External HD as bootable drive & upgrading OSX

Due to shortage of disk space on my internal drive I'm getting an external HD. After reading some of the posts here I'm considering using the external drive as the bootable drive & cloning the internal one.
My question is, how would go about I upgrading my OSX after this? Can I just upgrade the external drive? I'm a bit worried that I wouldn't have enough free space on my internal drive if I upgraded the OSX first (I currently have 13GB of space left).

My question is, how would go about I upgrading my OSX after this?
Software Update applies any update to the boot drive.
If you are booted from the external drive, the OS on the external drive will be updated.
If you are booted from the internal drive, the OS on the internal drive will be updated.

Similar Messages

What external HD for bootable drive

Have tried to make a bootable hard drive using Disk Utility as advised by Apple Tech. Didn't work.
The external HD is a WD 1T that is a few years old and wouldn't let me change the size of the 2 partitions on it so that I could install the OS 10.3 from disc.
I wanted to use the smaller partition, but it was too small for the OS. So I tried to reduce the larger one in order to then increase the smaller one so that there would be enough for the System. If you can't read the image, the message is:
Partition failed
Partition failed with the error:
Could not modify partition map because filesystem varification failed
Do I need a special type of HD to do this?

Time Machine only shows the current copy of the file I am trying to restore. There is none of the time machine backup histories shown. I am running OSX 10.7.5. I see the backup files on my external Time Machine hard drive. Help

Time Machine only shows the current copy of the file I am trying to restore. There is none of the time machine backup histories shown. I am running OSX 10.7.5. I see the backup files on my external Time Machine hard drive in the Backups.backupdb folder.
Time Machine does show the history of my Macintosh HD, but when I try to navigate to the folder I wish to restore the backup history disappears. I've been searching for answers and I have not found one that works for me.

Time Machine only shows the current copy of the file I am trying to restore. There is none of the time machine backup histories shown. I am running OSX 10.7.5. I see the backup files on my external Time Machine hard drive in the Backups.backupdb folder.
Time Machine does show the history of my Macintosh HD, but when I try to navigate to the folder I wish to restore the backup history disappears. I've been searching for answers and I have not found one that works for me.

Cant delete files on external hard drive (Mac OSX Lion, LR3&4)

Lightroom can't send items to trash when deleting files on an external drive if the trash bin is empty for the relevant drive on OSX Lion. This was in LR3 and now in 4. You can get round this by making sure the trash is not emptied after deleting a random file or folder but there has to be a better way!
Also it seems to be a lightroom problem more than OS as Bridge can delete the files with no problem.
Any ideas on this?

I'm having the same problem, but there are so many other issues with LR4 -some enormous, some just downright bizarre -that I almost forgot about this one. ;-). Good catch on the empty trash bin though. How'd you figure that out? I'm impressed.

Format External Drive Partitioned OSX extended and FAT32

I am new to the concept of partitioning a drive and have found information mentioning that disk utility has a MS-DOS option for partitioning a drive. I do not have this as a drop down choice in my Disk Utility options. I have read that this is format equivalent to FAT32. I would like to partition this drive half OSX extended and half FAT32. How do I get the drop down choice and is this possible.
PowerBook G4 Mac OS X (10.3.9)

Thank you Limnos for all your help. Last night I tried again and it worked! I’ not totally sure on what I did right but:
• Both volumes on the new ext. driver were HFS (from my last attempt the other day) so I looked into a simple erase of one partition/volume into a different format, but DU did not offer a way of erasing it into MS-DOS(FAT32). But I think I did a simple HFS erase anyway of the volume I wanted to format to FAT32. There was nothing “in” that volume because this was a new external drive but I figured it could not hurt anything.
• So then, I think I went back to Partition, locked the partition/volume that I wanted to keep in HFS+ for my Mac files, and (re)partitioned the other just erased volume to MS-DOS. I think I did it under the MBR option.
• It worked! Not sure why but my Mac recognized both volumes one as HFS, the other as FAT32. Maybe someone will find this useful some day!!
• Then, I hooked up the drive to my work Dell, the Dell found only the FAT32 drive (as expected), and I executed a short simple easy command I found on ehow.com (search for ‘convert FAT32 to NTFS’) to make that volume NTFS.
Thanks again Limnos and everyone else!

Why do you need a usb bootable drive to do a clean install of Mavericks (or any other OSX)?

