How to make a bootable hard drive

I will be purchasing an external hard drive for my G5 for extra storage. Is it possible to make the second hard drive bootable without actually installing OS X on it? Is there a way to just install a system folder? Or can I just copy the OS X installer to that drive?
I just want to be able to boot so I can run Disk Utility on the main drive when needed without having to use the startup DVD.

Hello! You can also follow Kappy's suggestion below. Tom
Kappy's step by step guide to ext cloning.
This requires two steps and the external drive must be a Firewire drive:
Prep external FW drive:
1. Open Disk Utility from your Utilities folder.
2. After DU loads select your hard drive (this is the entry with the mfgr.'s ID and size) from the left side list. Click on the Partition tab in the DU main window.
3. Set the number of partitions from the dropdown menu (use 1 partition unless you wish to make more.) Set the format type to Mac OS Extended (Journaled.) Click on the Partition button and wait until the volume(s) mount on the Desktop.
4. Select the volume you just created (this is the sub-entry under the drive entry) from the left side list. Click on the Erase tab in the DU main window.
5. Set the format type to Mac OS Extended (Journaled.) Click on the Options button, check the button for Zero Data and click on OK to return to the Erase window.
6. Click on the Erase button. The format process will take 30 minutes to an hour or more depending upon the drive size.
Clone Using Restore Option of Disk Utility
1. Open Disk Utility from the Utilities folder.
2. Select the startup or source volume from the left side list.
3. Click on the Restore tab in the DU main window.
4. Drag the startup or source volume to the Source entry field.
5. Select the backup or destination volume from the leftside list and drag it to the Destination entry field.
6. Check the box to Erase Destination. Skip this step if you've already formatted the drive.
7. Double-check you got it right, then click on the Restore button.

Similar Messages

How do I make a bootable hard drive clone of my main disk in my mac pro?

Hi everyone,
How do I make a bootable hard drive clone of my main disk in my mac pro?
My main drive has bad sectors and I want to replace it.
Thanks in advance

Also your Mac's Disk Utility can make a bootable clone;
http://macs.about.com/od/backupsarchives/ss/diskbackup.htm
Consider though, if your internal HD is failing and defective, then any clone however made, may carry that defect.
Perhaps it would be better to copy your personal data, photos emails etc, to an external drive as well, just in case the clone did not work because of the failing hard drive.

How to make a bootable flash drive Disk Utility's "Owners Enabled" function

Being as Apple does not have a discussion group for this wonderful little utility and because Apple has neglected to fix the "Post New Topic" link in the "Special Interest Area>User Tips Library", I have no choice but to post here. I think what I found is useful and I have accomplished it in a way that avoids the need of using the disheartening Terminal.
How to create a bootable flash drive:
Step 1: Obtain a flash drive (e.g., 8GB USB flash SanDisk), OS cd

and because Apple has neglected to fix the "Post New Topic" link in the "Special Interest Area>User Tips Library", I have no choice but to post here.
http://discussions.apple.com/message.jspa?messageID=10672620#10672620

How to make a boot hard drive clone

I would like to make a clone of my 09 Mac Pro Quad 2.93, Snow Leopard boot hard drive. The idea is to install and boot from the clone in the event of a boot drive failure. Can this be done?

You can put the clone on any drive that you find suitable. If you use an internal drive it may be convenient to use backup software to update your clone so it remains a duplicate of your startup drive. This has the added benefit of acting as a backup. Suitable backup software might be:
Backup Software Recommendations
Carbon Copy Cloner
Data Backup
Deja Vu
SuperDuper!
Synk Pro
Tri-Backup
Others may be found at VersionTracker or MacUpdate.
Visit The XLab FAQs and read the FAQ on backup and restore. Also read How to Back Up and Restore Your Files.

How to make space on Hard Drive for videos?

