OS X Mavericks won't complete install on external drive

Hi. I have the new Mac Pro (late 2013) with all software updated. I have a 2TB external ATA drive attached with USB 3.0.
I wanted to install OS X on the external drive and had to use the Command R method. The computer restarted and started the install process. I used disk utility to erace the external drive. I did exactly what Apple instructed. I created a new single partition and set everything as instructed by Apple.
I then ran the install and it took 30+ minutes to install OS X. It said the computer would re-start at the end of the download, which it did. BUT, it didn't restart on the new drive. It's as if it couldn't then find the external drive and it rebooted on my normal internal drive. I did EVERYTHING all over again and got the same result.
There are now files on my external drive in a folder called "OS X Install Data" but I don't see the OS X installer file. I think the computer was supposed to detect the external and complete the install but it didn't.
What is wrong and what do I do to avoid this problem or fix it? Can I continue the process with the files on the external drive?
PS - I first tried to install the OS X Mavericks installer file from the App Store but it told me that I could not install Mavericks on my computer. I believe the version on the new Mac Pros is differnent and I read you have to get it from the Internet using the Command R method.
I've used the Command R method on my old Mac Pro and it worked fine. Something is wrong here.
Thank you in advance!

BTW, clarification: The hard drive is in a USB 3.0 enclosure made by DAT Optic. It works great as an external drive but can't figure out why I can't get the OS installed on it.
Given that the files were downloaded to the external drive, I then tried this approach:
http://www.techrepublic.com/blog/apple-in-the-enterprise/how-to-create-a-bootabl e-usb-to-install-os-x-mavericks/
It didn't work. WhenI booted I got the null sign error. Even though all the files are on the drive just as described in this above link, it still doesn't work. And the files on the drive are not the typcial folders that indicate a full OS was installed. There are many files that look like they are used to create an OS.
How the heck can I get OS X Mavericks to install completely on a hard drive that is in a USB enclosure?

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Message was edited by: R C-R

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It won't. Enterprise TEch support confirmed this. I bought thew new mini server to get a good value fast machine with a quad i-7.
What's the purpose of Thuderbolt if my apps and doc folders have to reside on a SATA disk?
They really should have non server version with the i7 quad.
Even better Apple should make it clear that this is the case. Even the guy in the apple store said I coud boot it form an external drive!

Yes this will all take some time for sure.
If you want to keep lion server on your current machine, then yes, that is correct. It doesnt hurt to have a few spare 500gb+ hard drives to help the long process.
See there was previous controversy with the mac mini servers with the dual cores (the one I have) because we all wanted the better processors but to not run the server version and some also wanted to be able boot from other drives. Same as you..
In non lion versions of OSX you would normally put the SL Server DVD or SL DVD into your mac and instead of installing a fresh OS, you would select utilities , then restore from time machine backup. You could also obviously use an external drive or SD card with SL or SL server installer loaded on it to install the OS or perform the restore.
That being said
I personally only know how to use a Snow leopard Server or Regular snow leopard installer DVD (or disc imaged external hard drive partition as just mentioned) to use time machine to restore an OS. I personally dont have experience with the lion disc repair for using its utilities to restore from a backup. Im sure it works the same way though when you hold option and boot from it..
If you are looking to go NON server on your OS you must have a Snow leopard retail version DVD (not leopard upgrade version) to be installed on to an external drive.
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Unfortunately like I said you will have to have a snow leopard retail installer (no longer at the apple store only online or ebay for $30) and then would have to 'upgrade' to lion in order to NOT have lion server version on a mac mini set up for server.
If lion server version is good for you then yes do what you wrote in the reply would work. My experience with server snow leopard was that it was slower than snow leopard regular and it extremely interfered with my music production even though I was not running any of its server options..
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