I have had a few minor bugs with Mavericks, and I finally got an external hard drive, so I decided to do a clean install of Mavericks.
Every single tutorial I've found online has suggested making a usb-bootable drive to reinstall the os with. However, I simply backed up the things I wanted to save on my external hard drive, restarted holding Cmd+R and went to disk utility, erased my Macintosh HD in the correct format, then went over to the install Mavericks tab on the recovery mode screen. Now, I understand it takes a little longer to do it this way, but it's only got about an hour left, and I started the reinstallation about 20 min's ago.
Besides the much longer time to wait for the OS to reinstall using my method, without a USB drive, what is the disadvantage of simply doing it all through the recovery mode boot screen via wifi? I know I could have done the bootable drive on my external hd, but I'd rather not mess with partitions on this drive...it's just got my documents, music, movies...etc, and I'd like to keep it that way.
Any info would be appreciated.

Besides the time difference and the data used on your network connection they are the same.
Actually there is one difference depending on when the USB installer was made the software you load might be out-of-date. When you download from a Apple you know you are getting the latest versions. So if you do use a USB stick to install make sure you run a software update before doing anything.

A Firewire External Drive to use as Bootable drive?

Hello fellow Apple enthusiasts,
1.1 I was hoping one of you might care to suggest how would I go about using my Firewire (FW) drive as a bootable drive?(I believe during restart I press the "T" key to initialize this process)
It is a 120 GB drive that I have partitioned into 2 parts a 30 GB which has my apps, etc, and an 80 GB section with work files.
1.2 Should I just use an app like Super Duper to clone my G3 and iBook HD's? (hmmm maybe just one of them) But that would limit my ability to use the FW for all and any HD's
1.3 I do have a bona-fide edition of Tech Tool 4, should I make an "eDrive" on the FW to reboot from? or install Tech tool on the FW as an app itself?
1.4 Or possibly one of you may know of a better suggestion to make a part of the Firewire drive a drive that can rescue other Macs, namely my own

1.1 I don't think 'T' is what you're after - that will boot your computer as an external FW drive.
Given a bootable FW drive, you can either (1) choose it as your Startup Disk in System Preferences, or (2) hold down the Option key while restarting/booting and choose the drive from the options displayed. I believe that (1) is recommended but there might be situations where (2) is the only option.
1.2 I'm not sure what you mean by "limit my ability to use the FW for all and any HD's". Do you want to use the drive to backup all your computers?
It is perfectly possible to clone a HD to a partition of an external FW drive. To do this, you can partition the FW drive in Disk Utility making sure that the partitions you plan to clone to are big enough, of course. Doing this will erase any data on the FW drive, however, so be sure to back it up. Some people also recommend writing zeros over the disk before proceeding. Again, Disk Utility has options to do this. When you partition, make sure that you choose the same type of file system as you're using on your macs.
I've never used Super Duper, but Carbon Copy Cloner will certainly let you create a bootable clone a HD on a partition of the FW drive. I use it for this purpose and have happily booted from the clones when necessary. If you consider CCC, be sure to read the documentation - especially "B4 U Clone" - so that you prepare the external drive correctly and take the steps you need to to ensure a successful cloning operation. For details see http://www.bombich.com/software/ccc.html. Note that the latest version is only for 10.4/10.5, but the earlier version is suitable for 10.2/10.3. I believe the latest version does a very good cloning job. The earlier version does not copy all the extended attributes etc. that you may care about. On the other hand, I have certainly restored successfully from clones made using the earlier version.
Super Duper has an excellent reputation and is supposed to copy extended attributes etc. nearly flawlessly. I can't speak from experience in this case, though, and I don't know how flexible it is in terms of allowing clones to partitions etc. as I've never used it.
1.3 Sorry, can't answer this - I don't know what you're referring to.
1.4 Only that if Super Duper can't do what you want, CCC probably can. Whichever you use, be sure to read and follow the instructions and to test the clone by booting and working from it to assure yourself that it really is satisfactory.
Good luck.
- cfr

Starting on external hard drive with OSX.6.8 don't works

starting on external hard drive with OSX.6.8 don't works
On mac book with OSX.7.5 it start with my external hard drive with OSX6.8

10.6 does not support an iMac that came with a later OS X version.
see > Don't install a version of Mac OS X earlier than what came with your Mac

Worried upgrading OSX Mountain Lion 10.8 because of...

Hi to All!
I'm already a MBP user for 1 year and since then I didn't upgrade my OSX. I'am worried because the time I bought my MBP one of my friend upgrade the OSX to 10.8 by using his usb thumb drive I didn't have the chance to asked hm if that is pirated or good because of excitement , I want to ask him these days but unfortunately he is unable to contact.
So my question is... is it safe to update my OSX 10.8 to 10.8.4 (latest version) thru App Store by clicking the update button? because I am just thinking if my friend update my OSX using pirated or not good stuff I'am worried that Apple might block my MBP or something and if that so I might stay on this version for good, I would like to buy the 10.8 before if I it is required in order to stay legal.
Please help!
Advance Thanks!