I recently tried to download the first season on "Lost" on my 60GB video iPod, but I ran into problems when trying to download these b/c of the space needed on my hard drive. Besides the obvious answer, "erase other files on your computer," is there anything else I can do to fix this?
Thanks!
PowerBook G4 Mac OS X (10.4)

Well, if you are running out of space on your hard drive, the only thing you can do to free up space is to erase something from your hard drive. So, no, there's nothing else you can do to fix this.
Find some stuff you don't need anymore, and either delete it for good or burn it to CD first. If you don't want to delete anything, invest in an external firewire hard drive (they're very cheap, and allow you to do a full backup of your system in addition to having extra storage space... You are backing up your computer, aren't you?).

I want to make a bootable usb drive for my macbook air,and my ystem is osx mountain lion 10.8.5. How can i download it again without repaying for it so i can make my bootable flashdrive? I'm pretty new at this computer stuff so i don't know how things

I want to make a bootable usb drive for my macbook air,and my system is osx mountain lion 10.8.5. How can i download it again without repaying for it so i can make my bootable flashdrive? I'm pretty new at this computer stuff so i don't know how things work.
Message was edited by: tzaphon

This is not difficult and you will not have to download from the app store.
your computer has what is called a recovery partition that came with it.
simply hold cmd+R while you boot up. let go a second after you hear the chime.
you will boot into the recovery partition.
Use disk utlity to format your usb drive and then exit Disk utlity and go to Reinstall Mountain Lion.
it will ask you which disk you want to install ML onto. Choose your new USB drive.
easy peasy

How much noise should the hard drive make on a MBP early 2011?

Had since May/June last year i5 13" and only since I applied all updates few weeks ago it seems to be louder than it was before?
It sounds like a fan but isn't... obviously. Right hand side of track pad, and covering it, in fact just touching it dampens it to barely audible. Is that normal or has something gone a bit weird? A constant fan noise, which isn't the fan is now there permanently.

How much noise should the hard drive make on a MBP early 2011?
None.
The machine should only make noise if the Superdrive is being used or the CPU's heavily used, going by my Early 2011 17".
It sounds like a fan but isn't... obviously. Right hand side of track pad, and covering it, in fact just touching it dampens it to barely audible. Is that normal or has something gone a bit weird? A constant fan noise, which isn't the fan is now there permanently.
It's possible it wasn't installed correctly and/or the case is slightly off so it's resonating the hard drive vibrations.
Make sure you have a internet connection (don't move) and reboot the machine holding the d key down like forever and Hardware Test will run.
Backup your data off the machine, if the hard drive dies under 1 year or three years with Applecare, then go get a new one. else you can replace it yourself with a better one and not void your warranty if you don't break anything doing so. Add more RAM while your at it.
http://eshop.macsales.com/installvideos/
As you know Mac's are made by hand by young Chinese women working 12 hour shifts performing the same function every 7 seconds for only $1.20 a hour. They live 7 to a box room and have to pay 70¢ a meal.
All in all I would say they are very tired, and it's possilbe a few defects made it to your machine.

HT1635 How do I know which Hard Drive to get for my MacBook 2006? The old Hard Drive is a Toshiba (MK8034GSX) S/N Z6APT2XUT 9H5 EC. A?

How do I know which Hard Drive to get for my MacBook 2006? The old Hard Drive is a Toshiba (MK8034GSX) S/N Z6APT2XUT 9H5 EC. A?

