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

Similar Messages

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

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.

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.

SSD EXTERNAL BOOT DISK REPAIR - FEW TIMES IMPOSSIBLE LATER PERFORMED

Since approx may I boot my iMac from external 500 GB Samsung SSD on Seagate Goflex TB adapter. Installed story here https://discussions.apple.com/message/22045230#22045230.
Later, after a TB SW upgrade may be in June I experienced the Freezing only 2 or 3 times apparently without any problem (after new boot no data loss and Mac performing OK).
I did today a routine Disk Verify and Repair. Verify found some minimal problems and suggested to boot from the recovery partition for a full repair.
Instead of boot from the recovery partition I rebooted from the iMac internal original HD (I keep it for safety as an exact clone of the external SSD).
Run disk utility as verify and it refused to verify with message: Disk need to be repaired. Bur Repair was impossible, one or 2 times external SSD not mounted and impossible to mount. Rebooted, now SSD mounted but still repair impossible, Disk Utility suggested backup an reformatting. Tryed again and later repair was performed. Checked again few times: everithing OK. The SSD is now working proprly.
I am now asking how this behaviour could be explained. Could be disk warrior or any other SW of better help for a diagnosys ?
Thanks for any soggestion and best regards.

Backup your files, if possible. Your only recourse is to reformat the drive and reinstall OS X. Do not copy or backup files from Windows. If at all possible boot from another drive like your external HDD by installing OS X on the external drive (unless it is already a bootable drive.) You can then copy your data from the faulty OS X volume before erasing it.
You should never permit your free space to drop so low. One should maintain 10-12 GBs or 10-15% of the volume's total capacity, whichever is greater.
Since this problem will likely recur I suggest you consider just replacing the drive with one that is considerably larger. I would also be sure to arrange to maintain a bootable backup on an external drive in case problems such as this one occur.

One external boot disk for multiple machines

i'm trying to find out if this is possible, but it's quite hard to find information on this
i want to install mountain lion on an external ssd disk (connected via thunderbolt or firewire) and use it as boot disk on a macbook pro (2012), imac (late2009) and a mac pro(not sure about the model).
will this be possible and a safe solution. will be used for music production with logic9 on a dayly basis reliability is key.
hope to find someone that have tried this out and can share some advices..
thanks

i'll be surprised if anyone can give you 100% guarantee that this will work fine.
It will definitely work on the computer you install it from.
Plugging the SSD to other machine - although it may start up - in my opinion it has "Kernel Panic" written all over it.
Would be probably OK with identical Mac models but you are talking about a range of Macs with different hardware in.
It will be interesting if someone does it and posts on this subject.

Install BootCamp windows 8 on external Boot Disk

I have no internal hard disk, for other reasons. I need to install Windows 8 on an external hard disk, which is partitioned, and I boot from one partition (and the drive is GUID). My windows 8 is in the form of an iso, and I cannot burn it to a disk, although I could burn it to a USB drive. If you need any other info, I can provide it.
Thanks in advance,
Oscar Simpson

You cannot install Windows on an external drive. Microsoft only allows you to install it on an internal drive.
There's a Windows 8 feature called Windows To Go, that allows you to put your Windows system onto an external drive, but to do this, you need Windows 8 installed on the internal drive

IMac Retina - External Monitor support

Does anyone know where I might find some information about support for an additional monitor for the new iMac Retina? I currently have a 32" Dell 4K monitor, will I be able to utilize it?
Thanks
Ralf

I would start by looking at the system specifications for the new machine, typically they outline the external display resolutions available. I haven't looked, the new machine just became available today so you may need to wait a few days to see if the system specification are available on Apple's website. That should provide some clues.
If you cannot wait you can always call Apple's online store and inquire, if they don't know request that the question be escalated.

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.