Yes, it's safe. Do this:
Repair the Hard Drive and Permissions - Lion/Mountain Lion
Boot to the Recovery HD:
Restart the computer and after the chime press and hold down the COMMAND and R keys until the menu screen appears. Alternatively, restart the computer and after the chime press and hold down the OPTION key until the boot manager screen appears. Select the Recovery HD and click on the downward pointing arrow button.
Repair
When the recovery menu appears select Disk Utility. After DU loads select your hard drive entry (mfgr.'s ID and drive size) from the the left side list. In the DU status area you will see an entry for the S.M.A.R.T. status of the hard drive. If it does not say "Verified" then the hard drive is failing or failed. (SMART status is not reported on external Firewire or USB drives.) If the drive is "Verified" then select your OS X volume from the list on the left (sub-entry below the drive entry,) click on the First Aid tab, then click on the Repair Disk button. If DU reports any errors that have been fixed, then re-run Repair Disk until no errors are reported. If no errors are reported then click on the Repair Permissions button. When the process is completed, then quit DU and return to the main menu. Select Restart from the Apple menu.
Download and install 10.8.4 Mountain Lion Update v10.8.4 (Combo).

Hard Drive Upgrade - Incorrect Capacity Shown In Disk Utility After Installation

I have an older model Macbook Version 2.1 that had an 80GB hard drive installed. I have just installed a Western Digital Scorpio Black 500GB internal hard drive upgrade and successfully cloned my data over using Carbon Copy Cloner. The problem I have encountered is that only 98.1GB of capacity is shown in Disk Utility for the new hard drive. After starting the computer using my bootable copy via an external USB drive, I formatted the newly installed 500GB drive with the appropriate Apple formatting (e.g. GUID and Mac OS Extended Journaled) but it only shows 98.1GB of space available on the new drive. I was able to successfully clone the information from my bootable back-up of the old drive to the new drive but I just don't have the full 500GB capacity available to me.
What should I do? Is this a problem with the new hard drive or is there something I need to change on my Macbook to "see" the whole capacity of my new drive?
Thanks for your advice,
Dave

Hi Andrew,
When I formatted the new drive did it with 1 partition and it displays a TOTAL of 98.1GB free space (both in Disk Utility and About This Drive). As far as I can tell, the Macbook is treating the new WD drive as if it is only a 98.1GB drive rather than the 500GB drive that it is.
Thoughts?
Dave

I have a mac os 10.5.8, i want to upgrade to mac os snow leopard, can i keep all my files (documents, music on itunes) without backing up all the files first on a external device prior to the upgrade?

I have a mac os 10.5.8, i want to upgrade to mac os snow leopard, can i keep all my files (documents, music on itunes) without backing up all the files first on a external device prior to the upgrade?

I strongly advise against upgrading the OS without first making a backup. Were something to go wrong you would lose all your files without the backup. See:
How to Install OS X Updates Successfully
A. Repair the Hard Drive and Permissions:
Boot from your current OS X Installer disc. After the installer loads select your language and click on the Continue button. Then select Disk Utility from the Utilities menu. After DU loads select your hard drive entry (mfgr.'s ID and drive size) from the the left side list. In the DU status area you will see an entry for the S.M.A.R.T. status of the hard drive. If it does not say "Verified" then the hard drive is failing or failed. (SMART status is not reported on external Firewire or USB drives.) If the drive is "Verified" then select your OS X volume from the list on the left (sub-entry below the drive entry,) click on the First Aid tab, then click on the Repair Disk button. If DU reports any errors that have been fixed, then re-run Repair Disk until no errors are reported. If no errors are reported click on the Repair Permissions button. Wait until the operation completes, then quit DU and return to the installer. Now restart normally.
If DU reports errors it cannot fix, then you will need Disk Warrior (4.0 for Tiger) and/or TechTool Pro (4.5.2 for Tiger) to repair the drive. If you don't have either of them or if neither of them can fix the drive, then you will need to reformat the drive and reinstall OS X.
B. Make a Bootable Backup Using Restore Option of Disk Utility:
Open Disk Utility from the Utilities folder.
Select the destination volume from the left side list.
Click on the Restore tab in the DU main window.
Check the box labeled Erase destination.
Select the destination volume from the left side list and drag it to the Destination entry field.
Select the source volume from the left side list and drag it to the Source entry field.
Double-check you got it right, then click on the Restore button.
Destination means the external backup drive. Source means the internal startup drive.
C. Important: Please read before installing:
If you have a FireWire hard drive connected, disconnect it before installing the update unless you will boot from this drive and install the update on it. Reconnect it and turn it back on after installation is complete and you've restarted.
You may experience unexpected results if you have installed third-party system software modifications, or if you have modified the operating system through other means. (This does not apply to normal application software installation.)
The installation process should not be interrupted. If a power outage or other interruption occurs during installation, use the standalone installer (see below) from Apple Downloads to update. While the installation is in progress do not use the computer.
D. To upgrade:
Purchase the Snow Leopard Retail DVD.
Boot From The OS X Installer Disc:
Insert OS X Installer Disc into the optical drive.
Restart the computer.
Immediately after the chime press and hold down the "C" key.
Release the key when the spinning gear below the dark gray Apple logo appears.
Wait for installer to finish loading.
E. If updating:
Download and install update(s)
Use Software Update, or
Download standalone updater(s).