I've put a 250gb 7200rpm drive in an Early 2006 with no problems.
For a new hard drive try Newegg.com http://www.newegg.com/Store/SubCategory.aspx?SubCategory=380&name=Laptop-Hard-Dr ives&Order=PRICE
Or OWC http://eshop.macsales.com/shop/hard-drives/2.5-Notebook/
Here are instructions on replacing the hard drive in a MacBook with a removable battery. http://creativemac.digitalmedianet.com/articles/viewarticle.jsp?id=45088
To transfer your current hard drive I like the free application Carbon Copy Cloner. It makes a bootable copy of everything on your hard drive http://www.bombich.com/index.html You'll need a cheap SATA external hard drive case. Put the new drive in the case then format and partition the new drive and clone your old drive to the new one. Check that it's set up right by booting up from the external drive. Then replace your old hard drive with the new one and put your old one in the external case.
Here's a cheap SATA external hard drive case on Amazon http://www.amazon.com/HDE-SATA-Hard-Drive-Enclosure/dp/B001AAVA08/ref=pd_bxgy_pc _text_b
If you don’t have the tools to open up the MacBook OWC has a set for $5
http://eshop.macsales.com/item/OWC/TOOLKITMHD/

How do i know which hard drive to buy to replace my macbook 13"

how do i know which hard drive to buy to replace my macbook 13"

Any 2.5" form factor SATA drive will work.
For a new hard drive try Newegg.com http://www.newegg.com/Store/SubCategory.aspx?SubCategory=380&name=Laptop-Hard-Dr ives&Order=PRICE
Or OWC for regular hard drives and SSDs http://eshop.macsales.com/shop/hard-drives/2.5-Notebook/
Here are instructions on replacing the hard drive in a MacBook with a removable battery. http://creativemac.digitalmedianet.com/articles/viewarticle.jsp?id=45088
Here are video instructions on replacing the hard drive on the Aluminum Unibody
http://eshop.macsales.com/installvideos/macbook_13_unibody/
Here are video instructions on replacing the hard drive on the White Unibody http://eshop.macsales.com/installvideos/macbook_13_09_unibody_hd/
To transfer your current hard drive I like the free application SuperDuper. It makes a bootable copy of everything on your hard drive http://www.shirt-pocket.com/SuperDuper/SuperDuperDescription.html You'll need a cheap SATA external hard drive case. Put the new drive in the case then format and partition the new drive and clone your old drive to the new one. Check that it's set up right by booting up from the external drive. Then replace your old hard drive with the new one and put your old one in the external case.
Here's a cheap SATA external hard drive case on Amazon http://www.amazon.com/Vantec-NexStar-2-5-Inch-External-Enclosure/dp/B002JQNXZC/r ef=pd_cp_pc_0
If you don’t have the tools to open up the MacBook OWC has a set for $5
http://eshop.macsales.com/item/OWC/TOOLKITMHD/

I am looking to back up my MAC, and I need to know how big of an external hard drive I need

I am looking to back up my MAC, and I need to know how big of an external hard drive I need. How do I determine this?

Well, they recommend at least 2 - 3 times the size of your hard drive if you are using Time Machine because that keeps making backups until it runs out of space (and then deletes the oldest to make room for the newest).
However, if you prefer to have a bootable clone as a backup, you need about the same size as your hard drive since it is a perfect copy of your system (unless you want to partition and keep an older clone separately).
So, check to see how large your hard drive is and go from there.

How do I update my hard drive?

How do I update the hard drive in my MacBook? I have a 250Gb and want to go to a 500Gb and want to just move my data to the new drive and swap. Is that possible?

For a new hard drive try Newegg.com http://www.newegg.com/Store/SubCategory.aspx?SubCategory=380&name=Laptop-Hard-Dr ives&Order=PRICE
Or OWC for regular hard drives and SSDs http://eshop.macsales.com/shop/hard-drives/2.5-Notebook/
Here are instructions on replacing the hard drive in a MacBook with a removable battery. http://creativemac.digitalmedianet.com/articles/viewarticle.jsp?id=45088
Here are video instructions on replacing the hard drive on the Aluminum Unibody
http://eshop.macsales.com/installvideos/macbook_13_unibody/
Here are video instructions on replacing the hard drive on the White Unibody http://eshop.macsales.com/installvideos/macbook_13_09_unibody_hd/
To transfer your current hard drive I like the free application Carbon Copy Cloner. It makes a bootable copy of everything on your hard drive http://www.bombich.com/index.html You'll need a cheap SATA external hard drive case. Put the new drive in the case then format and partition the new drive and clone your old drive to the new one. Check that it's set up right by booting up from the external drive. Then replace your old hard drive with the new one and put your old one in the external case.
Here's a cheap SATA external hard drive case on Amazon http://www.amazon.com/Vantec-NexStar-2-5-Inch-External-Enclosure/dp/B002JQNXZC/r ef=pd_cp_pc_0
If you don’t have the tools to open up the MacBook OWC has a set for $5
http://eshop.macsales.com/item/OWC/TOOLKITMHD/

