Problems Starting up from a Firewire Drive

I got a new Lacie 250GB external firewire drive and installed OS X 10.4.5 onto it and have been using it as my primary boot drive. It works great, but when I shut down and turn it back on, it won't see it as the startup disk unless I hold option at startup and select the drive and continue. The drive is set up as the startup disk in the Startup Disk preference pane. Anyone know what would cause this?

Way back in the days of SCSI drive, you would see this issue if the drive didn't spin up fast enough. The OS would complete it's check for drives before the drive would spin up.
Try powering on your external drive 10 seconds or longer before you power on your iMac.

Similar Messages

Can OS be installed and run from a Firewire drive?

Hello,
I recently started to switch from WindowsXP to a Mac Mini. I was considering installing WindowsXP to a drive that I put into my AMS Venus 3.5" drive enclosure. This is a combination enclosure that supports USB 2.0 and Firewire 400. I've never used a Firewire device before so I don't know how well XP would install to and run from a Firewire drive. I'd like to setup XP to run underr Parallels. Its a Seageate 160gig 7200rpm drive that's about 1 1/2 years old.
Is this possible? Is is actually usable going through a Firewire connection?
Thanks,
Jeff

Hi Jeff,
installing Windows under Parallels will produce two files that contain the Windows System itself (filename.hdd) and the configuration file (filename.pvs).
These two files can indeed be put onto an external harddisk and run from it.
It is quite usuable and you should get the same 'speed' as if these files where on your internal HD.
Have a look at the PDF files here http://www.parallels.com/en/products/desktop/ for further information on how-to.
Have Fun
Stefan

Booting from a firewire drive with a bluetooth keyboard

I need to get my computer (iMac G5) to boot from a firewire drive that does have OSX installed on it. I understand from other posts that a bluetooth keyboard will not help seeing as the handshake does not occur until the operating system boots as well. Is there any way to get this to work? I have tried selecting it as the startup disk in System Preferences, but that hasn't seemed to work. I do NOT have a USB keyboard anywhere that I can use (away from home in the boondocks).
Any ideas?

Ikrion wrote:
I need to get my computer (iMac G5) to boot from a firewire drive that does have OSX installed on it. I understand from other posts that a bluetooth keyboard will not help seeing as the handshake does not occur until the operating system boots as well. Is there any way to get this to work? I have tried selecting it as the startup disk in System Preferences, but that hasn't seemed to work. I do NOT have a USB keyboard anywhere that I can use (away from home in the boondocks).
Does System Preferences allow you to select the FW drive as the start up volume? If so, you then press the button to restart, correct? What exactly happens after that?
What version of OS X do you have on the iMac (ii) the FW drive?
Have you booted from the FW before? What kind of drive is it? How did you install OS X on it?
If the FW and iMac have the same version of OS X on, try this:
open /Applications/Utilities/Disk Utility
select the FW drive at the left
choose "repair disk"
choose "repair permissions"
Try again.
- cfr

HT1338 If I have OS 7.5 installed on an external drive, can I start up from the external drive in that OS when my macbook pro is 10.7?

If I have OS 10.6 installed on an external drive, can I start up from the external drive if I have 10.7 installed on my macbook pro?

Provided that the MBP supports booting from that version of 10.6, and the install was from a retail disk (not a different Mac model), then yes. If it's a newer Pro that came with Lion, it may not boot to 10.6.
Matt

Boot from external Firewire Drive-cannot repair or optimize internal drive.

Hi all
Connected my new 300 GB Seagate External Firewire Hard Drive today.
Installed Tiger from DVD. Updated to 10.4.3.
Installed Tech Tool Pro 4. Updated to 4.1.1.
Booted from External Firewire Drive.
Disk Utility cannot Verify or Repair internal drive. Does not say or do anything.
Tech Tool Pro cannot repair volume or optimize. Says, "Cannot Unmount Volume."
Is there a fix for this?
Thank you for the help!
Jeff
eMac 800 nVidia. Mac OS X (10.4.3) 160 GB Internal HD. Pioneer Superdrive. 1 GB RAM.