Intel iMac won't boot & Disk Utility error-can't verify disk

I posted earlier today that my 24" intel iMac (2.4Ghz Core 2 Duo) froze yesterday after a Safari crash. I had to shut it down with the power button. Since then it won't start up. Sometimes it starts, then shuts off. Other times it starts, then the little gear just spins. I've done the keyboard commands for RAM, the complete disconnect of power, then reconnect, and the Disk Uitility with the install disk. When I do Disk Utility to verify, it gives me a red-letter error that it cannot verify on both verification checks. I have also tried, via the install disk, to repair by using a Time Machine backup, but that utility has been spinning and spinning on my Time Machine for hours, and I cannot even click the "Continue" button because it is busy (checking the time machine?)
I am out of ideas as to how to move on from here. My AppleCare expired 2 months ago, so that's a problem. I've had no major issues before now, except for earlier this year when Mail wouldn't open for some reason. Anyway, I'm at my wits' end here. I NEED my Mac. I'm disabled and have no better source of entertainment or socializing. My hobbies are editing audio, video, & photos. Without my Mac, I'm just in the middle of the sea in a raft with no oars. Any helpful suggestions will obviously be much appreciated. Thanks.

Reinstall OS X without erasing the drive
Do the following:
1. Repair the Hard Drive and Permissions
Boot from your Snow Leopard Installer disc. After the installer loads select your language and click on the Continue button. When the menu bar appears 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.
If DU reports errors it cannot fix, then you will need Disk Warrior and/or Tech Tool Pro 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.
2. Reinstall Snow Leopard
If the drive is OK then quit DU and return to the installer. Proceed with reinstalling OS X. Note that the Snow Leopard installer will not erase your drive or disturb your files. After installing a fresh copy of OS X the installer will move your Home folder, third-party applications, support items, and network preferences into the newly installed system.

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

External Boot Disk setup?

I have just recently purchased a new Iomega tripe connection external drive and have it connected to my B&W G4 using firewire. My goal is to create a bootable external drive that I can use to connect and run Disk Warrior and other utilties at any given time, plus allow for more room in storing files.
I split the new 400 GB drive into two partitions using Disk Utility on the OSX 10.4.3 CD. I made the first one 40GB and was hoping to "clone" my exisitng 40 GB internal drive (with all applications, etc.) onto it. I formatted each using Mac OSX (journaled). Using DataBackup from Prosoft, I successfully "cloned" my existing HD to the first partition of the Iomega drive.
From the System Preferences, I can select the firewire partition with OSX as the startup disk, but when it restarts it returns to my original ATA drive as the startup. Do I need to reformat the firewire drive in another way to have it recognized as a startup disk? Also, when I tried to install to the firewire disk from the OSX install CD, it said I couldn't install it directly to this drive. Not sure what can help with this issue, but any advice would be greatly appreciated.

I'm sorry. I thought B&W was "black" and white. I have a G4, 733 MHz system.
The partition name is different than the drive I cloned (original was "David's G4" and the partition name is "Pelican_1".) But it was weird that the OS wasn't able to be installed directly first, so I went to clone the "bootable" disk mentioned above...hoping it would make the partition bootable as well (since it included the OS, applications, etc.)
It recognizes it in systme preferences, but won't boot from it - reverting back to the original David's G4 drive (internal.)

Re iMac and external booting: why is it-?

iMac 27", bought about April, 2014.
STILL waiting for Alsoft to be given the code for an external bootable DVD with Diskwarrior.
But if an external DVD can (1) boot it and (2) drive the inbuilt iMac display...
... that Apple Support (Ireland) told me that I can't boot from a Mac Mini, and run Diskwarrior from that?
(I was thinking of getting a Mac Mini for the sole purpose of emergency use if the iMac crashes).

Install OS X onto a 16 GB USB flash drive then install DW on it. I've been using that for years.

