Startup from external FW on an G4?

I am trying to use an external Firewire drive as the startup disk for my aging iMac G4. I connected my Firewire drive to my Intel Macbook Pro and installed OS 10.5 on the external drive. When I first partitioned the disk, I was instructed to do it as a GUID Partition Table. At the time I was a bit concerned because Disk Utility says that format is for a drive that will serve as a startup disk for an Intel Mac and that was not my intention. The more logical choice was an Apple Partition Map, which said it was the format for a disk that one wants to use as a startup for a PPC Mac. However, I could not select that option when installing OS10.5 on the external drive from my MacBook Pro. So, I went ahead and did the partition and formatting in GUID, and then installed OS10.5.
Now when I connect that drive to my iMac and select it as the startup drive, it seems for a moment as if it wants to use that disk, but then it reverts and starts up from the iMac. I'm wondering if I can do this at all, or if I can, where I've gone wrong. Do I have to do the partition and OS10.5 install from my iMac so that I can select the Apple Partition Map option?
Thanks for the help.

Do I have to do the partition and OS10.5 install from my iMac so that I can select the Apple Partition Map option?
Yes. Most PowerPC Macs cannot start up from a GUID drive. Alternatively, an existing Mac OS X 10.5 system can be cloned to an APM drive on an Intel Mac.
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Startup from external hard disk

I have made a system backup volume on an external Firewire HD. However, since I am using Apple Bluetooth Mouse and Keyboard when I start up from the external disk the wireless devices do not connect reliably, sometimes they do, sometimes they don't.
What do I need to do to make this process more fool proof?
Please help.
Rudolf

Get a wired keyboard or tell Apple menu -> System Preferences -> Startup Disk you want to boot from the external hard drive. This will ensure that it does that until it is told otherwise.
You may have to do the same to Apple menu -> System Preferences -> Startup disk while booted from the external hard disk so the settings are remembered.
Note you really only want to boot from the external hard drive for troubleshooting purposes, and not on a regular basis. External hard drives are much more likely to lose their connection than internal hard drives, and are better suited for backups than regular use. Not to mention the internal hard drive tends to be faster anyway.

Startup from External FW CD/DVD with "C"

Running 10.4.3 on a PB G4 17" 1.33. Have two external FW (400) CD/DVD connected.
Can not startup with any type of "system" CD/DVD (PB G4, Tiger, Tech Tool, Disk Warrior, Boot CD, etc) in either of the external FW enclosures using the "hold down the "C" key feature."
The CD/DVD's start up fine if I select them as the startup volume. Also they start up fine if I use the "option" option when starting up.
I realize that the "option" option actually gives me more options that the "C" key but I was just wondering, has Apple removed the ability to use the "C" key to start up from an external CD/DVD?
This has been a feature/lifesaver since the days of SCSI, Mac II ci, PB G3 and my late great beloved Starmax.
As I mentioned, the "option" shows all of the available startup devices from both external FW enclosures - even the Apple HW Test icon shows up - but I miss the "C" - am I too nostalgic?
And - the use of the "option" key is actually faster, since the potential startup volumes appear within seconds, rather than having to hold down the "C" key for 5 minutes, just to make sure.
Thank you

Welcome to Apple Discussions!
I don't think it has been removed since it is still stated on the disks for AppleCare as a method of booting. However, I have found the responsiveness of the Option key booting much better for booting than 'C' key for those machines which support it:
http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=106178
In addition, you can just tell the system to get into Option boot mode, and attach a Firewire drive or bootable disk after the fact, and click on the curly arrow to find that it has been added to your list of bootable volumes.
The 'C' key by default searches a certain order of locations for finding a boot device. You can bypass the primary startup with Option-Command-Shift-Delete.

Startup from External HD -10.6.8

New to Snow Leopard...(long history with ALL prior versions of Mac O|S)
cloned Mini to external MCE 120 GB drive in a Transport FW-USB case previously used to backup external HD (backup) to different Mini running 10.4.11
I cleaned THAT external HD with Disk Utility and using Carbon Copy Cloner, cloned the newer Mini (with SL- Snow Leopard) to it.
When attempting to verify it as a startup disk to that Mini with SL, holding down the option key it DID give option to select that newly cloned external drive;
but when selected and the restart was complete the internal drive HD image was still the top image, the FW icon of the external drive was below it.
Using Disk Utility, it verified the disk as okay, but Permissions were a mess(according to it) and is 'corrected them'.
When asked to verify disk permissions the second time, it still came up with corrections in the system library.
After it made those corrections, again restarted with option key down, and external drive ICON on the DESKTOP did NOT come up at the first Icon on the desktop (as the start disc) but as the second icon below the internal HD
Then used the preferences to make the external drive startup ....and when the restart was complete the Internal Drive is still the top icon on the desktop.
HOWEVER using preferences from the finder it NOW has the icon of the external drive highlighted (whereas previously it was NOT.)
So is it REALLY the start up?
How to prove it? ???
Is there a 'glitch' in SL that prevents the external icon from appearing correctly?
That is, is it possible the external drive IS the startup now?
If so, How can that be verified?
(obviously it's important to be able to start up in SL from an external HD IF the internal HD has a problem.
I am accustomed to doing this with Tiger and it works perfectly every time
(CCC 3.5.2 trial version is used on newer Mini with SL. For Tiger it's 3.47 which I've used for many years.)
=========
MAYBE IT IS THE STARTUP AFTER ALL..
JUST OPENED MAIL IN SL MINI AND IT automatically UPDATED ALL MAIL BOXES FROM 7/11 WHICH IS THE DATE OF THE CLONE OF THE EXTERNAL HD.
So... the top icon on the right upper side of the screen in SL is NOT necessarily the STARTUP DRIVE?????
What other surprises await???

