Holding Option key on startup to manage two libraries

When you start iPhoto if you hold down the Option key it will ask you to select a Library to use or it create a new one. I am using this work around to have two libraries. 1) for personal photos 2) for business photos
Are there any potential complications to managing them this way? Any problems?

Nope - that is the way to switch between multiple libraries
An alternative is using iPhoto Library Manager - http://www.fatcatsoftware.com/iplm/
LN

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External hard drive not found when holding option key at startup

So here's the deal. My MacBooks DVD drive crappedmout. I opened up to check that the drive was hooked up correctly and all. Looked fine so I put it all back together and tuned on the Mac. My hard drive wasn't recognized so I Got the ? Flashing folder so I plugged in my external USB to run the disc utility and restore the hard drive (I have the startup discs on there as my dvdrom won't read anymore). Turned it on, held down option (with external plugged in and on) and the mouse came up to select what I wanted to boot from, but nothing showed up. I can't see the device at all. Keyboard seems to be working fine as well as the track pad. I also plugged in a USB mouse to check my USB ports and the mouse worked fine. Would love any help on this. Need the computer salvaged (hopefully) since I don't have the money to get a new one at current. Thanks for the help! (ps on an I touch if there are misspellings.)

Apparently, you unhooked something or other. Open it up again and check at the computing hardware forums for you machine. If still no go, then it's time to visit a repair station.

What's happening on my iMac? There are two choices of selected start up disks appearance without hold down option key. On the other hand, it start up normally show apple picture when I hold option key.

There are two choices of selected start up disks:Main HD and Recovery HD, appearance without hold down option key. On the other hand, it start up normally show apple picture when I hold option key.

Hi artdiva28
Welcome to Apple Discussions
First go to *System Preferences > Startup Disk* > select the *Mac OS X 10.5. on Macintosh HD* > click the Lock > hit the Restart button.
Then if the iMac is still having trouble starting up, insert your Install Disk and restart holding the Option key. In Startup Manager select the Install Disk and boot into it, choose your language, skip the Installer and go up on the menu bar to Utilities and open Disk Utility. In Disk Utility select your Macintosh HD and hit the Repair button. Once finished note any errors and what was repaired for future reference. Quit Disk Utility and restart once again holding the Option key boot back into the Macintosh HD and eject the Install Disk.
Also see > http://support.apple.com/kb/HT2956
Dennis

Netinstall images not showing up when holding down option key at startup

Hi,
I have setup two Netinstall images on my 10.5.5 server. On the clients I can see the two images via the 'Startup Disk' tab in System Preferences. But the images are not showing up when holding down the option key at startup. As I am getting ready to deploy to two labs of new iMacs, I would like to be able to get the Option key at Startup method to work as per the documentation.
Any ideas why these images are not showing up as they should?

I am having this problem on a 10.5.5 NetBoot server too. I can NetBoot clients by selecting a network volume in System Preferences > Startup Disk, but I can not see the network volumes when option-booting. I am having problems NetBooting while holding down the N-key too. The funny thing is that it works on new Intel iMacs, but not on Mac Pro1.1 (even with the latest firmware updates). NetBooting the Mac Pro works fine when selecting a NetBoot volume in System Preferences > Startup Disk.
Does anybody have a solution? Is this a problem with Leopard Server 10.5.5?
I am running DeployStudio Server v1.0rc9, and the NetInstall set is made with DeployStudio Assistant.
Everything looks right with my bootpd.plist and log file.
Dec 14 22:08:37 xserve bootpd(6722): server starting
Dec 14 22:08:37 xserve bootpd(6722): re-reading /etc/bootptab
Dec 14 22:08:37 xserve bootpd(6722): Loaded 0 entries from bootptab (0 bad)
Dec 14 22:08:37 xserve bootpd(6722): server name server.example.com
Dec 14 22:08:37 xserve bootpd(6722): interface en0: ip 158.36.32.190 mask 255.255.255.192
Dec 14 22:08:37 xserve bootpd(6722): bsdpd: re-reading configuration
Dec 14 22:08:37 xserve bootpd(6722): bsdpd: shadow file size will be set to 48 megabytes
Dec 14 22:08:37 xserve bootpd(6722): bsdpd: age time 00:15:00
Dec 14 22:08:39 xserve bootpd(6722): BSDP INFORM (en0) 1,0:17:f2:2:d5:9e NetBoot001 arch=i386 sysid=MacPro1,1
Dec 14 22:08:39 xserve bootpd(6722): NetBoot: (1,0:17:f2:2:d5:9e) BSDP ACK(LIST) sent 158.36.32.161 pktsize 310
Dec 14 22:08:39 xserve bootpd(6722): service time 0.000667 seconds
Dec 14 22:08:52 xserve bootpd(6722): BSDP INFORM (en0) 1,0:17:f2:2:d5:9e NetBoot001 arch=i386 sysid=MacPro1,1
Dec 14 22:08:52 xserve bootpd(6722): NetBoot: (1,0:17:f2:2:d5:9e) BSDP ACK(LIST) sent 158.36.32.161 pktsize 310
Dec 14 22:08:52 xserve bootpd(6722): service time 0.000622 seconds

Hold Option key at start up only show Mac OS but Windows

Hi all,
i have installed windows xp on my macbook(the new one with leopard).
and windows work well.
but when i hold option key at start up, it only show me mac os.
i don't know why.how can i make it show me 2 systems(mac and windows) after i hold option key at start up?