Make a Bootable USB Drive

My MacBool's hard disk crashed recently, so i had to get a new one. Unfortunately I lost my installation CD and dont even have any back up so now i have an ISO and DMG file for Mac os X Snow Leopard. Please tell me how to make a bootable USB for my mac WHILE USING WINDOWS 8.
Thanks

If you don't have the original OS X installation disk, then it depends on what these ISO and DMG files are. If they're a true, complete copy of the original installation disk made properly, then you can use Disk Utility to restore that image to a USB drive which should then work. If those image files are updaters only, then they will not be able to create a bootable installer.
Regards.

I have a late 2008 Macbook Pro last updated to Mavericks OS. The screen died and it's not worth replacing. How do I remove the hard drive and use a drive sled to access info I need?

I have a late 2008 Macbook Pro last updated to the Mavericks OS. The screen died and I took it into an Apple store and was told replacing the screen and the hardware to repair everything would cost almost as much as buying a new laptop or a cheaper model. I was told that I can use a drive sled to access data I need on my hard drive. How do I remove my hard drive and use a drive sled to get to the information I need? What makes matters more complicated is I need to update my iPhone and my iTunes/App store purchases. How can I accomplish this?
My wife has a late 2008 Macbook Pro as well, which I am assuming I need to run my hard drive. Is there a way to just access just my hard drive without interfering with hers?
I know this is lengthy. Thanks to whoever looks at this and offers advice/instruction.

the device you need is an External enclosure for a 2.5" (laptop form factor) SATA drive.
A USB-interface enclosure will be slow, but is adequate for this task and for re-purposing as a backup drive later. A firewire-interface drive would be faster, but is harder to find, more expensive, and faster than needed for this purpose.
The drive will mount as an "extra" drive on your wife's Macbook, and you can drag and drop whatever you wish. You could create a separate Account for yourself on her computer, and use Migration Assistant or just copy your stuff over to the new account. Then it would not interfere with her files.

How to Create a Bootable Flash Drive to do a clean install of Lion. I have tried to use the InstallESD.dmg but it still will not do a clean install so that I do not have to do a reinstall from the Recovery (That just re downloads and takes over 6 hours)?

How to Create a Bootable Flash Drive to do a clean install of Lion. I have tried to use the InstallESD.dmg but it still will not do a clean install so that I do not have to do a reinstall from the Recovery (That just re downloads and takes over 6 hours)?
The system I'm have is a Mac-mini that had SL on it and no SuperDrive. I have also call Apple Support and they have really have not been to much help over 1st did my up grade to Lion and Installed the Lion Server.... it lost my SSL that I paid for and kill almost on of my server setting, plus kill all my web servers (using apache vhosts), and not to say the LDAP will even let remote users login to your laptops.
PS: There is no way that I'm going to buy a Install USB from Apple... They have over billed me over $300.00 because the Apps Store still has bugs (Glad I did not write that App/Service)
If there is anyone that can give in the information to create a USB install stick, I would be very thinkful.