Hi
I did name the new external completely different from the internal.
After booting from the external Firewire Hard Drive, I tried running Disk Utility and Tech Tool Pro from both drives. No matter which drive I run the Utilities from the same things happen every time...
Nothing happens when trying to use Disk Utility to Verify Volume on internal eMac Drive.
Tech Tool Pro says, "Cannot unmount volume" when trying to check Volume or Optimize internal drive.

Problems backing up then booting from a firewire drive on Intel Macs

Hi
I wanted to help a friend back up his Macbook and then install Bootcamp.
I took over my trusty external firewire drive (Makeytec MHD-25 Combo enclosure + Samsung 80Gb HDD).
So... I ran Disk Utility
Highlighted the firewire drive, clicked Partitions, named it "Backup". Clicked Options -> GUID -> Partition
I backed up his computer with SuperDuper onto Backup. SuperDuper automatically makes the drive bootable. At the end Backup was mounted on the desktop and all files are there.
But Backup wouldn't boot the computer. Instead I got a grey screen for a long time, then the Apple logo with the spinning cog, then after a few more minutes a circle with a bar through it (like a no smoking sign minus the cigarette)
Things I tried after this....
Partitioned the drive again, double checking that I had selected GUID
Erased the drive zeroing out all the data
Backing up using CCC (with make drive bootable option checked) instead of SuperDuper
Could not get this drive to boot his computer.
Then took the drive back home. Tried doing it with my MacMini (same problem)
Then plugged it into my Powerbook, Partitioned it as Apple Partition Map, ran SuperDuper, rebooted from it fine.
My conclusion: The drive will boot a G4 just fine, but not an Intel based Mac.
Does anyone have any suggestions?

A workaround:
The drive enclosure also has support for USB "1.1/2.0", including the ever important cable.
I reconnected it to the Macbook, partitioned the drive back to GUID, then I used super duper to back the Macbook drive (again!). I used firewire (only because it was much quicker - 6Mb/s vs 2.8Mb/s)
Once I did the backup, I ejected the external drive, disconnected it, then plugged it back in with USB, then selected it as the start up disk, then hit restart. Machine rebooted just fine although very slowly.
Still doesn't answer the question of why booting via the firewire port works fine with a G4 mac but not Intel.
Tim

Problems booting from external firewire drive

Here's a weird one...
I'm trying to help a buddy with a 3rd gen MBP and a new WD 'My Studio' firewire external drive.
He can mount and use the drive but is unable to boot from it. When starting up his machine with option, the drive doesn't show up as selection. The really odd part is the drive does work if plugged in with the USB cable!
The drive in question DOES work as expected on my 5th gen MBP with firewire. Further, I can stert my MBP in target disc mode and it will function as expected as a bootable external drive for his machine. The system in question was cloned with Carbon Copy Cloner. And again, it boots from my MBP.
I've tried different sets of cables (even though everything works on my system). I actually had him send the drive back for warranty replacement but of course the new one behaves the same way.
What could be the cause of apparently certain firewire drives not being bootable (but otherwise working) on a 3rd gen MBP? The intended workflow is to be studio/audio work so using the USB connection for a workaround would not be an option.
Any clues? Windows is not even installed on any of these machines!

baltwo wrote:
FWIW, many WD HDs won't boot Macs and booting Macs isn't supported. Details at their site. That's the main reason I never recommend their crappy HDs.
Actually I'm very familiar with that list- spent a lot of time looking at this past week!
Ironically, the majority of that page is a list of drives which they claim WILL boot Macs. In fact, the list is entitled "List of Mac-bootable WD external drives..."
And yep, mine is on there...on the list that reads "The following external hard drives should be bootable on Intel-based Mac computers systems through FireWire (1394a/b)" is "MyBook Studio" as well as my drive model number.
But that's all beside the point. Like you, I couldn't recommend their drives at this point. At least make sure if you buy one that the vendor has a good return policy.
Dave

Booting from a Firewire Drive

Hi there -
I'm trying to install Leopard from an external firewire drive (Sony 810UL). It comes up in the Start-up disk opions as well as the simple 'Resart to install Leopard' on the deskop.
Problem is - when I restart, my Powerbook won't recognise the drive.
Any clues?