If I remember correctly, Bootcamp needs an NTFS partition for Windows in order to work correctly. This is the default file system for WindowsXP. The Bootcamp assistant tells you during installation that a FAT32 partition already exists and, curiously, gives you the default selection of leaving this intact. You need to ignore that and format using NTFS. If you don't, then Windows wont boot. To convert to NTFS, you will need to run the assistant again and reinstall Windows.
To overcome the problem of data portability between WinXP and OSX, I use a small 30 gig USB external drive formatted using FAT32 as a bridge between the two. Hope all this is useful?

Unable to use option key on startup

My Macbook Pro is running Yosemite (version 10.10) and runs Windows 7 through Boot Camp.   Until now I have been able to hold down the Option key on startup to enable me to select OS X or Windows.   Starting today the option key does not make any difference and the computer always boots straight into Yosemite.
To eliminate a couple of possibilities:
1.   When in Yosemite I can use the Keyboard Viewer to show that the Option key does still work.
2.   If I go into settings I can select the startup disk as the Windows partition and then the computer always starts in Windows.   This shows that the Windows partition is still there and the Windows setup works.
Why can I not use the option key to allow me to select which operating system to use?

Sounds like he set the Open Firmware password - doing so will (intentionally) prevent these things. The good news is that you can undo this with some effort.
Defeating the OF password:
1) Change the amount of RAM in the machine.
2) There are programs out there that will (reportedly) extract the OF password allowing you access.
3) Resetting the PRAM 3x in a row and rebooting is supposed to do it as well. (Warning this information has been considered "secret" at times.)
Hope that helps. Searching for Open Firmware Password will give you way more information if you want it.
=Tod
G5/2.0x2, Dual XServes x2, XRAID, beige G3 501Mhz

How do I start firefox in safe mode on a Mac as the equivalent of holding option key whilst starting doesn't open dialogue on Mac?

I am trying to reset toolbars and am following firefox's help instructions. How do I start firefox in safe mode on a Mac as the equivalent of holding option key whilst starting doesn't open a dialogue box on the Mac?

Thanks Morbus.. I hadn't noticed that but it was already set at Mac. I tried it again and it worked this time... but alas my main problem persists:
My back and forward buttons don't work in Firefox and I've lost all of my bookmarks! I've tried a few of the suggestions but without success at the moment.
Particularly unhelpful are the instructions to back-up your lost bookmarks - which I can't do cos they're lost!!

While upgrading, Hold option key on restart abd receive a imagine of a lock

While upgrading or replacing OS 10.2 to 10.4, I Hold option key on restart and receive a imagine of a lock. Haven't the password to unlock. WHAT TO DO? Please. Any work around, or does anyone know a boss password. The usual haven't worked. Thanks in advance for your time and attention.

Bought Ibook from state of Maine. Yes Bought it. Unable to get the firm password. However in the article link offered by Duane, it refers to bypassing this password by
"1.By any administrator user, as designated in the Accounts preferences (or in Server Admin).
2.Via physical access to the inside of the computer.
3.When the computer is started up in Mac OS 9. "
Ok I have physical access, does this suggest I just yank the battery, or is there a switch somewhere?. Thanks for all the input, your help is invaluable!!!
Sally

Winxp is gone when pressing option key at startup, "no bootable device"

