How do I boot from an alternate hard drive?

Boot Using OPTION key:
1. Restart the computer.
2. Immediately after the chime press and hold down the "OPTION" key.
3. Release the key when the boot manager appears.
4. Select the desired disk icon from which you want to boot.
5. Click on the arrow button below the icon.

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How do I boot from an external hard drive if my MacBook Pro only recognizes the internal drive?

Hi there, I recently got the white screen of death (w/ circle slash) on my 13" 2009 MacBook Pro. Most people are saying that it is hard drive failure, so I am trying to boot it from an external hard drive to save some of my data before having it repaired. Unfortunately, every time I press "option" while it boots, it only shows the internal drive on the grey screen. I have my external drive connected, but it won't recognize it. What should I do?
Thanks!

Welcome to the Apple Support Communities
You can only start from an external drive if OS X is installed there. If not, it won't appear as a bootable volume because there isn't any operating system inside it.
As you have a Mid 2009 MacBook Pro, it's better to start from the Mac OS X disc that came with your Mac. Insert it and hold the C key while your Mac is starting. After starting, go to Utilities menu > Disk Utility, select "Macintosh HD" in the sidebar and repair it. If you can't get it repaired, take the computer to an Apple Store.
If the hard drive can't be repaired, the only option to recover your files is to use an application as DiskWarrior, but it's expensive and it's not sure that it will work, because it may fail

How do I boot from a new hard drive?

I have a 15" MacbookPro (pretty much stock) that I purchased new in Jan. 2012. I had to replace the hard drive and just got the new drive installed. Now I need a disc with an OS on it to boot from to get it all working again. I originally had OS X Lion, but now that they've upgraded to Mountain Lion I can't find anyplace to download Lion. It was preinstalled so it didn't come with a disc. And I have another mac running OS X 10.6... should I make a boot disc from that? and how would I do that? Or do I need to do Lion since my computer was orginally registered with that verson of OS X? Any ideas on what is the most logical step would be helpful. Thank you.

Oh this is on a NEW drive. You have to Partition and format it before you can install the OS.
Once booted from the Internet Recovery system open Disk Utility and select the drive makers name and or model number of the drive, the top most listing in the left hand side of DU, then select the Partition Tab.
From the Partition Layout section select one partition from the drop down list. Make the name Macintosh HD and the format Mac Extended (Journaled) then click the Apply button.
Once that is done exit DU and Reinstall Mac OS X.

How do I boot from an external hard drive?

I have a MacBook Intel. I attached a USB hard drive and made a partition for an system image and another for Time Machine. I did a system Restore to the Image partition. I would like to test it to see if I can back up to it. Is there a key or something that I have to hold down to be able to choose which disk to boot from (internal or external)?
also, I created the system image for the external hard drive by using the Restore command with the source as my current hard drive and the output as the external partition. There did not seem to be any other options. Is there something else I should have done?
The drive is formatted as Mac OS Extended (Journaled) and I chose the Intel set up (GUID ?).
The OS is Leopard

Is there a key or something that I have to hold down to be able to choose which disk to boot from (internal or external)?
Hold the "Option" key when booting.

How do you boot from an external hard drive if...

Thanks in advance to anyone who can offer any advice. My 24" IMAC suddenly had hard drive ****. After much investigation it has been determined that my internal hard drive has bit the dust. Instead of taking the IMAC apart and replacing the internal drive(which I know a bit about and also could get help doing)can I just replace it with an external drive and load the OS on that and boot from there? If so what exactly, step by step, would I need to do? What are the disadvantages of doing this? If this is possible it seems like an easier solution than replacing the internal drive.
Again, thanks for the help.
Bill

easybpw wrote:
can I just replace it with an external drive and load the OS on that and boot from there?
Yes, but it's not recommended for long-term use.
If so what exactly, step by step, would I need to do?
First, make sure the drive will boot a Mac. Most will, but some won't. If it's a Western Digital, check here: http://wdc.custhelp.com/cgi-bin/wdc.cfg/php/enduser/stdadp.php?pfaqid=1787. But note the disclaimer that they don't support it +*at all.+*
If you're reasonably sure the drive is capable of booting your Mac, you need to format it. Start up your Mac from the Install disc (insert it, and hold the "C" key while starting up). After selecting your language, select Utilities, then +Disk Utility+ from the menubar.
Select the drive, select the top line (with the make and size), click the Partition tab and select 1 Partition from the the pop-up menu under +Volume Scheme,+ unless you need more than one.
Give it a name under +Volume Information,+ and select +Mac OS Extended (Journaled)+ for the Format unless you're certain you need Mac OS Extended (Case-sensitive, journaled). Click the Options button below the box, and select GUID (that should be the default, but make sure), and click the OK button, then Apply. That should only take a few moments. Quit Disk Utility and you’ll see the Utilities menu again.
Quit that and proceed with the installation to the new drive. When done, I think it will reboot automatically from the external; if not, start up while holding down the Option key, which will give you the +Startup Manager,+ where you can select the desired drive.