Can Western Digital My Passport Ultra be a bootable drive for my MBPro?

I have not found a definitive answer and wanted to see if anyone has used this drive (external, 1TB) as a bootable drive for Mac (I'm running 10.06.8) -- want a boot drive before attempting upgrade of my OS)
WD site does not list it as confirmed to work as mac boot drive, but it also does not list it as a "does not work" drive. It's just not mentioned.

Thanks -- I know it's possible generally, but I was hoping someone with this specific drive would be able to confirm,
i called WD and the guy said yes -- but at first he did not know that there was software to create a bootable drive, so I'm dubious of his competence.

Hard Drive Upgrade Questions.

I have an intel core 2 duo mac with an 80 gb hard drive. I'm considering upgrading to a 250gb hard drive, though I've read that the process is very difficult. How difficult is the process exactly and is it possible for a non-professional. I recently upgraded my macbook pro from 80gb to 250gb, though I believe that I voided the warranty by opening it. Also, would upgrading my mini void the warranty? Is the hard drive in the mini the same as the hard drive in my Macbook Pro?
Thanks!

When you replace the drive with a new, generic, one, you will usually need to reformat the drive. You can do that by booting the system to the original install disk (or a retail copy of MacOS) and then selecting Disk Utility from the Utilities menu when the installer appears. From there, the new drive should be detected, and if it isn't partitioned correctly (Apple scheme for PPC systems and GUID scheme for Intel) and formatted correctly (MacOS Extended (journaled) in most cases, you can do so from there. After that, you can either install MacOS from the installer itself, or if you have a fully functioning and bootable external drive with MacOS correctly installed for that system, you can use a utility such as SuperDuper! or CarbonCopyCloner (both downloadable from www.versiontracker.com) to clone the external to the new drive.
If you simply install MacOS, then when complete you can boot to the new drive, and run the migration assistant to pull your data etc from an external if you wish. Personally I don't like to migrate software or settings, preferring instead to reinstall and configure from scratch to avoid possible issues.

Hard Drive Upgradeability?

I just received my new 17" Intel iMac this week and am a little concerned that maybe I should have bumped up the stock 160GB drive. I'm already using 90GB and wonder how long it'll be before I get dangerously close to using most of the 160GB. What are my options for upgrading the drive in this unit?
My initial research indicates that the HD in these units is NOT user serviceable. So, I would need to bring it to an Apple store or authorized service center to perform the upgrade? How much would they charge for this?
Maybe another option is to return this unit and re-order a new one with a larger drive? Does anyone know what Apple's return policy is, restocking fee?
Thanks,
David
Intel iMac 17" Mac OS X (10.4.4)

Actually, I have a LaCie 200GB external drive right now. But I'm using it to backup my internal drive. The problem I see with using an external drive to store your data is that you don't have a backup of that data. Whereas I like to store everything on my internal drive and then create a nightly backup of my internal drive onto my external bootable drive. If my internal goes bad I can just boot off the external and be back up and running.
How do you backup your data on the external drive? With a 2nd external drive?
Thanks,
David

Where can I get the driver for my HP DE8A4L external USB CD/DVD drive?

Where can I get the driver for my HP DE8A4L external USB CD/DVD drive?
On the label it says, Model HSTNN-PD06-91
and
HP PN: 518819-001 Rev.B
I've had my Mini 110-1000 running our music system for a couple of years, no complaints. When I wanted a CD/DVD drive, I purchased a DE8A4L external USB drive directly from HP. It didn't come with a driver disc. When I plug it in, the USB subsystem does not enable it. Device Manager shows a yellow exclamation point, saying, "Windows cannot load the device driver for this hardware..." It is running Windows XP Home Edition SP3.
What gives with this device?

Following up on tactic 2) above, I upgraded the BIOS from version F07 to the latest version available on the HP download site, version F19. This went well, but unfortunately the system still does not recognize the device.
When I try to Device Manager, and select the DE8A4L DVD device, and try "search for a device driver", it says it cannot find a better match for the driver already installed.
This Mini 110-1000 only came with 1 Gb RAM, and Windows XP Home. Is one of these a critical limitation for running an external USB DVD drive?

External HD as bootable drive & upgrading OSX

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