Hi everyone,
I'm new to mac and recently bought a MBP.
I did bootcamp and installed windows xp and SP3 at the same time in a small partition, I remember it was 8gb.
I had no problem booting in to xp or mac after the installation, I can even press option and see both OS.
But now I cannot boot to windows, at startup while pressing the option key, I only see mac os and not windows. I also tried rebooting from the startup disk utility, but it has a black screen saying "no bootable disk found." It wants me to insert a bootable disk, so I inserted the window xp disk and has to force restart the laptop. Then it started a process like trying to load the files to reinstall win xp, of course I didn't let it.
Now when I went back to disk utilities I see that the winxp partition is 9.2gb, it was 8gb when I made it.
Recently I split my mac partition into 2, I tried to do the time machine back up, but then it takes too long so I canceled it and deleted the partition. I wonder if this affects my window xp partition.
Now I cannot see winxp when pressing option key at startup, but can see it in startup disk utility, and disk utility. When I boot from startup disk utility, it shows "no bootable device, insert cd, and press anykey..." I tried verifying and repairing the parition in disk utility, didn't work.
So this is all I did before I cannot boot into xp.
1. made new partition for winxp (formated partition as FAT)in bootcamp and installed winxp + sp3. everything was fine.
2. create another partition, and call it "data" <-want to create this for data only, while the other half is for software installation only.
3. create another partition for time machine, but when running time machine it says the partition is too small, so I delete it and make the partition bigger.then I run time machine, but since it takes way too long, I canceled it, and deleted the partition.
4. in winxp, had installed kapersky anti-virus 9.0
Now, I have 3 partitions: 1 for software installation, 1 for data, and 1 for winxp.
So why can't I boot to windows? Did things overwrite? Please help me, I'm so frustrated. Thank you.
Message was edited by: nobutan
Message was edited by: nobutan

Thanks fortuny,
I had read the link you suggested. And since my partition for windows is FAT32, as noted in the website, I can edit the boot.ini directly in my mac. In my mac, it already shows that the partition # is 3,
[boot loader]
timeout=30
default=multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(3)\WINDOWS
[operating systems]
multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(2)\WINDOWS="Microsoft Windows XP Professional" /NOEXECUTE=OPTIN/fastdect
but my window os is not booting.
Like the link noted, "it crashes with the "I'm sorry, we couldn't start up Windows. Do you want to start in Safe Mode?" screen. You'll also see a flicker of the BLUE SCREEN OF DEATH, which flashes an UNMOUNTABLEBOOTVOLUME error so quickly you won't have a chance to read it. This was the hint that the BOOT.INI entries were incorrect..."
According to the boot.ini in the site, my boot.ini file was already set up correctly, so why can't windows startup?
Also something I don't understand from this:
"NOTES: If you didn't follow the instructions and chose to PARTITION the existing volume instead of RESIZING then ADDING a partition, this appears to mess up BootCamp's boot loader and you may have to start again. Step 3, however, may offer you a way out."
When I did the 3rd partition, I did it in Disk Utility in mac, not from the mac os cd, and I split the mac partition into 2, I didn't do the "resizing," then using the unused space to make new partition... I wonder if this is causing the normal booting...
So do I start again by deleting my data partition or start from reinstalling windows? If the problem can be fixed without installing windows, of course, it would be great.
Message was edited by: nobutan

Managing two libraries

hi there,
I am having problems managing two libraries. I am trying to create two separate libraries, AAC and Lossless. I was given the advice below, which I followed, problem is when you switch back and forth between the libraries, if switches songs from my Lossless library which are stored correctly in the Lossless folder to files from the AAC library and vice versa.
Also, each time you switch libraries you have to go to advance preferences and indicate where you want to store the files. Example, I have the Lossless library open, the preference is set as G:/music/lossless; when I exit that library and open the AAC library the preference is set to the Lossless library. I don't mind changing that if I have to but the problem of the libraries switching content from AAC to Lossless is the big problem. Any advice?
PREVIOUS POST INFO:
Do this.
Create 2 folders on the external.
G:\Music\Lossless
G:\Music\AAC
Hold Shift (for Windows), Option (for Mac) and launch iTunes
Select Create new library and select the AAC folder you created above.
This will create a new iTunes folder in G:\Music\AAC. You should now have G:\Music\AAC\iTunes\.
Go to Windows Exploder and move all your AAC files into G:\Music\AAC\iTunes\iTunes music\ folder.
Go to iTunes menu File -> Add folder to library and select G:\Music\AAC\iTunes\iTunes music\.
Quit iTunes and restart holding Shift (for Windows), Option (for Mac).
Select Create new library and select the Lossless folder you created above.
This will create a new iTunes folder in G:\Music\Lossless. You should now have G:\Music\Lossless\iTunes\.
Go to Windows Exploder and move all your Lossless files into G:\Music\Lossless\iTunes\iTunes music\ folder.
Go to iTunes menu File -> Add folder to library and select G:\Music\Lossless\iTunes\iTunes music\.
Next time you launch iTunes hold Shift* (for Windows), Option (for Mac) select Choose library and select teh iTunes library.itl file in teh folder you want.
Make sure you first set your Import prefs to AAC or Lossless, depending on which folder you are in.

I have a similar situation. I have a 8gb ipod touch and a 30gb ipod video. I only have one library and what I did was to have the video sync with my entire library (about 25 gb). For the touch, I have it sync only playlists that I select. (You can edit how a ipod syncs when you connect to the computer) this setting is under the music tab.
If you want to move the library off the computer, make sure you follow apple's instructions.
http://support.apple.com/kb/HT1449
For the photos, each ipod can be setup to either sync the entire library or selected events. the settings for this are under the photo tab.