Here you are bro, courtesy of "softpedia.com"....brilliant site!!!
If you ever had problems with your Mac OS X installation you know that the first thing you should do is to check the startup volume using Disk Utility.
After the check has ended and, if the errors exceed a certain level of seriousness, the Disk Utility application will require you to restart your Mac and use its Mac OS X Install disc counterpart.
Other users may have to reinstall OS X altogether, but will find, or already know, that their SuperDrive (a CD/DVD reader and write combo drive) is not functioning properly and it will not be able to read the Install disc.
Although this might happen to Mac OS X Leopard users due to faultyhardware, the vast majority of problematic SuperDrives will be encountered inside Snow Leopard running Macs.
This is due to the updated SuperDrive firmware included in either the Install disc or the software updates one has to install to reach the latest version of OS X, namely 10.6.6.
This can be fixed by flashing the SuperDrive’s stock firmware using free command line tools that one can find for free online (I will write about this process also, but at a later time because this article only focuses on allowing you to create your own alternative USB boot disc).
If you are reading this last bit of information with skepticism, than you should know that it happened to me too. Despite all my tries to make it work properly, the SuperDrive kept on munching any inserted DVDs and just popped them out in about twenty seconds.
The workaround to this issue was to create my own Leopard bootable USB memory stick. I am not suggesting a Snow Leopard bootable stick mainly because there are lots of users that have decided to buy the cheaper, Upgrade version, which I have not tested and, therefore, I’m not sure if it will work properly once written to a USB disk.
And now, here are the exact steps you should follow in order to obtain a fully bootable Leopard (or Lion) Install disc.
Step 1 (If you already have the Leopard install disc DMG file you can skip to Step 2)
Launch Disk Utility (you can find it inside /Applications/Utilities). Here select the Leopard Install disc in the list of drives on the left and click on the New Image menu entry at the top of the window. A save message will appear where you will have to select the Desktop as a destination.
Step 2
After Disk Utility has finished creating the Leopard DMG, insert your USB stick and erase all data and reformat the disk. To do this select the USB in the list of drives on the left and, after clicking on the Erase tab on the right side of the window, choose the Mac OS Extended (Journaled) format and click the Erase button beneath.
Step 3
After the USB has been reformatted, download the SuperDuper app from HERE and launch it. Once SuperDuper starts, you will only have to select the DMG in the Copy drop-down menu, your USB memory stick on the right and hit the “Copy Now” button.
One can also use Disk Utility for this task but creating a bootable USB stick failed 2 out 4 times when copying the DMG to the stick (with the exact same settings each time). Creating the bootable stick using SuperDuper proved to be the perfect way to do it because it worked each of the 4 times I tested it.
The steps above can also be used to create a bootable Mac OS X Lion USB by using the InstallESD.dmg image you can find inside the Lion installer (named “Install Mac OS X Lion.app”) downloaded from the Mac App Store in the /Applications folder.
To locate the InstallESD.dmg right click the Lion installer, select the “Show Package Contents” entry, go inside the “Contents” folder, and from there into the “SharedSupport” folder. Inside this folder you can find the InstallESD.dmg you can use to create your own bootable Mac OS X Lion USB stick. To do so, go to the third step described above and use the InstallESD.dmg as the DMG to be copied to your USB disc.
That’s it! Once the process ends you will have a fully bootable Leopard (or Lion) USB disk that you can use as an alternative to the Apple’s DVD Install disc that comes bundled with all Macs.
To use your newly created bootable disk you will have to restart the Mac, press and hold the OPTION key until the StartupManager appears. Here, select the Mac OS X Install disk using your keyboard arrows and press return to start from the selected drive.

How do i transfer external hard drive content to macbook pro?

How do i transfer external hard drive content back to my macbook pro?
I do not see the hard drive icon or a back up icon, where should it be?

What kind of drive is it - a large drive with a power cord, or a portable drive? Can you tell if the drive itself is actually on? (Is there a light, or a power switch, etc, can you hear it?)
How is it attached to the Mac?
On your Mac, click on the desktop, then go to the Finder menu (top left), click Preferences, then under the General tab, make sure that everything is ticked.
If that works, you should then get the external HD icon appearing on your desktop.
Hope that helps.
Matt

How to make a bootable hard drive

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