How can I boot images on external hard drives with an older OS

Hi,
I recently bought a new MacBook Pro Retina (running OS 10.9.2 Mavericks), because I had to give back my „old“ one (bought in February 2013, running OS 10.8 Mountain Lion), which was only a loan from University.
So here comes my problem: I used Carbon Copy Cloner to create bootable images of my old MacBook on two independent hard drives. I tested these images and they both booted perfectly well on the old MacBook. As it turns out, I cannot boot from these images on my new MacBook Pro, I just get a crossed grey circle (both images work perfectly well when I boot from my internal hard drive and I just use them as external drive, by the way). Is it really correct, that it is not possible to boot a system with an older OS as the OS of the MacBook? Why? I really would like to have the option of booting these images, since I have some applications installed I might want to use from time to time in the future (and I don’t want to migrate all applications to my new MacBook, but prefer a clean install). As I understand, it would be necessary to update the images to Mavericks. But how do I do this when I have no computer which is able to boot them?
I still have a very old MacBook from 2007 running OS X 10.5 (Leopard) and I also tried booting the images with this computer - didn’t work either. Would it help to update this to Snow Leopard? What OS would I need to boot my Mountain Lion images?
Any help on this is highly appreciated!
Thanks!

Hi!
Thanks for your prompt response. The reason I don't want to migrate all apps is that I had installed a lot of scientific applications on the Mt-Lion MacBook that I will definitely not use in the future, some that I might use only very rarely, and I can migrate only the complete applications folder (and I have only a 256 GB hard drive). Of course I could deinstall the unused apps manually after the migration, but I am not 100% sure, if this procedure completely removes all the stuff from the libraries and preferences, etc. Moreover I also started playing with some time ago with server applications like apache server etc. and since I am a complete newbie in this field, I have to admit, I really don't know how to uninstall these things properly. So I figured a clean install for the new MacBook would be the best. Well, maybe I will migrate everything and remove the unnecessary stuff afterwards manually. I am just a bit disappointed, because I didn't anticipate these problems with the images...
Just one further question: Is it correct, that if I find a way to update my images from Mt-Lion to Mavericks (if that is possible at all?), this would make them bootable again?
Thanks!

My Macbook air flash had gone for a month and I saw Apple's Macbook air flash storage drive replacement program. I'm not sure whether that program is still available for the broken device or not. Now, I'm booting from the external hard drive. Thank you.

My Macbook air flash had gone for a month and I saw Apple's Macbook air flash storage drive replacement program. I'm not sure whether that program is still available for the broken device or not. Now, I'm booting from the external hard drive. Warranty has gone in October 2013..
I want to send back my macbook air back to apple store. The problem is that I bought it from US and now, I'm using it in Myanmar. If the program is free of charge for my device, it's worth trying to send back to US. Since mine is broken, I'm afraid Apple will take charges for reparing.
So, if anyone having the same problem as me, I would like to get suggestion....
Thank you!!

I have no idea about how to handle the international aspect of your question.
But here is the Apple writeup about the problem and the remedy. Maybe that will help you.
http://www.apple.com/support/macbookair-flashdrive/

How to import music from an external hard drive to my itunes on my computer?

how can import music from an external hard drive that i saved my itunes music to. i dragged the music from my hard drive to the itunes on my computer but the music does not play from my itunes. it does however play on my ipod. it gives me an error that the original can not be found and do i wish to locate it. i am thinking that i did not drag the right file or all of the files necessary .thanks. kevin

To import music into your iTunes library on the computer go to iTunes>Help>iTunes Help>Add items to iTunes and follow the instructions

I want to Boot from My old hard drive.

I an trying to do this work around so I can continue using protools 7 with my MBP running Snow leopard. I pulled out my old hard drive running Tiger and put it into a USB case. I installed a new 650GB hard drive in to my laptop, installed Snow Leopard and reinstalled all my old software. So far so good. Now I want to boot from the old hard drive running Tiger so that I can launch Protools 7. I choose the external HD as the startup disc and end up getting a circle with a line through it on startup.
Is there something else I need to use my old hard drive running Tiger as a startup disk?
Thanks!

