Running operating system from external hard drive

I know that is possible, and I have done it before when I have needed to run Disk Utility or to salvage files from an an mountable hard drive, though here is my question. My iMac just ran out of applecare, and I dont know if my boss wants to put the money into repair it yet. I am wondering the draw backs or real issues with running a mac natively off a external fw800 drive. I know its unorthodox, but if the repair of this iMac is allot, which I have a feeling it will be, this might be a a possible option, for a back up computer.

It will be a bit slower but it should work just like booting from the internal disk.
Regards
Captfred

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Can I run another operation system via external hard drive?!

i have a macbook pro retina display and i want to run another os system but on an external drive is it possible!?

The two are actually solvable as one which is why I suggested this, but it is your question and you can continue working on both if you so choose.
If you get an external hard drive or storage, you attach that to the MBPr and then use Disk Utility, found in Finder > Applications > Utilities, to partition and format the external hard drive. To do that:
Attach the external drive, then open Disk Utility.
In the left side panel of Disk Utility, select the external drive you have attached, make sure you are selecting the external and not the internal.
In the right or main window of Disk Utility, select Partition from the buttons at the top center of the window.
Select the number of partitions you want on the external drive, and you can set their sizes. Then click so as to highlight them one at a time.
Give the highlightes partition a name, then select the format as Mac OS Extended (Journaled)
Select the partition table to be GUID
Then Apply and the partition will be formatted to be compatible with Mac OS X.
When your are finished just Quit Disk Utility.
You now have a Mac OS X formatted external drive that you can use as storage for the software and data that you want to use. You do not need to boot from that storage, boot normally but direct your applications to use the external drive as the storage location.
if you DO want to make that drive a bootable drive, we can discuss that next.

How to run data merge from external hard drive?

I attempting to merge a large document (~4,000 records) in CS3. The document that I'm merging the data into is also large (an 8 page newsletter). I have exported the pages of the document as a PDF and the imported them again (therefore minimizing the data/links/etc.) but the amount of memory it was consuming was still crashing the program when I ran it on my computer. I bought a TB external hard drive and would like to run the merge from there so that it is using that memory/RAM instead of my computer's. I moved the indesign file, all the pdf links, and the .csv file that is the data source to the external hard drive. That didn't solve the problem. Is the merge now running from the external hard drive and still not working or is there something further I need to be doing to get InDesign using the external hard drive memory instead of my computer's memory? Any advice would be wonderful, thanks!

I attempting to merge a large document (~4,000 records) in CS3. The document that I'm merging the data into is also large (an 8 page newsletter). I have exported the pages of the document as a PDF and the imported them again (therefore minimizing the data/links/etc.) but the amount of memory it was consuming was still crashing the program when I ran it on my computer. I bought a TB external hard drive and would like to run the merge from there so that it is using that memory/RAM instead of my computer's. I moved the indesign file, all the pdf links, and the .csv file that is the data source to the external hard drive. That didn't solve the problem. Is the merge now running from the external hard drive and still not working or is there something further I need to be doing to get InDesign using the external hard drive memory instead of my computer's memory? Any advice would be wonderful, thanks!

What's the best way to run Logic Pro from external hard drive.

What's the best way to run logic from external hard drive

Hi
Organism wrote:
Logic is designed to run from your Applications folder. I suspect if Logic was moved to an external drive, it might not be able to locate its assets, like loops and libraries.
As long the necessary files are in the correct places on the boot disc, you can run the Logic application itself fom wherever you like. It would not be recommended however, and there would be very little benefit (if any) in doing so.
CCT

Running Snow Leopard from External Hard Drive

I have some teacher software that lion won't run. It was suggested to me to run snow leopard from an external hard drive. I have an external WD hardrive for mac. Can someone share with me on how to do it?
Thanks!

Have a look here
http://support.apple.com/kb/HT1948

Running Final Cut7 from external hard drive with 15" Retina having FCX on it's drive...

Hi All,
I ended up (unexpectedly) having to lay my 15" standard MBP to rest and stepping up to 15" Retina. Problem; coming from Final Cut 7 with many projects and external hard drives for clients with FC7-handled media that still needs to live on for future projects and updates to existing timelines/sequences. I need to install Final Cut X on the Retina but still need to recruit media from these external drives (I have each of my clients buy and external hard drive for their media to "live" on).
My idea is to install FC 7 on an external hard drive and run it from there. The main goal is for the next year or so, to be able to bridge the world between former clients who have years worth of clips and FC sequences/timelines they just update each year, to new clients today.
Thoughts? I really don't want to mess this up.....yikes!
Thanks!
ClemKins

The applications are just going to run faster on your 256GB internal 'drive' than if installed on an external - if, indeed, they COULD be installed on an external (there are a lot of files inserted into you Libraries that the applications need to run).
If you don't have it in your budget to buy some Thunderbolt drives for swap space, I'm assuming that you can allocate swap space on an external (I know that I do with Photoshop)? That would cut down on swap space used on your internal.
256GB should be more than enough - even though I have a 512GB SSD I really am only (now, anyway) using about 140GB on it and I'm running the entire Adobe CS6 suite and quite a number of other drive-heavy apps. So 256GB should be a worry.
As I said, I have all of my apps installed on my internal drive and use two Thunderbolt external drives as 'working' drives - you should be able to do the same with whatever connections you have to your external drives (just will be a little slower than Thunderbolt). Keep your apps on your internal - 256GB is really enough.
Good luck,
Clinton

HT1660 How do I run itunes from external Hard drive?