24" Core Duo iMacs and external Firewire disks

Hi guys,
I'm having a bit of an issue with the new iMac that I picked up yesterday. There seems to be an issue with mounting disk devices connected to the Firewire 400 port. Disk devices mount fine off the Firewire 800 port. The bizarre thing is that I plugged an old iSight camera into the Firewire 400 port and it works fine. This seems to eliminate both the possibility that the Firewire controller is faulty and that the FW 400 port is dead.
Just to remove the possibility that it could be a crappy driver, I installed XP via bootcamp but I get exactly the same issue. (although windows is a little more specific. It actually detects the name of the disk device but says it cannot be started)
I've zapped the PRAM and left the machine dormant and unplugged for 30 mins to no avail. Could someone plug a disk device into their FW400 port and see if they get the same issue i.e. nothing happens? (card reader, laptop in FW target mode, external HDD)
I'll take the machine back if I have to but I really loathe the though of lugging this thing back to the Apple store.
Thanks.
Danny

I also am having trouble.
I cannot mount my eMac in target disk mode. The only way I could get the eMac drive to mount was if I put a firewire disk in line with the eMac. i.e. a firewire cable from the eMac to the disk and another cable from the disk to the iMac. (Same model 24" 2.4GHz aluminum).
I thought the issue was with my eMac, but when I went to connect my Canon CanoScan 9950F scanner the iMac would not see it unless I also went through the firewire drive.
I have since learned that the drive does not have to be on and spun up, but it has to bridge the connection. The drive I'm using is model PHR-100AF Macally 3.5" enclosure.
I have been able to mount this drive without having to chain it through anything else. I've also been able to mount a Macally PHR-250CC 2.5" enclusure and a el cheapo 3.5" enclosure that uses the Prolific PL-3507 chip. Also, my 3rd generation iPod mounts just fine.
I don't have anything for the FW800 port so all my experiences are with the FW400 port.
My question is:
Is there something wrong with my iMac that it cannot mount my eMac in target disk mode without being chained to another external drive?
Is there something wrong with my beautiful, new 24" aluminum 2.4GHz Intel Core 2 Duo imac that it cannot connect to my Canon CanoScan 9950F scanned?
I expect more from Apple. I expect that it should at least work with their own hardware (the eMac).
Should I go back to the Apple Store and complain?
Thanks,
Chris
p.s. I guess I should ask my own question huh?
Message was edited by: ctopher

Can iMac Retina mount external HD in Target Disk Mode?

I'm trying to mount an ailing HD in a 24" iMac to my iMac Retina in Target Disk Mode. It will not mount. I'm using a Firewire 800 to Thunderbolt adapter. When I plug the Thunderbolt adapter into a MacBook Air, the Target Disk HD mounts....
Is this the way it is with iMac Retina?

I'm not sure what you are trying to confirm here. If I boot from the install disk, why would I get a different driver than what I would get by installing the OS (from that same disk)? Or if it is a firmware problem then the disk doesn't matter at all.
If I boot from the install disk the sytem still doesn't recognize the G4 iBook in TDM. I don't know if this is relavent, but I have to boot the G4 iBook, connect the firewire cable, then boot the Intel iMac in TDM mode for it to mount on the iBook. Booting the iMac first, or connecting the firewire cable after the iMac has booted does not work. If I hold down the option key while booting the Intel iMac it will let me select the startup disk. If I insert the install disk it will add the install disk to the menu. If I connect a firewire cable and boot the G4 iBook in TDM it does not add the firewire disk. If I boot the iBook in TDM mode then boot the iMac from the install disk it does not see the iBook either. In all cases the Intel machine ignores the PowerPC machine.
The system profiler does not say who made the FW chip. I too am suspicious that it some kind of driver/firmware problem. I have an old firewire iPod , and I have an old firewire iSight camera, and they both work fine with the Intel iMac. There is another discusion were someone was having trouble with a firewire drive on an Intel iMac. Firewire is pretty symmetric (unlike USB which is master/slave). It is odd that one direction should work and not the other. It seem like some obscure bug that only effects block devices on the Intel side.

Imac retina external boot disk

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