. Thak you for your help.
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Hello,
Well... you have a problem. : )
The easy solution that i can remember it's.... Buy a usb floppy disk.
Sorry, but it's the only think that i can remember.
Software developer
www.mcm-electronics.com
PS: Don't forget to rate a good anwser ; )
Currently using Labview 2011
PORTUGAL

PSCS5 will not open from external boot disk

Because OS 10.8.2 was the worst update in Apple history, for the first time ever I decided to do the 10.8.3 update on an external boot disk before sacrificing my internal disk. I used Super Duper to make a bootable clone of my internal , booted from the external and then did the combo update. It seemed to be ok although they didn't fix the scroll bars in Safari as I had hoped. The first app I tried was Photoshop CS 5.1. It tried to open but I got a window that said "could not inialize scratch disk because disk could not be found". After I clicked OK on that, another window said "could not open because disk could not be found" . I have never tried to open Photoshop any version from a bootable backup before and I don't know what this means. The scratch disk for Photoshop is set to be my internal drive Macintosh HD. Why would it not find it? If I were booting from my internal and had set the scratch to the external it would find it. Why would the app be looking for itself on another disk?
After recloning my internal which is still 10.8.2, I have not yet booted from the external to see if the problem was somehow caused by 10.8.3, but I wouldn't be surprised if it was. People have reported the usual weird behavior of an upgrade already on forums, but not this paricular problem
I am runninga 2011 mini with dual i7 and 8 GB of RAM.

Just to be clear, resetting the Photoshop prefs is troubleshooting 101. I'll admit that since Photoshop CS and OS X, the need for resetting the prefs has gone way down (although I had a lot of problems when Photoshop first included GPU).
However, if you EVER have a hang/force quit or an actual crash, you should seriously consider resetting the prefs because, well, in a hang or crash, that's when pref can get corrupted...afterwhich Photoshop can misbehave and cause problems.
But in this case, resetting the prefs was a fix for the issue where the exact directory path for a scratch disk no longer existed and thus kept PS from even launching...
Although the OP hasn't given an update, I'm 99.9999% sure his Photoshop is back to launching correctly...and that the issue was fixed by trashing the prefs.

How can I create an OSX boot-disk from my Windows PC? (or alternatives)

Hi all,
I've got a Macbook Pro and I had recently upgraded OSX from 10.9 to 10.10 beta. Without thinking it all the way through, I decided to perform a complete reformat to remove any files left over from the previous version upgrades. So, I rebooted and held cmd button + R, and I erased the main partition. The option to install a copy of OSX 10.10 fails because I'm assuming it's not on Apple's servers, yet, since it's still beta. The problem is, I cannot choose to install 10.9 from that screen - it only offers 10.10. I can no longer boot into OSX, since I erased the partition.
So, I'm now on my Windows machine trying to find the proper way to recover this Macbook Pro. It sounds like I need to create a boot disk, but I can't find an official way to get a hold of the ISO to create that boot disk.
What can I do in this situation? I don't want to have to go into an Apple store, because I live a long way away from one. Is there a way I can obtain an ISO to create the boot disk? Or, is there maybe a way to simply choose a different OSX version at that reformat screen?
Thanks!

I don't think you can do anything helpful with a Windows machine. Mac App store wants to read your Mac's model number and your Apple-ID.
Exactly which model MacBook Pro makes a big difference.
If yours has Internet Recovery, you should be able to hold down:
Command-Option-R
at startup until a globe appears on your screen. From there, you should be able to re-Install Mac OS X, and it is supposed to be the version that came on your Mac.
Please post back with your results, because some Readers are saying it re-installs the Major version, but the latest 0.1 update to that version. Others are saying if your Mac can run Mavericks, it re-Installs Mavericks 10.9.3 regardless.

Help creating a boot disk for ailing powerbook (and journalist!)