If the original HD still has the version of Tiger installed on it that came with the MBP (probably Mac OS X 10.4.8, build 8N1037, 8N1051, or 8N1430) or a later version of Tiger like 10.4.11, then the MBP should be able to boot from it.
To determine what OS & build number is on that drive, open the Startup Disk system preference. Hover the pointer over the drive's image in the window & the OS version & build number will pop up in a ToolTip window after a brief delay. What does it show?
Also, which MBP do you have? Open System Profiler to the Hardware Overview page. What is the Model Identifier shown in it? Is it "MacBookPro2,2" or something else?
Assuming the OS version & build number are sufficient to boot the MBP, it may be that the USB enclosure does not support booting. Most do, a few do not. What is brand/model of the enclosure? Do its specs specifically say it can boot a Mac?
If all of this seems OK, you can try running Disk Utility's two repairs (permissions & disk) on the external drive. If no errors are found, you may be able to get it to boot the Mac by reinstalling Tiger on it from the original system disc set. This will require updating the OS to the latest version you had installed on it for best results.

My computer shows the grey screen that says i need to restart when i tray and boot from an external hard drive

It shows the grey screen that i need to restart when i try to boot from an external hard drive. both drives have snow leopard

Kernel Panics? Don't panic too!
"You need to restart your computer" (kernel panic) message appears (Mac OS X v10.5, 10.6)

How to Play iTunes from a external Hard Drive?

Is it possible to run iTunes from an external hard drive so that I dont use up the space on my labtop? For example, store all my music files on the External and run it through iTunes.

Assuming you use the iTunes default settings where iTunes copied added items to your iTunes folder and organizes your library (meaning - everything is all self contained in the iTunes folder), then all you have to do is drag & drop your iTunes folder (not just the iTunes Music folder you find inside the iTunes folder) to the external drive and copy the entire thing.
If you want to test that it worked or would like to actually start using it from that location instead, use these instructions when you start iTunes to point it to the new location...
How to open an alternate iTunes Library file or create a new one
http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=304447
If you are just testing, then close iTunes after you verify it works, and restart iTunes again with the same instructions and point it back to your internal drive (original) location.
Back up your iTunes library by copying to an external hard drive
http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=307074
Patrick

Satellite L20-100 can be booted from external USB hard drive?

I recently bought Toshiba Satellite L20-100 and I wonder if:
1. is there any possibility to boot this machine from external usb hard drive?
2. it is possible to attach another internal hard drive?
Supposing that the both answers above are 'no', how can I solve the following problem: I need hdd space, I need to boot 3 separate Wxp Operating Systems onto the same machine (Toshiba Satellite L20-100).

Booting from external USB HD - "No" would be the official, mcrsoft sponsored, answer. However, it is possible. Not easy but it can be done. I've seen it done with my own eyes and there are guides how to do this. Just look for it with search engine. But if you have enough disk space you better do what was suggested here - create 3 partitions and use boot manager.

How do i copy from an external hard drive to iMac?

When copying from an external hard drive, when the box 'select your disc' comes up - I am unable to continue.

I suspect the external HD is formatted in NTFS, by default a Mac can write to one but it cannot be written to from one. How you overcome this is to download and install the NTFS-3G Download.
Roger

How to play movies from Accer DD Hard Drive

I've had my computer for less then 2 weeks and i haven't been able to install all of the major apps in order for certain things to run on my computer. How do i play movies from my external hard drive. I keep having a pop up on saying "QuickTime Player can't open "Bad Grandpa.avi". To see if additional software is available that will enable QuickTime Player to open the movie, click Tell Me More." I have installed QuickPlayer 7 but i am still recieving that pop up message. I have an Accer DD Hard drive.

AVI, a windows formatted move. can't be played by QT. Toe AVI's on your mac see:
http://www.iskysoft.com/topic-snow-leopard/how-to-play-avi-with-quicktime-on-mac .html

How to load files from old external hard drive to new PC

Copied files from old PC (Windows XP) to external hard drive. Purchased new PC (Windows 7). Paid technicians to transfer files from old PC to new PC. Some files were lost in the process.
Please walk me through (step by step) on how to load spicific files from an external hard drive onto my new PC.
Thanx, rp1

Click anywhere on the open desktop so that the Finder menus are displayed at the top of the screen.
Click Go > Network
Double click the Time Capsule icon, then double click the icon representing the drive to mount it on the Mac's desktop. It is named "Data" unless you have changed it
You can drag/drop files to the "Data" icon on the desktop
235 GB is going to take forever if you try to do this using wireless. If at all possible, connect an Ethernet cable from your Mac to one of the LAN <-> ports on the Time Capsule.
Even using Ethernet, you are probably looking at 10-12 hours for the file transfer. All bets are off with wireless only, but a guess would be several days....or even more.

How do I boot from an alternate hard drive?

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