Is there something wrong with your '12 PowerBook G4's internal optical drive? I had an experience where my '12 PowerBook G4 wouldn't recognize my iLife '05 DVD-ROM. Resetting the PMU fixed it for me. You might want to try that to see if it gets the internal optical drive working again. Here's a link to the Apple Knowledge Base article that describes how to reset the PMU: http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=14449. If that doesn't work your internal optical drive may have dirt on the laser lens. If so running a cleaning CD in the optical drive should dislodge the dirt & enable it read discs again.

Can Leopard be installed from a Firewire Drive or Another Mac?

I have a Mac Mini with a faulty Super Drive. It's not really a problem since I only use it as a network appliance and rarely install software via CD/DVD. But now I don't know know how to upgrade it to Leopard. And since its my File server, I can't use it with Time Machine.
Is it possible to put the install on one of my Firewire Drives and install it from there?
Any advice?

Dear Cabak
You may have options, but I am not sure as I have only two days with Leopard thus far, but....
I am positive with Tiger it was possible to start the client computer up in Target Disk Mode and use the host computer to "upgrade", "archive and upgrade", or "clean install" the operating system.
You will actually start the HOST computer up with the install disc AFTER you have the client computer in TDM. You simply choose the client computer hard drive and select the type of install you prefer to do.
Remember to check the client computer for any offending files that will cause you to get caught in a blue screen freeze on startup. There are plenty of threads in the discussions about people having this problem. Read the following document if you are not aware of the situation.
http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=306857
The beautiful thing about this (if there were one) is that you can remove these files easily while in Target Disc Mode. These are the files you should get rid of before the upgrade process...
/Library/Preference Panes/Application Enhancer.prefpane
/Library/Frameworks/Application Enhancer.framework
/System/Library/SystemConfiguration/Application Enhancer.bundle
/Library/Preferences/com.unsanity.ape.plist
I think you will be pleased with the outcome of your efforts.
-James

Why does my Mac Pro try to start up from a blank drive?

I fitted a 2nd drive to my 2006 Mac Pro in anticipation of dual booting Windows (not done yet). The dive is FAT formatted but is empty. Why does the Mac Pro try to boot up from that drive every time I start it up, despite having set the startup disc as OS X in the System Prefs?! Getting sick of seeing the flashing folder with the question mark evry time I start it up.

I might be inclined to think the problem is really on your startup drive. You might try reinstalling Snow Leopard.
Also, try:
Resetting your Mac's PRAM and NVRAM
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.
Download and install the Combo Updater for the version you prefer from support.apple.com/downloads/.

Stupid question: force booting from external FireWire drive

My PowerBook is refusing to boot from it's hard drive (flashing ?/folder), which I'll be attempting to repair using DiskWarrior, etc.
But it's also not finding and booting from the OS X installed on my external FireWire drive (which it could do under normal circumstances). How do I force it to do that given that I'm unable to set the Start Up Volume in the normal manner?
PowerBook G4 17" 1.5GHz 512MB 80GB Mac OS X (10.3.6)

Dale,
Thanks for your response. I've been through the usual stuff as in your reference and I eventually got it to boot off the external HD by just leaving it long enough - it took maybe 10-15 minutes. I'm booted from it now. I hadn't thought of using the Startup Manager, but will try to remember next time.
As for the internal HD, it's looking like it's dead - neither Disk Warrior nor Data Rescue II seem to be able to see it. I tried Disk Utility from the external HD, but it doesn't see it and nor does the Profiler. Maybe it's just a loose connection internally. There is a noise coming from the PB from about just under the division between the left hand rest and the speaker. It sort of sounds like a disk continually being read or written - ie. a sort of very rapid clicking, but I don't think it's the HD. And I don't think it's the fan. Anyone with any ideas before I call AppleCare?
I did have a very similar problem a few weeks ago (http://discussions.apple.com/message.jspa?messageID=1465680#1465680), but Disk Warrior fixed it apparently with next to no problems. I was going to wipe the drive at the weekend & reinstall, but didn't get round to it in the end ... Fortunately I had a backup this time and was able to restore my user simply by copying it.

