Leopard on external drive, whilst leaving current data alone

hi,
I wish to install leopard on an external hard drive, so i can keep Tiger on the internal computer drive. But I want to partition the drive for time machine as well, I have already used about 70gigs of 500gigs on the drive but i don't want to erase the data already on there.
If I use the split function in disk utility to create other partitions will it erase the data already on the drive or leave it alone and create other partitions?

sebworldworld wrote:
hi,
I wish to install leopard on an external hard drive, so i can keep Tiger on the internal computer drive. But I want to partition the drive for time machine as well, I have already used about 70gigs of 500gigs on the drive but i don't want to erase the data already on there.
If I use the split function in disk utility to create other partitions will it erase the data already on the drive or leave it alone and create other partitions?
it will leave the existing data alone so you can do that. just make sure you use the split function correctly (select a partition and click on +). However, I should add that it's a bad idea to have TM partition on the same physical drive with the system. if something happens to the drive you'll loose everything. get another drive for backups.

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How do you import photos from a library on an external drive to the current library running in iPhoto?

How do you import photos from a library on an external drive to the current library running in iPhoto? I have a few different pictures in each library and would like to have all my pictures in both libraries. The library on the external drive is my backup. I would appreciate any help.

Depends on exactly what you want to do.
Just move some of the Photos? FIle -> Export from one and export the shots to the Finder. Then import them to the other.
This User Tip
https://discussions.apple.com/docs/DOC-4921
has details of the options in the Export dialogue.
Move the photos and all versions and metadata: use iPhoto Library Manager it's the only way to do this while preserving everything. Merge two Libraries into one?
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Why can't brand new MacBookPro9,1 (OEM Mountain-Lion) boot from Snow Leopard on external drive, or internal partition?

Why can't brand new MacBookPro9,1 (OEM Mountain-Lion) boot from Snow Leopard on external drive, or internal partition?
Is this because of hardware changes? Or firmware changes? Or is it just and Apple Inc. administrative fiat?

@Steve Holton: Sorry Steve, but you're wrong about that one . I'm using 10.8 (purchased and downloaded) on the internal HD of this MBP8,3 (2.2 GHz, 17"), and I am also able to boot into 10.7.4 and 10.6.8 from external FW800 partitions.
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One of Apple's Senior Support Advisors has done some remote troubleshooting but the case is still open and unresolved. An earlier Apple Support case suggested that when, I installed the downloaded copy of 10.8, there had been a "firmware update" (behind the scenes) that is now causing the problems with booting from my external partition(s). This apparently is "a bug": it is not what is supposed to happen.
So - I believe - "the problem" really has nothing to do with hardware capability. It is strictly about Apple's strategy for "managing its future customer base". If you don't like it - use something else - I am seriously considering Ubuntu as an alternative.
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Partitioning External Drive w/o Erasing Data

I have one 500GB external drive (USB) that I want to partition. I have 85GB on data on it now and really don't want to copy it back to the Mac HD (if at all possible).
When I run Disk Utility/Partition and select 2 partitions, it allows me to shrink either partition to ~52GB - smaller than my current data size. So I'm not confident what I am doing will partition w/o erasing data.
The drive is formatted as Mac OS Extended (Journaled).
My eventual goal is to use SuperDuper for a clone backup. I'm using the free version that only allows erase & copy. If I purchase SD, could I add a clone to the external w/o erasing existing data?
Any other suggestions?

yes you can.
quote from disk utility help:
Creating new volumes on a disk
You may be able to create multiple volumes on your disk without losing any data. Each volume works like a separate disk. You may need to create a new volume if you want to install multiple operating systems on your computer. Volumes can also help you organize your files.
NOTICE: Back up your data before creating new volumes on your disk as a precaution.
To create new volumes on a disk:
Select the disk from the list at the left, and click Partition.
Select an existing volume in the Volume Scheme list, and click Add .
Disk Utility splits the volume into two, leaving the data in one of the new volumes. If the volume is less than half-full, Disk Utility creates two volumes of equal size. Otherwise. it creates one volume large enough for the data, and another volume with the remaining space.
Resize the volumes as needed.
You can drag the dividers between the volumes in the Volume Scheme list, or you can select a volume in the Volume Scheme list, and then enter a value in the Size field.
Choose how to format the volumes that will be erased or created.
For each new volume, select it, enter a name, and then choose a format.
Click Apply.