Hello, I'm a journalist with a desperate need to recover my Mac.
My Powerbook G4 (operating 10.4.8 I believe) was working fine until I did the latest suggested Mac software upgrade of Safari. Immediately Safari stopped responding hanging up or quitting. So I tried the next recommended update, thinking perhaps the two went together: Security 2008-009 I believe. It required a restart, which I did. (Note: I didn't do the recommended Java or Quicktime update at the same time because I'm currently working in Sierra Leone with terribly slow internet and figured I'd get to it later).
Now, however, the computer won't boot up. I hear the tone, I get the gray screen with the apple, I get the blue screen, I get the opening OS X screen and the blue progress bar, which then quits early on. Then I get a blue screen of alternating hues, which continues infinitely.
I tried all the Apple and web-suggested fixes. I cannot enter safe mode and can only perform functions with the single user mode. I've tried fsck and it said my HD is fine. The problem, I suspect, would be easy enough to fix if I could just reinstall OS X with my CD. However I am currently 7000 miles from home and CD, and in desperate need of my laptop in order to continue my volunteer work.
I do have access to a friend's MacBook Pro 10.4.9 and the internet. I have downloaded Carbon Copy Cloner... however I don't know which files I need to copy in order to create a boot disk. Nor do I know how to create a boot disk to actually put into my computer. I have also been scared by the CCC literature that says I need to erase the target volume... which in this case is my external hard drive containing all of our video footage from the last 8 months!
I use my computer every day, however I am a newbie at using things like Terminal and higher order functions that these occasions seem to require. CCC's Help manual, for me, might as well have been written in hieroglyphs (which, come to think of it, would have been easier as I seem to understand pictures well enough).
I would be eternally grateful for any simple or step-by-step advice which might help me get back to work. I'm training African journalists, and without my computer to edit, we cannot do a thing!
Thanks,
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Here's some trouble shooting methods that I've copied from Apple KB articles:
Resetting PRAM and NVRAM
Shut down the computer.
Locate the following keys on the keyboard: Command, Option, P, and R. You will need to hold these keys down simultaneously.
Turn on the computer.
Press and hold the Command-Option-P-R keys. You must press this key combination before the gray screen appears.
Hold the keys down until the computer restarts and you hear the startup sound for the second time. Release the keys.
If zapping the PRAM doesn't work, try resetting the PMU.
Warning: Resetting the power manager also resets date and time settings. Performing a PMU reset returns the iBook and PowerBook hardware, including NVRAM, to default settings and forces the computer to shut down.
PowerBook G4 (DVI) and PowerBook G4 (1 GHz/867 MHz)
If the computer is on, turn it off.
Disengage the two keyboard latches located between the Esc and F1 keys, and the F11 and
F12 keys. (You may also need to disengage the keyboard locking screw located between the
F5 and F6 keys.)
Lift the keyboard. To ensure no harmful static electricity is transferred to the computer,
properly ground yourself before performing this procedure.
Press and release the reset button located on the upper right side of the logic board near the power button, shown here. Wait 5 seconds.
Press the power button to restart the computer.
PowerBook G4 and PowerBook G4 (Gigabit Ethernet)
If the computer is on, turn it off.
Press and release the reset button located on the rear panel of the computer between the
external video and modem ports. Wait 5 seconds.
Press the Power button to restart the computer.
HTH!

Security when Using an External Boot Disk

Hi All.
I'm about to purchase a new external hard drive for using as a boot disk and was wondering what securities you can now enforce on a partition with OSX 10.6
The main purpose for the external boot disk is for creating a shared usage resource for running applications. As I will be allowing others to use this drive, I am concerned about the security implications of using it with one of my macs, mainly because of viruses and data corruption.
I know that partitions/external drives used for booting Windows are secure because the windows partition is set to read only for other partitions/drives, preventing "infections".
The question is: Can I set the permissions/security for an external boot disk (OSX 10.6) partition so that if I use it with one of my machines, my internal hard drive will be secure from any viruses, corruptions, etc.
If you can, or if there's anything else I can do to the same ends, please can you tell me how (or post a link to instructions/advice)
Thanks in advance for your help.

Thomas A Reed wrote:
I'm glad you enjoyed reading my [Mac Virus guide|http://www.reedcorner.net/thomas/guides/macvirus>, but it sounds like it has not adequately impressed on you the extreme rarity of Mac malware at this time, or the low threat level. Also, it sounds like you're still operating under a couple misconceptions. Firstly:
The external boot drive idea seemed like the perfect solution. As it's the boot drive, when it's used, it's permissions will be enforced on the user. Theoretically this should provide solid protection from trojans, obviously not for that actual boot drive, but for my internal HD.
Keep in mind that trojans are not viruses... they are not going to spread themselves by attaching to other files. (Though, if they did, I'm not sure why you think they wouldn't be able to affect drives other than the boot drive.) Also, malware today is not a juvenile prank aimed at erasing your files. (Though, again, if it was, I'm not sure why you think it wouldn't be able to affect drives other than the boot drive.) Malware these days is big business, aimed at stealing your personal information or turning your machine into a slave to help send spam or crack other machines.
You also say:
The main threat will be from freeware
For this reason, AV software can actually cause more risk. No AV software catches all malware, so by becoming over-reliant on it, you don't use the filter between your ears. That filter is all that is needed to avoid Mac malware. And keep in mind that Mac malware is extremely rare.
@Thomas. I know how rare mac malware is, after a decade and a half of using macs I've yet to knowingly come across any.
The reason for my assumption that a secondary boot drive would afford me more protection is: As with any partition you can set the read/write permissions. Without write permissions, surely a virus cannot copy itself onto another drive.
The important thing is that this secondary boot drive would not contain any personal details, and would not be used for online purchases/transactions. Thus if malware was downloaded onto the drive, it couldn't access sensitive data.
Furthermore when I've finished working with someone, I can scrub the drive and restore from a cloned backup, thus eliminating any maleware that might be on it.
The most common freeware that will be downloaded will be codecs for video. There often is no way to get around this. If the person I'm working with has video in an unsupported format they need this code to use their footage. As you pointed out this is the kind of area that people use to hide trojans (not just for ****!).
Not at all. Again, trojans are not viruses... they do not show up on your machine attached to other software.
This has confused me a little. I thought that Trojans are written as a pice of code that can be hidden within another program. eg. A video encoder program can contain malware but still also behave like a normal encoder when you run it?
Thanks again for your help.