Managing Two Libraries With Time Capsule

Hi,
I just got a Time Capsule and an iPhone. I already have an iPod. The space on my Hard Disk is running low - mainly due to a large iTunes music selection and large number of photos.
My question is this. Is there any way for me to manage two libraries - a small one (that will merge with my 8GB iPhone) that remains on my mac, and a large one (that merges with my 60GB iPod) on the Time Capsule? I know that I can create these two libraries, but every time I rip a new album, or download something from iTunes, I would like them to download to both libraries.
Is there a simple solution to sync certain sections of two libraries?
The same goes for iPhoto.
Thanks,
Matt

I have a similar situation. I have a 8gb ipod touch and a 30gb ipod video. I only have one library and what I did was to have the video sync with my entire library (about 25 gb). For the touch, I have it sync only playlists that I select. (You can edit how a ipod syncs when you connect to the computer) this setting is under the music tab.
If you want to move the library off the computer, make sure you follow apple's instructions.
http://support.apple.com/kb/HT1449
For the photos, each ipod can be setup to either sync the entire library or selected events. the settings for this are under the photo tab.

HT1310 Significance of Option key in Startup Manager

Hello All,
I'm using Mountain Lion (10.8.2) on my iMac and I have noticed that once the Startup Manager appears, pressing Option key changes the circled up-arrow icon below the selected device to a different icon. What does that signify?

Thank you for a response baltwo.
But since this would all happen in Startup Manager itself, where else would it take one from there? I'm not sure I'm able to visualize.
I was too tempted, at the same time too scared to try it on my mac.

Leopard fails on Restart, then hold Option Key

I have Leopard on my Mac HD, and 10.4.10 on an external firewire drive. When I first installed Leopard, I made sure that I could boot to Tiger by choosing Restart on the Apple menu, and holding down the Option key, be given a choice as to which volume to start up from. All this worked until I installed the upgrade to 10.5.1.
Now, I have repaired the volumes Mac HD and the one with the Tiger operating system, using the Leopard and Tiger install disks respectively. Then when I try to restart and hold the Option key, I do get to the screen where the two volumes show up as choices, but the little watch icon that indicates that the system is busy NEVER stops turning, even for a half-hour or more. So it never turns into a cursor that I can use to select my 10.4.10 volume and restart from there.
I can use the startup disk System Pref panel to specify the next startup volume, and it does boot successfully into Tiger or Leopard. But the restart with Option Key method never works.
Besides using disk utility to check the two volumes, is there anything else I can or should try to fix this problem, or it is a known Leopard bug?

That worked!
Interestingly, on the Applecare phone line, a guy told me that creating an 'empty' test account to test all this was unnecessary, because at the level of being between boots, choosing a volume, the user account had no influence or relevance. But apparently, what was going on before the restart does have an influence.
Now that I am back on Leopard, having done a safe boot again, i am going to operate a bit as I usually do, email, browser, etc., and then see of the safe boot still makes the restart/option key work.

How do I get mac book pro to boot from hard rive and not slave without holding option key

How do I get my Macbook Pro to boot from Hardrive and not the slave drive with out pusing the "option Key. I set up a drive on lion and now my MacBook Pro will not boot to the hardrive with out holding the "Option Key" down. i have to disconnect the UBS drives before it will go on it own.

System Preferences > Startup Disk. Select the volume you prefer to boot from.

Mini 2009 won't boot but will boot holding option key...

My mini early 2009 with OS X 10.8.2, won't boot normally, it will show a black screen after a while then will appear in large letters this:
No bootable device -- insert boot disk and press any key.
So, I unplug the power cord and wait a minute and re-plug it, then I press the start button while holding the "option " key down until the screen becomes grey and there I have the choice to start with the Macintosh HD or the Macintosh Recovery 10.8.2. So I choose Macintosh HD and it boots fine.
After the above, everything is fine. I used Disk Utility to repair permissions and everything was OK then I clicked on repair disk and again everything is ok.
But the problem is still there each time I start the computer.
It started after I opened Boot Camp Assistant to check my Windows XP partition which the icon disappeared from my desktop.
What are my possibilities? Thanks in advance.

Hi RRFS,
as you mentioned: In System Preferences under Startup Disk do you have your Mac HD selected? Did you lock it in (bottom left the little lock)?
The lock was open on the lower left. Using Disk Utilities, after a few Repair Disk Permissions and Repair Disk and downloading the Mac OOS X 10.8.2 Combo update and the 10.8.2 Supplemental Update, then again Verify Disk Permissions and Verify Disk, everything was OK.
So I started again the computer normally, but it took a longer time to boot, then my Desktop came back normally.
So, the problem has finally been solved for now. Now, it's the latest 10.8.3 update.
Thanks for trying to help with a question.

Holding Option key on startup to manage two libraries

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