Testing Leopard on External Drive/Keeping Tiger on Internal-Any Problems?

I am currently running Tiger 10.4.11 on my internal HD and I want to install Leopard on an external drive to test it against my applications before I commit to making the switch.
Are there any problems, concerns and/or precautions I need to be aware of or take when installing Leopard to the external drive? I have SuperDuper which has cloned my Tiger drive.
Once I've installed Leopard is there anything I should be aware of when booting Leopard off of the external drive and running my applications on the data that is on my internal HD?
Thanks

No real issues. Just be sure your external HDD is partitioned with a GUID scheme, not Apple Partition Map (check that in Disk Utility).
Hope this helps...

Installing leopard to external drive

I recently had problems with an update last week. After the update, the computer would not start. I took it into the Apple store, they tried to reinstall the update (to 10.4.11) and were not able to get it to work. They suggested I buy Leopard, take that home and try installing it. It appears that I can get Leopard to install, but only with a full erase. I still do not have a computer that will make it past the opening gray screen without the Leopard install disk in the DVD drive.
This is where I am smacking my own fingers. I do not have a backup of my important files (I will change that post haste). I purchased a backup drive last night also.
Here is my question...
Can I install Leopard on the new external drive first. Then boot from the external drive (I saw them do that at the store last night). Then copy the important files onto the external drive (I only care about documents and music - I am fine with reinstalling the programs). Then erase and install the OS back on the computer. I did not purchase the multiple license version. Or is there a better method I do not know of? Once I have the computer fixed, the external drive will be just for backups (so I would erase the Leopard install and copied files from that drive).
Thanks

thanks,
CCC looks interesting but since my internal drive is not booting, I assume I would need to:
1) install Leopard to the new external drive
2) boot the machine from the external drive (don't know how to do that yet)
3) download CCC to the external drive
4) make a copy of the original drive onto the external drive
5) unhook the external drive
6) install Leopard on the internal drive (with an erase)
7) download CCC to the internal drive
8) hookup the external drive
9) use CCC to move the files from the external drive back to the internal drive
(except for the OS files - how would I do that?)
10) erase the external drive and use it as a backup for the internal drive!!!!!
(no more excuses for not backing up regularly)
Questions:
1) Is there a difference between CCC and "Time Warp"?
2) Is there a problem with cloning the non-working hard drive?
(It appears to physically be working, just not booting)
2a) If it is not advisable to clone the entire non-booting drive,
(due to problems with the copying back to the internal drive after
the clean install), is CCC any better/more useful than just using
file manager if I am only moving data files and no programs?
3) Is there anything funky about copying the downloaded iTunes files?
4) Did I leave anything out of my plan above?
I think I am close and can't wait to get home to try this.
Thanks,
David

Can't Install Snow Leopard on external drive

Hey Mac Addicts,
I'm trying to install Snow Leopard on an external drive (Lacie Triple Rugged, FW800 USB3.0) but keep on getting "Installation failed, can't copy the support files.
My drive is partioned in to 5x100GB partitions, GUID partition scheme. I boot from my installation disk, choose my partition and hit install. The DVD spins and spins and eventually give me a failure. I've tried not installing the custom options (Quicktime 7, Rosetta and have even unchecked X11) but still get the same.
The MacBook Pro I'm trying this from is running 10.6.8 and previous successful attempts at doing this were from 10.6.4, I'm thinking this is the issue, but would rather not have to clean install my machine and try again.
If anybody has any idea's that'll be marvellous, as I am a little confused and lost, especially as I've done this before.
All the best and thanks in advance.
BigMik

Two things,
1: Use FIrewire
2: Use Disk Utility to first Erase with Security Option Zero All Data, the entire drive, then setup the partitions
3: If it doesn't work, then increase the size of the 10.6 parittion or reducing the partitions until it works.
4: Also do all this from the Disk Utility on the internal drive, then try again from the 10.6 install disk. Apple might have pulled something.
Also you can clone your present OS X 10.6 partition using the donationware Carbon Copy Cloner, however the external partition needs to be large enough for all the contents (recommended)
https://discussions.apple.com/message/16276201#16276201

Can i install leopard on external drive to recover files from internal hard drive

Ok i am havinga problem with laptop ... wont restart. Power on and mormal grey screen appears ... then a bar appears below the spining dashes and after a few increments the laptop automatically shuts down. Now is it possible to install OS on extrenal to allow me to access the laptops internal drive to save files?