How do change boot disk from single user mode?

My G5 hangs when booting at the blue screen while "Loading printing services...". Attempting to boot into safe mode only hangs at the grey gear screen. It will, however, successfully boot into single user mode. I've run fsck but no change in bootability. I have another disk in the machine that has Tiger on it. How do I change the boot disk from the single user prompt?

You can hold c and boot off the installer disk and select disk utility repair disk/permissions
or you can hold option to boot off Mac OS X on another drive, like a clone and run Data Rescue to recvoer your files.
It does sound bad, you can try going through these
http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=106464
But I think you'll need a fresh install, hopefully you have been backing up/cloning to a external drive.
http://homepage.mac.com/hogfish/Personal11.html

Re: Satellite L40 PSL48E: Can I create a installation disk from Vista partition

Hi,
my Satellite L40 PSL48E came with a Vista recovery partition.
As I despise Vista I bought a replacement drive and installed a new hard-drive and installed XP pro.
I retained the original drive in case i ever had to claim under warranty.
I now find that due to work commitments I have to occsionally use the despised Vista rubbish and wonder if it is possible to create a Installation disk from the partition on the original drive so tha ti can create a dual boot system on my new drive.
I am very reluctant to BUY a new Vista CD since I already have a fully legal copy on a drive which I am not using and I will only use it VERY rarely for this one work commitment.
Any information gratefully received
Thanks Ron

OK and thanks.
My next problem is this. I have XP on the main partition and WinRE on the hidden partition. How the heck do I get at the hidden partition. I don't have any boot disks ( none were provided with the machine when I bought it new. Pressing F8 only takes me the the normal XP options Safe boot boot as normal etc.
I've tried f10 and f12 and f11 tas I've seen these suggested on a few newsgroup posts. Anyone got any ideas please.
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Ron

How to create a boot disc from Lion pre installed into my Macbook Pro 2011 ?

Hi guys,
I want to know how to create a boot disc from Lion pre installed into my New Macbook Pro ?
I want to re-install the Lion from zero. When I bougth it I´ve used the Migrant assitance and now I want to re-install the Lion. How can I do it ?
thanks.

Read this about creating a lion recovery on an external drive or USB stick.
http://support.apple.com/kb/HT4848
/Dennis

External 'boot disk' for G5 won't boot

First attempt was to make an OS 10.5.? boot disk from the installation DVD. The second attempt was to use Carbon Copy Cloner to make an exact duplicate of the internal Boot Macintosh HD disk. Both onto one of a pair of external 4Tb Iomega drives. Connection is Firewire 800 daisychain. The external drive in question is the last in the daisychain. The G5 has twin internal drives already and the G5 will boot happily from either. (One is 10.5.8, the second is 10.4.11/Classic.)
Both installations attempts on the #2 4Tb drive appeared to "work". The now CCC version is an exact copy of the main internal drive and is OS 10.5.8. 'Startup Disk' appears to recognise it as a system boot disk. I can select it for booting on restart but it fails to do so and eventually finds the main internal drive after some wait.
Holding down the Option key as you restart the machine brings up just the two choices of the two internal drives to start from - no external drive choice.
This all used to work just fine in the days of SCSI...
I'm presuming altering the order of the external drives on the Firewire chain won't make any difference?

jsd2 wrote:
Both onto one of a pair of external 4Tb Iomega drives.
I wonder if such a drive is just too big to boot a PPC Mac.
Hmm. Interesting thought. You have a good point.
I just found this technote:
*Secrets of the GPT*
http://developer.apple.com/library/mac/#technotes/tn2166/_index.html
It contains the following regarding the Apple Partition Map scheme:
APM is restricted to 32-bits worth of blocks. With a standard block size of 512 bytes, this translates to a maximum disk size of 2 TB.
In Disk Utility, if you again click on the upper icon as before, and look again at the lower right of the window, what does it say for "Total Capacity?" Does it report the full 4TB?
It reports the full size - strictly it reports 3.6Tb - ie well over 2Tb.
(I do have the hardware option of switching to twin 2Tb on these 4Tb Iomega drives and strictly, that is what is inside the physical housing. It's a matter of throwing some switches. Of course, I don't actually want 2Tb drives. )
MacBook Pro (10.5.8) Power Mac G5
It might be of interest regarding the capability of the drive enclosure hardware to connect the drive to your MacBook Pro, repartition it as GUID (which will erase it), install OS X on it or clone the MBP to it, and then see if the MBP will boot from it.
Hmm. I don't think I want to do that as the MBP is an Intel machine and the G5 isn't. It won't solve the actual problem. (At least I can't see how it will.) Though I see what you are getting at.
It's probably worth a shot emailing Iomega, I guess.