Can WinXP be loaded and booted from external firewire drive?

The subject line probably says it all but:
Does the recent firmware upgrade and/or BootCamp allow you to install WinXP on an external Firewire drive rather than partitioning the iMac Core Duo's internal drive?
Mike
Intel iMac Mac OS X (10.4.6)

The other problem is XP itself doesn't support booting from firewire. Even if someone could figure out how to install to an external from bootcamp, you would still have to contend with XP.
Glor

Cannot boot Snow Leopard from external FireWire drive

I use a Western Digital My Passport Studio 500 GB external drive to back up my MacBook Pro with Time Machine. I had created a 30 GB Leopard boot partition with various utilities and tools; since the small drive goes wherever the laptop goes, I figured it might come in handy to be able to boot the computer in the event something went wrong with its internal 250 GB drive.
Over the weekend, I upgraded the external drive to Snow Leopard, and now it can no longer be used to boot the laptop. The symptoms are truly weird. Holding down the Option key while rebooting does not show the external drive unless I disconnect and reconnect the FireWire cable. The drive then shows up. I select it, and it appears to begin to boot, then it just sits on the gray screen with the little round thingie turning for a long time (five to ten minutes). Eventually, the system boots from its internal drive. This happens regardless of whether I'm connected by means of FireWire 400 or 800.
After spending a lot of time looking at the usual suspects (cables, permissions, PRAM, etc.) I reinstalled Sand Leopard (OK, 10.5) and lo and behold, the drive boots again (though for some reason I still have to go through the disconnect/reconnect routine). Clearly, something in the OS has changed with respect to the way booting from external drives is handled.
On the positive side, I have none of the symptoms described in other threads: Time Machine works flawlessly, and both the boot partition and the Time Machine partition appear on the Snow Leopard desktop every time I connect the drive.
Does anyone have the same issues? Does anyone know of a workaround?
Thanks,
Daniel

Hi,
Working from a MacBook Pro 2.4 (Santa Rosa) with 4gb ram, running OS 10.5.7-
(All external HDs are 7200 rpm)
Shortly after our fresh install of Snow Leopard onto a new but already tested External 1.5 Seagate Barracuda (with the most current firmware), in an OWC Mercury Elite enclosure-
We installed Snow Leopard smoothly to that external HD without any issues, and it booted up from that 1.5T external HD, and worked fine.
Then, still working from the MacBook Pro, I turned on and booted another external HD (a Newertech Guardian Maximus RAID running 10.4.11 via FW800, daisy chained to the 1.5T External with Snow Leopard newly installed.
Again that's MacBook Pro <FW800> Snowy external HD <FW800> 10.4.11 RAID (booted & working from the RAID).
But when I tried to bootup up Snow Leopard, after doing the work on the 10.4.11 RAID-
It would not boot up.
Though Snowy would appear as an available Start Up disk, each time it was selected as the Boot drive,
the Internal HD OS 10.5.7 booted instead.
I changed around the cables and tried repeatedly.
Same result, no Snowy boot.
Even after the OS 10.4.11 external RAID was power down, and disconnected.
After some looking around, I found this forum:
http://discussions.apple.com/thread.jspa?threadID=2136208&tstart=0
Got me thinking.
I tried the USB, and it booted !
I tried the FW400, and it booted !
And mysteriously, at this point- I tried the FW800, and it booted !
And then, the MBP boots seemed to reliably boot from that external, via FW800.
Bizarre.
Snow Cat needs to be taught originally how to find FW800 from the bottom up ?
Turns out, Snow Leopard doesn't like booting,
if the preceding boot was on the 10.4.11 RAID, and work was done with programs there.
So, once again, I repeated this process:
After working with programs on the 10.4.11 external HD,
the MBP would not boot the Snow Leopard external HD,
it defaulted to booting from the MBP internal HD OS 10.5 via FW800.
even though Snowy was selected for Start Up.
This was the case repeatedly.
(It would also boot from the 10.4.11 external RAID, if it were selected for Start Up.)
(In each of these tests below, I only rebooted the computer at each test. I did no work with programs on the various HDs.)
SO, once again, at this point of the process:
I plugged in that Snowy external HD via FW400,
and it booted up fine !
Then I booted up from the Internal 10.5, and tried to boot Snowy via FW800 again.
It worked !
Then I turned on the 10.4.11 RAID external HD, and tried to reboot from the Snowy external HD.
It worked too !
Then I booted from the 10.4.11 RAID, it came up fine.
Then booted from the Snowy, it came up fine.
Then booted from the Internal HD 10.5, it came up fine.
Then booted from Snowy again, it came up fine.
Then I turned off the 10.4.11 HD, booted from Snowy, it came up fine.
Then booted from the Internal, it came up fine.
Then tried Snowy one last time, it came up fine.
Anyway, the issue is:
It works fine-
Except when I do work within the programs on the 10.4.11 external RAID.
Then I have to use FW400 or USB to get it to boot once again . . .
Regardless of whether the other external HD is removed from the system.
It's some sort of flaw, and totally repeatable in testing.
Hopefully, it will be fixed soon.
Howard