Welcome to Apple Discussions!
Yes you can do that, though I'm not too sure that Iomega's firmware is up to date to do it. Be sure that any data you have on the Iomega is backed up elsewhere before attempting it. Some Firewire drives without up to date firmware from the manufacturer may become invisible and unusable after a software update on Mac OS X 10.3 or later. Also an AGP PowerMac needs its firmware updated while booted from Mac OS 9 before installing Mac OS X 10.2 or later:
http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=86117
That said, if after testing you find it does work, you can switch booting between both drives using the Option key booting as described in the Startup Manager article:
http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=106178
Leave OS 9.2.2 on your internal, and 10.4 on your external. That will be a lot easier than partitioning. Some information I wrote for others which can help you on your migration to Mac OS X is provided in this link below:
http://www.macmaps.com/macosxnative.html
If you really want to partition, be aware that only third party software is available to partition without erasing the entire drive, and you'll want to make sure additional partitions that will boot Mac OS 9 have Mac OS 9 drivers installed as my link above states. Whatever you do, be sure you have at least two copies of your data at all times:
http://www.macmaps.com/backup.html
Disclaimer: Reference to links I make to my Macmaps.com website are a for your information only type reference. I do not get any profit from this page, and it is open to the public.

Can't boot snow leopard from external drive

I have a copy of snow leopard installed on a separate usb hard drive which I use to run some PowerPC programmes under rosetta. I can attach this USB drive to my Mac Pro and also to an Intel Macbook and choose to start up on this external drive without any issues. However when I try restarting my new 2011 iMac on this external usb drive the machine crashes every time with a kernal panic. Is this problem unique to me or does everyone else have this issue with new iMacs. Mine is a 27" 3.4ghz i& with 12ghb ram installed running 10.72. Is their soemthing I can do to resolve this problem?

I have now solved the problem of being able to boot from either Snow Leopard or Lion on a new Mid 2011 iMac. This is how I did it.
1. Attach an external USB drive to an earlier Mac or borrow one from a friend. In my case I used my 2009 Unibody Macbook (which has Lion installed on it but does allow you to install Snow Leopard on an attached device) Put the Snow Leopard install disc in this machine and tell it to install Snow Leopard on your attached USB Drive.
2. Start up the Macbook (or whatever machine you are using) and get it to restart on the attached USB drive so that it boots up in Snow Leopard. Then when Snow Leopard is up and running on the attached external drive, do a software update to bring it up to 10.68 (the current version). This step is important as I found that if I plugged in the external USB drive into the iMac with only operating system 10.6 installed it would cause a kernal panic on start up when I choose to start up on the external USB drive.
3. With Snow Leopard updated to system 10.68 you can now plug it into your iMac and restart the iMac booting into Snow Leopard from the external USB drive. You do this by either going to System Preferences>Startup disk and choosing the external drive, or by holding down the option key when you restart your Mac and choosing the external USB drive.
4. The next step is to make your iMac dual boot now that you know it can run Snow Leopard successfully from an external USB drive. To do this, go into Utilities>Disk Utility and select your main drive. Select the main disk (with Lion on it) and then choose Partition and choose 2 Partitions. Drag the first partition bundary line down to make the second partition size as small as possible. In my case I had a stock 1TB drive and the smallest partition size it would allow me was 70gb. Create the second partition (assuming you have spare space on your drive to allow this to happen). This will then create a second hard drive icon on your desktop. I renamed mine "Snow Leopard startup".
5. Download the free (and excellent) utility Carbon Copy Cloner and use it to copy your Snow Leopard operating sytem from your attached USB external drive to your new partition.
6. That's it! Now you can choose to start up your iMac from either Lion or Snow Leopard using either method mentioned in 3 above.
7. As a final step I suggest your install your Rosetta only programmes in your new Snow Leopard partition so that you can access them easily and keep them all together.