How do I run itunes from external hard drive. I only have ssd on PC and media is too large to fit

You do not.
iTunes, like all programs is installed on the C drive.
You can store the media on another drive.
Assuming you are moving an existing library from another computer:
Move or Copy the ENTIRE iTunes folder from the old computer to the new computer and put it where you want it.
Install iTunes using the default options.
Hold <SHIFT> while launching iTunes. It will prompt to create a new library or locate an existing library.
Select the option to locate an existing library.
Point iTunes to the iTunesLibrary.itl file in the iTunes folder that was moved from the old computer.

Booting from external hard drive on intel-based MacBook Pro

Good day everyone. I know similar questions were raised in this community, but I still have some questions.
I have MacBook Pro(late 2011) with OS X 10.7.5 and external hard drive with Ubuntu 13.04, from wich i can boot succefully on my PC. But MacBook Pro will not boot from my external drive, no matter which key/combination i use during restart.
After googling I found some answers to my initial question, how to boot from external hard drive
https://discussions.apple.com/thread/1852633?start=0&tstart=0
http://www.everymac.com/systems/apple/macbook_pro/faq/macbook-pro-boot-from-exte rnal-firewire-or-usb-drive.html
http://support.apple.com/kb/ht1948
As I understand I need to format my external hard drive into GUID partition type and this will be enough to be able to boot from it on my mac?
With this new partition type, will I be able to install ubuntu again on my external drive?
Does GUID partition type supports NTFS, ext4 and FAT32, linux swap?(I use ntfs for big files, ext4 as partition for ubuntu and fat32, because i use windows, linux and osx)
Will I be able to boot from my pc from my external drive with this new partition type?
What are downsides, if any, to GPT?
here is info on my e-drive

LowLuster wrote:
The only OS that will boot from an external drive is Mac OS X or maybe Linux. For OS X to be installed on any drive it need to be formatted Mac OS Extended and have GUID partition table.
As for Linux I'm not that familiar with it but again for a Mac to boot it need an EFI partition on the drive and I don't think that is possible with NTFS or FAT32 let alone the native Linux format.
Went to wiki to learn more on efi but found artice on uefi.
Operating system loaders are a class of the UEFI applications. As such, they are stored as files on a file system that can be accessed by the firmware, called EFI System partition (ESP). Supported file systems include FAT32, FAT16 and FAT12, and supported partition table scheme is GPT only. UEFI does not rely on a boot sector, although ESP provides space for it as part of the backwards compatibility.[26]
Here is FAQ on official uefi website.
Can UEFI Secure Boot be adopted and implemented by a variety of operating systems?
UEFI specifications are platform-independent, supporting multiple platforms and architectures. In addition, UEFI specifications are designed to promote cross-functionality, as well as to support broad adoption across multiple operating systems, including Windows as well as Linux-based operating systems. The specifications are robust and can potentially complement—or even advance—other distributions, such as Linux-based distributions.
And here is wiki article on GPT expaining OS support.
It is obvious both uefi and GPT are ok with Linux and file systems such as FAT32, ext4 and NTFS.
I guess there is no much difference(or is that the same thing?) between uefi and efi used in Macs.
In your answer to Stark Industries you said that mac can boot linux from external hard drive, well this is not the info i got of official website and it is still my question, because your answer is very inconclusive and your info is partially incorrect

How to full restore from external hard drive backup

I'm a new MAC user and got myself in a mess where i need to perform full backup restore from external hard drive. Last back via time machine to external drive was 2 days ago, so the data is there.
What are the MAC boot commands to get me to system restore options. And there any useful tips you can pass on.

http://www.macworld.com/article/1165784/how_to_restore_data_from_time_machine.ht ml

BOOT DEVICE NOT FOUND - PLEASE INSTALL AN OPERATING SYSTEM ON YOUR HARD DRIVE

HP G6-2212SA LAPTOP ( 2 YEARS OLD) BLACK - WINDOWS 8
I HAVE RUN THE MEMORY TEST PASSED
RUN THE HARD DISK QUICK CHECK - PASSED
RUN HARD DISK EXTENSIVE TEST - PASSED
I HAVE BOUGHT A NEW HARD DRIVE, INSTALLED IT AND RUN ALL THE SAME TESTS WITH ALL THE SAME PASSED RESULTS. I BELIEVE THAT THE PROBLEM IS NOT THE HARD DRIVE, SO I HAVE TAKEN THE NEW ONE OUT AND PUT THE OLD ONE BACK IN, AND HOPEFULLY BE ABLE TO GET A REFUND IF I SEND IT BACK.
I HAVE FOLL0WED INSTRUCTIONS ON THIS FORUM TRIED MOST THINGS STILL GET THE SAME MESSAGE.
I HAVE BOUGHT A WINDOWS 8 RECOVERY DISK OFF EBAY, TRIED IT SEVERAL TIMES AND DIFFERENT WAYS BUT WILL NOT LOAD UP
PLEASE HELP AND ADVISE AS IM IN A DELEMA
DARREN