External boot disk, options?

Hi all I am considering buying a new mac mini which comes loaded with Mountain lion,
I want to have an external boot disk with Snow Leopard, so that I can run some legacy Rosetta apps
Q1. will Snow Leopard run successfully on the latest mac minis?
Q2. what is my best option for an external boot drive
I want a drive that will be ideally powered from the computer and that wakes up fast enough to boot an OS without the computer defaulting to the internal Mountain Lion OS
USB or firewire, whichever is best
what are your reccommendations?
cheers Robert

The current Mac Mini (mid-2011) can be retrofitted to have Snow Leopard work on it. There is a very comprehensive thread here on this site.
Look for the work of Newfoundglory:
https://discussions.apple.com/message/19463681?ac_cid=tw123456#19463681

Imac retina external boot disk

Anyone have an iMac retina and using an external boot disk? Worked fine on my iMac from last year, but the new iMac won't boot from the several i tried - thunderbolt, usb drive. Oddly the only thing that seems to work is a USB stick.
The others just give the circle-with-a-line-through-it icon showing no boot environment found.
Thanks for any ideas.

The current Mac Mini (mid-2011) can be retrofitted to have Snow Leopard work on it. There is a very comprehensive thread here on this site.
Look for the work of Newfoundglory:
https://discussions.apple.com/message/19463681?ac_cid=tw123456#19463681

HT201269 how do i get a back up from a earlier time. i know i backed up my old phone before switching over and it wont give me the choice of the earlier time.that i need to reteive my contacts

hi yesterday i received a 5s for a christmas gift. i got home and decided to transfer data. i backed up my 4s and did the updates. i then hooked up my 5s performed the updates and transfer. when i found all the info i needed was transfered i started deleting the info from my 4s. i lost the contacts in the process. i forgot about the icloud and it deleted the contacts from my 5s. now when i go back to retrieve my back up i can only get the info from a later time. honw do i get the original back up from an earlier time on my account

You can't avoid that if you use backspace or go back otherwise (toolbar Back button or via the right-click context menu). You will have to use the link or button on that page to go to the inbox.

Can I move the OS X boot disk from a core 2 duo mini to a new i5 mini and have it boot and run normally? Some info suggests I can.

I have a 2.53ghz core 2 duo mac mini. I just purchased an i5 2.5ghz mac mini (with amd 6630m graphics).
Can I simply ermove the OS X boot disk from the core 2 duo mini and put it into the i5 mini and have the it boot up and run fine?
Some info I read suggests I can do this and it should be no problem and will work fine.
I am running 10.9.3 of OS X.
Thanks.

- I would connect the two via FireWire
- Boot the new one Target Disk Mode
- Boot the old one in Recovery
OS X: About OS X Recovery
and then uses disk utility to restore the HD on the new computer from the starup disk of the old one.
You could also boot the old one normally, download SuperDuper and the clone the old one's startup disk to the new one.

How do I create a new boot disk from an existing one?

I have a G4 Quicksilver with internal PATA disk, running 10.4. I want to upgrade the internal disk from 40 GB to 160 GB. I have installed a second disk and can see it fine, but what I really want is to put the system on the new disk and have it be the one and only boot disk in the system. Is there a straightforward way to do this? Is a carbon copy cloner the way to go? Will that have problems with the different disk sizes? Will it handle bad blocks properly? Isn't there a way to just use drag-and-drop?
Once I have made a copy, how do I make it the boot disk? Do I have to swap it into the PATA "master" position to do this?

Cloning And Backup Tools
A bootable clone is an exact copy of your drive which is capable of booting your computer. Making a copy of your computer which is capable of actually starting the computer requires special copying procedures. Some people just back up data files but if you have problems you have to reinstall all your operating system and all your applications. With a bootable clone you just start up from the backup drive and clone back everything.
To copy files from one hard drive to another hard drive you can use:
[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: [1|http://www.macintouch.com/readerreports/backup/index.html#d12jan2009],
[2|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#906 5665]
[Overview of Mac OS X Backup Programs|http://8help.osu.edu/1247.html]

Creating external boot disk from an earlier time?

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