Dual identity for MPB: Leopard on External Drive

I will be getting a new MBP at work, and am wandering if theres a way to have it serve a second purpose as my personal computer at home.
As the work computer it will come loaded with all the work stuff on internal drive, and be configured and updated as such whenever the IT dept decides to run updates on the company network, etc.
My plan is to have an external drive that would basically serve as the "personal computer", completely independent from the work computer. I would like to have Leopard loaded on an USB drive, to boot and run off this drive, and hold all my personal software (CS3, Logic, etc) and documents (music, photos, etc). So basically the external drive would hold the entire 2nd identity for this MBP.
My questions are:
1) Is this possible - will Leopard boot from an external drive?
2) If this is possible, how will performance be affected by running the OS and Apps, docs all from one external drive (primary concern is OS and Apps).
3) Does USB vs. Firewire matter (other than transfer rate)? I would like the drive to be bus-powered to maintain mobility. Is this possible with firewire?
4) Is there a External drive of choice for this task? I am looking at the LaCie Rugged 200G 7200RPM USB drive for the small size and rubber case (and appears to be bus-powered, but does this include Firewire?)
5) What am I missing in this plan? Is there a better option to do this (other than buy my own MBP
Thanks for all your help.
t

1) Yes, but I recommend a FireWire HD—it's faster.
2) You shouldn't notice any difference because everything you run is loaded into RAM
3) Yes—see 1)
4) If you're going to be using it at home, why is mobility an issue? Personally, I like Seagate FW/USB combos; others are satisfied with LaCies
5) I suggest just putting a bootable backup/clone of what the company provides onto the ext HD, then you can install your own software onto that. When the company updates the machine, you can do an incremental backup onto the ext HD which will leave all unique stuff there in place.

Cannot install Snow Leopard onto external drive

I'm attempting to install Snow Leopard on a second drive, an external bare drive in an Icy Dock enclosure connected to a MacPro (running 10.6.6) via serial port. Apple Disc Utility confirms that the external drive (a Seagate 325gb) has a partition map scheme GUID Partition Table. SMART Status is not supported. Connection Bus reads as SCSI but it's connected with a serial cable.
I'm able to perform the first part of the install by selecting the external drive but when I have to restart and complete the install from the original Snow Leopard disc (10.6), the external drive no longer shows up. I've tried several times and have restarted the Icy Dock external drive enclosure.
Any ideas? Thank you.

Not necessarily. Use a backup utility so that you can deselect all the data from within your Home folder as well as third-party applications in order to create a bootable disk but without some of the excess. Any of the following should be suitable:
Backup Software Recommendations
Carbon Copy Cloner
Data Backup
Deja Vu
Silver Keeper
MimMac
Retrospect
Super Flexible File Synchronizer
SuperDuper!
Synchronize Pro! X
Synk Pro
Synk Standard
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.
Message was edited by: Kappy

Install Leopard on external Drive?

I'd like to do what I have always done before when upgrading OSes, which is install Leopard on an external HD whilst I keep my existing Tiger on the internal HD.
This way I get to try out the new system without throwing out the old until I am satisfied the change is actually an "upgrade".
However I have heard this doesn't work with Leopard, you can not run 2 different OSes on the one machine and switch between them at startup.
Is this true? Has anyone tried this for themselves?

Peter Breis1 wrote:
I'd like to do what I have always done before when upgrading OSes, which is install Leopard on an external HD whilst I keep my existing Tiger on the internal HD.
This way I get to try out the new system without throwing out the old until I am satisfied the change is actually an "upgrade".
However I have heard this doesn't work with Leopard, you can not run 2 different OSes on the one machine and switch between them at startup.
Is this true? Has anyone tried this for themselves?
You heard incorrectly. Many here have done exactly that which you propose. I have two dual-boot machines - Tiger and Leopard. It does not matter whether the drive is internal or external. The only caveat is that for Leopard to boot on an external drive on an Intel box, the drive must be GUID.
For PPC it must be APS. Other than that, there is no problem.