The position of the HD icons on the desktop is (irritatingly) no longer relevant. I'm not sure when this changed, probably an update or two back.
To verify the startup disk in use, go to System Preferences>Startup Disk: the disk in use is highlighted.

Startup from External HD with 10.4?

Has anyone tried or had problems booting from an external hard drive that has 10.4 installed on it?

IIRC, Tiger installations were not Universal. So to boot an Intel Mac from a drive with 10.4 installed, you need an iMac old enough to boot 10.4 (i.e. an iMac that shipped with some version of 10.4), but also, the 10.4 installation on the external drive must be Intel-compatible.
Which probably means installed by an Intel Mac's machine-specific grey install discs since, as all Intel-based macs shipped with 10.4 pre-installed, there was never an Intel version of the 10.4 retail discs (AFAIK).
I could be wrong though - I never actually tried it.

Help, need help booting XP from external hard drive

Hi all, i can't seem to get XP to boot from my external hard drive.
OK, heres the story. i have an imac. i use bootcamp to run OSX and XP. things are good. but i run out of space, so i buy myself a 2tb bare drive and swap it out. so i put the original internal with OSX and XP into an external firewire/usb enclosure. I install refit. I hold option on startup and it shows that i have a windows and a mac OS i can boot from the External firewire disk. looks great, but when i choose the windows from the Ext disk, it doesn't boot, instead it loads windows7 on my new 2tb internal disk.
i hear its hard to boot windows XP from an external disk. my professor told me it has something to do with the boot.ini file on the XP disk... something about changing the value of the "rdisk" to 1, which i have done.
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anyone have any ideas?

Hi boi,
you can't start ANY windows OS from external HD...

How can I startup from my hard drive instead of Darwin/BSD screen?

Hi,
I have read most of the forum that was discussed regarding about the darwin/bsd screen. I still can not find the solution to solving my problem.
After using the Disk Warrior disc as a startup to fix the directory, and restarting the computer. It startup from the Disk Warrior disc again. After i took out the disc, this is when the darwin/bsd screen appears.
I had tried the following:
pressing OPTION KEY while it boots up, still wont recognize the HD
pressing C KEY while it boots up, still wont recognize the HD
pressig the SHIFT key while it boots up, still wont recognize the HD
Also, I had misplaced the disk utility disc..
can someone tell me how to resolve this situation..
desepartely seeking help

Hi!
I am not sure if you have seen this solution to Darwin/BSD screen, but it has worked for others: http://discussions.apple.com/thread.jspa?threadID=320663&start=15&tstart=0
If Option booting does not get you to boot off your external boot drive there a couple of things I can think of:
1. Hold down the "X" key from a cold start while you hit the power button.
2. Boot from the Installer CD, then go to the Installer Menu and choose startup drive.
3. A third, for good measure. It never hurts to Reset the PRAM, and often helps. Reset PRAM (from a cold start hold down Command + Option + P + R while hitting the power button and holding for 3 chimes. Release and allow to boot.
Hope at least one of these help.
Good luck.
cornelius
PismoG4 550, 100GB 5400 Toshiba internal, 1 GB RAM; Pismo 500 OS (10.4.4) Mac OS X (10.4.5) Beige G3 OS 8.6