Restoring Files from Backup - Firewire Drive

Hello!
I recently performed a complete re-install of Tiger on my iMac G5, and it is working nicely now. I used SuperDuper to back up the my hard drive to an external firewire drive before doing the install.
Here is my issue: When I try to copy files from the firewire onto my internal hard drive, I get this message: "One or more items have special permissions and cannot be copied. Do you want to skip them?" For example, I received that message when I tried to copy SuperDuper from the firedrive into my internal drive.
I do not want to bring everything from the backup onto my machine since I believe it was software that might have caused my issues which led to reformatting to begin with.
Is there a way to bypass this error? A key combination, perhaps?
Thank you for your time!
E

For apps, I would reinstall from the source. There may have been corruption over time. Most Mac OS X app files are not single files at all, but a package, which is like a folder. You can look inside by right (control) clicking on an app and select +Show Package Contents+. Some apps that use an installer program may also place support files at +Library/Application Support/+, both at the root level and user account level; you may not know about those files. Also, there may be a newer version available (for downloads) that you didn't even know about.
However, for the apps that were drag-and-drop installations, it should be OK to do the same from your backup, if you don't want give your apps a fresh start along with the OS reinstall on a blank volume.
FYI, there is a way to get a fresh Mac OS X system without reinstalling apps, or even restoring your user data. You use the +Archive and Install+ option in the Mac OS X Installer. This will retain user accounts and settings, as well as third-party apps, while installing a fresh system. You should still backup your data as a precaution (since something bad could happen), but your data should still be there when you restart into the fresh system. Your installed non-Apple apps should also be there, although you may need to reinstall or re-register some apps. The bundled Apple apps get reinstalled.
As for your immediate permissions issue, try copying it from the external drive into the Shared user folder at Users/Shared/. If that works, try moving it from there into your user account folder

Problems with External Seagate GoFlex Firewire Drive Disconnecting on Sleep Mode

I am Running a 2.8Ghz Intel Core 2 Duo 24" iMac running Mac OS X 10.7.3. I run time machine to backup to an external Seagate 3TB, FreeAgent GoFlex Desk, FireWire Drive. When the Mac goes into sleep mode, the Seagate drive un-mounts. When the Mac wakes up, I get an error that the drive was not properly disconnected and the drive is no longer mounted. The only way I can get the drive to remount, is to remove power from the drive for several seconds and then reconnect it.
I have seen several people talking about this issue in various forums with many various makes and models of FireWire drives, but I see no answers to this issue from Apple. Does anyone have a resolution to this issue, or are we just stuck with this problem? It is terribly frustrating!!!! The lack of response or interest from Apple is even more frustrating!!!

Wish I had an answer, or even a clue about this one. I have a Western Digital MyBook Studio that I've had for a fair number of years now and finally had to resort to just plugging it it as a USB device. Since it's only used for Time Machine backups and storing things I rarely need, it's not a huge burden, but I'd love to hear from anyone with a suggestion as to how to fix this. I recently upgraded from a 17" late 2006 iMac to a Mid 2011 21.5" iMac and would really like to go back to FireWire if it's not going to be a big-ole-pain in the hind end.

Problems Starting up from a Firewire Drive

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