Merge Partitions in External Drive, Retain Time Machine Data

Hi there,
I've read loads of posts and can't find the solution to my problem (hoping there is one!).
I currently have an external drive with three partitions: One running time machine and two others that are now empty.
I'm trying to merge these partitions while retaining the data in time machine but when trying to do this in disk utility, all the options are greyed out (I can get to the partition tab and the three partitions are visible but the +/- signs are greyed out along with 'options' and the size field too. On both, it says "this volume will not be erased".
The two empty partitions are formatted as 'MAC OS Extended'. The Time Machine drive is 'MAC OS Extended (journaled).
The Time Machine partition is the top partition so this isn't the problem.
Any ideas? Any help will be much appreciated!
Thanks

It does begin to look like it. I don't do Windoze, and there's nothing in Disk Utility's help, but I don't think you can alter partitions on MBR via your Mac.
Also, Time Machine often doesn't work well on MBR.
If you're planning to use either of the empty partitions for a "bootable clone," MBR won't work for that, either. Post back for details if that's what you want to do (although it's safer to use a separate drive for that).
You can copy your TM backups elsewhere if necessary, but it will of course take a lot of space and time. Use the Restore tab of Disk Utility, and/or see #18 in [Time Machine - Frequently Asked Questions|http://web.me.com/pondini/Time_Machine/FAQ.html] (or use the link in *User Tips* at the top of this forum).

Can't install Leopard on external drive

After speaking with someone at the Genius Bar last week, we determined that the problem I'm having with my eMac is probably due to the 4-5 year old internal hard drive finally getting ready to give up the ghost. ;-(
I asked if it would make sense to buy an new external drive, load Leopard on that, and boot off that while I save for a new Mac. He suggested that would work. (While the speed might not be ideal over a USB connection, I'm not too concerned with that. As long as the kids can do their homework, and I have a place to store photos it's fine.)
I just got my new external HD, got it partitioned into 3, and am trying to load 10.5.3 on it from my CD so I can make it the boot drive. The problem is that - while all 3 partitions show up on the "list" of places to install, the internal HD is the only one that will let me install on it. The 3 partitions all say that I can't install on them.
Any idea why I can't install on the external, and more importantly, can I work around it somehow before my internal drive dies for good?
Thanks,
Tim

Hi JDB38;
There is no such thing as an Intel G5. It is either one or the other but never both. An Intel tower is a Mac Pro. A G5 is a tower with a PowerPC processor in it. So which do you have?
Allan

Big flaw in Leopard regarding External Drives and DISK UTILITY

My macbook pro with Leopard 10.5.3. is not recognizing my drives and does not let me use or move files into them. File corruption in drives. Does not mount or unmount.
THe disk utility cannot repair these problems.
Now I'm at the 3rd drive getting corrupt in the last week.
Is Apple coming out with an update to resolve these issues?
In the meanwhile I saw this page on the Seagate web sites.
https://seagate.custhelp.com/cgi-bin/seagate.cfg/php/enduser/popupadp.php?p_sid=dLEqXr6j&p_lva=&p_li=&p_faqid=5005&p_created=1195077097&psp=
Any help will be appreciated.
Thanks,
Antonio

You can get dozens of "not me" or "yes" opinions, but you might want to look at reader feedback reports first on MacFixit (subscription required after 3 days) or MacIntouch, or handy olde Google.
There have been problems with external drives mounting, not unmounting, a known issue during shutdown, that seems to affect a number of drive cases.
Note: it helps to narrow down and ask/focus on what you are using, I assume by your link, that you are asking about a Seagate case, so issues with LaCie, Maxtor, Initio may or may not apply.
By 3rd drive, I assume same case? rather than disk drive, or same make model in each case?
For the record, years of using Oxford based and no issues, I avoid all the name brand cases in favor of the 'build it yourself' or OWC FireWire/USB Mercury (not that there aren't a few reports of problems, but I think much less).
Also, check www.xlr8yourmac.com for its "Drive Upgrade Database" reports, too.
http://www.macintouch.com - hard drives a good start.

Leopard on external drive, whilst leaving current data alone

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