Hi @Darren104
Welcome to the HP Support Community. I saw your post regarding the Boot Device not Found error message. This HP document Resolve Boot Device not Found Error Message will show you how to reset your BIOS. This will force the BIOS the look at the hardware and it might see your new hard drive. Another reason that it might not be seeing the hard drive is because there is no bootable operating system on the hard drive. You might need to look at taking it out and installing an operating system on it via another computer.
Please click “Accept as Solution ” if you feel my post solved your issue.
Click the “Kudos Thumbs Up" on the right to say “Thanks” for helping!
Thank you,
BHK6
I work on behalf of HP

How do I move a partition on my mac hard drive, to an external hard drive so that i can run windows when the external hard drive is connected

How do I move a partition on my mac hard drive, to an external hard drive so that i can run windows when the external hard drive is connected

Are you talking about a Bootcamp partition? You can't boot Windows from an external drive.

LR won't show images from external hard drive now.

I have LR 5. I updated in March from LR3. I just purchased a second external hard drive to start using for my images after filling up my first. I just tried to go back to external hard drive #1 to look at images from last month, and I can't pull them in to lightroom for some reason. When using external hard drive #1 after updating to lr5, I always had to go to Edit >Open Recent to open a previous catalog to access my images. I think this has something to do with it, because there aren't any other catalog options in LR5 when I switch from external hard drive #2 back to external hard drive #1. I need those images pronto to finish projects!!! Please help and thank you!

This is relevant portion of the support document with a bit of editing for clarity.
If iTunes is running, quit iTunes.
Using a Mac click the icon to open iTunes and immediately press and continue to hold down the Option key.
You should see the following screen:
If iTunes opens normally, close it and try again.
Once you've got that dialog you have two options. If your previous iTunes library database is stored on the external drive use Choose Library to browse to it and open it. If you only have the media folder on the drive then use the Create Library option to create a new iTunes library at /iTunes on the external, move the media folder to /iTunes/iTunes Media and then add it to your new empty library.
tt2

How can I move my project from external hard drive to my macbook pro?

How can I move my project from external hard drive to my macbook pro? every time I try to do some editing, the sequence is very slow, thanks in advance

Try here...
Setting-up a new Mac from an old one, its backups, or a PC

Restoring itunes from external hard drive

-I used WD backup program to store itunes on external hard drive
-hard drive on mac pro crashed, replaced hard drive
-trying to restore itunes songsa from external drive and when I copied songs from external hard drive to new internal hard drive which has itunes program, only song titles appear and track number for songs I ripped from CDs. All info is present for songs I purchased from itunes (why is there a difference in the way these two are restored???)
-Can I restore itunes from external drive so that artist and album are associated with each song title I ripped from CDs?
Much appreciate all assistance. Thanks.

I know MP3 and AAC save tag data, and I believe AIFF does as well (if you want to keep them in full-quality but space-greedy format). I don't think WAV supports tagging which is why they were lost. Read:
http://discussions.apple.com/thread.jspa?messageID=9558241&#9558241
This time make sure you have a complete backup of your itunes folder (which, in fact you may still have). That way you can recover your complete library and everything intact (as long as you keep your backups up to date).
Here is a related topic
http://discussions.apple.com/thread.jspa?messageID=9267109&#9267109

Importing photos from external hard drive.

I had stored my photos on a external hard drive from power book G4(which had iphoto4.0.3).
I recently purchased IMac G5. I cannot import my photos into G5(has iphoto5.4) from external hard drive. I get a message saying you have installed a new version of iphoto.
How can I get my photos back on the new machine?
Thank you in advance.

Shyman
Had another idea. Since you were not upgrading a computer to iPhoto 5 - which would upgrade your existing iPhoto Library Folder (database) and since you, I presume, already have a working iPhoto 5 Library Folder -- perhaps we have to trick iPhoto into doing the upgrade.
Quit iPhoto5. Move to the desktop or rename the existing iPhoto 5 Library Folder.
But also move or delete the existing iPhoto 5 preferences file:
You will find it in your Home directory:
(Home/your account) >Library>Preferences>com.apple.iPhoto.plist
Remove or trash the preference (.plist file) and restart iPhoto.
This will get iPhoto 5 to launch like it was the very first time. With only the backup in your Pictures Folder it will try to open with it and do the upgrade.
Peter

Running operating system from external hard drive

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