Problems booting from external drives

Ever since I got this 6-core 2013 MacPro (January 2015), I have had strange problems and glitches, but for this posting, I am talking about problems being able to boot up from external drives. I took the 4 external drives out of my old 2009 MacPro and put them into a 4-bay Thunderbolt enclosure. This enclosure can be configured as a RAID if all drives are the same (which they are not) or it can just be a place to be able to access all 4 drives. I used to be able to boot from each of those drives on the older MacPro but I am unable to do so now. They show up in the System Preferences/Startup Disk but if I choose one, it just reboots into the new MacPro drive. I even tried pulling out a couple of the drives and mounting each into a USB 3.0 (Sabrent) dock and still I could not boot from those drives which have the latest version of Yosemite. Yes, they are formatted correctly. I used to boot from them. I was able to clone one of the drives to a Seagate USB 3.0 hard drive and boot from that. Although, the clone was not perfect. It didn't transfer all my settings so I could recover some logins and serial numbers I wanted that I have never been able to retrieve since I got this new Mac.
Yesterday, I formatted a 32GB flash drive and tried to install Yosemite on it. I planned to put DiskWarrior on it. When I started to install Yosemite (from a saved download) it let me choose that drive, but when it restarted before installing, I was right back where I started on my MacPro's hard drive.
Is this normal behavior for the 2013 MacPro? Or is it just mine? I am beginning to think I may have a lemon since I have had other strange problems that don't go away.

Not all external devices are bootable. First stop would be involve whoever handles the 4-bay Thunderbolt. Seeing how it has a bridge most likely in order to support RAID mode that may not have the correct frmware or other reasons.
https://bombich.com/kb/ccc4
https://bombich.com/kb/ccc4/search/bootable%20volume
CCC is the only program I would be using.

Macbook pro cant boot from external dvd device please help !!!!

hello everyone please help me i have macbook pro 2011 core i5 version
i just installed 2.5 ssd as second hdd
i cant boot from external dvd device to install any os the external dvd keeps on spining and mac is just thinking it doesnt show press any key to install
it shows the device when a boot into mac parition
i am trying to install windows on origianl 500 gb hdd and linux on ssd
but not luck
the external dvd drive works i pluged into my pc and it works
please help thansk in advance
200 gb mac
300 gb windows
120 ssd linux

I do not know about Disk Warrior but if you have a compatible OSX on an external HDD you certainly can boot the MBP. Use startup manager:
https://support.apple.com/en-us/ht1310
Ciao.

MacBook fell, doesn't startup from DVD; hard drive remplacement necessary?

Hi, my son's MacBook fell and now it doesnt start up anymore, there's only a grey screen and a question mark.
Tried to startup from the 10.6 DVD, with C-key held down > no reaction, DVD is spit out.
Tried to startup from the 10.5 DVD (was originally bought with 10.5), and it reacts to that in that it asks for which language to use, but at the Select A Destination-window, the window stays blank: it can't find the hard drive it seems.
My brother in law says it will likely need a new hard drive. If so, what type to use and can I install it myself (once did so with a 10.3 iBook)?
From this computer I don't know the specifics (how many GB or RPM). Somebody else bought it.
thanks in advance!

>something tiny fell out as well. It went so fast, I'm not sure what it was, but I did see a tiny flat metal ring (4 mm or so)<
It's possible something associated w/ the hard drive/connector got broken when it fell. So search carefully for any other part that could have come out when you pulled the HD out, even if it's a tiny piece of broken plastic. Then could you put up a picture of that ring and what ever else you find? I'm pretty familiar w/ most parts in a MacBook and that part/s might be a clue to what got broken when it fell.
Also check the serial number and run it at:
http://www.chipmunk.nl/klantenservice/applemodel.html
The serial number is located on a sticker in the bottom of the battery well.
>(once did so with a 10.3 iBook)< Holy buckets! That's impressive and way, way harder that what's involved in replacing the HD in a MacBook!
So based on that impressive statement I'm going to say:
Depending on what kind of external you have (Is it roughly the same general size as the MacBook HD? I.E. laptop HD size.). You could pull the HD out of the external and put the MacBooks internal HD in there ( Since they're probably both SATA) and see if it spins up when you have the external plugged in an start up the computer. If they're not both SATA you'll have to buy a USB dongle. I've gotten them for as cheap as $14.
If it spins up select it and try to boot from it. If it boots there then something broke as above.
If no spinup then HD probably toast. I've been able to get these running by tapping on one that wouldn't spin but if you try that be ready to clone it immediately. If you get it to spin up that way try not to move/disturb it, see if it mounts. If so clone it immediately. So you'll need to be ready w/ Data Rescue or Super Duper and have enough space available to clone it to something.

How to restore my backup in laptop from external drive

How to restore my backup in my macbookpro from external drive

Hello Jayrajjpatel,
It sounds like you have a Time Machine backup on an external drive that you would like to use to restore your computer. The following article will help you get that done, named:
OS X Mavericks: Recover your entire system
http://support.apple.com/kb/PH14185
If you’re restoring your system because of a problem with your startup disk, repair or replace the disk before following these instructions.
Make sure your Time Machine backup disk is connected and turned on. If your disk is on a network, make sure your Mac is on the same network.
Choose Apple menu > Restart. Once your Mac restarts (and the gray screen appears), hold down the Command (⌘) and R keys.
Select “Restore from a Time Machine Backup,” then click Continue.
Do one of the following:
External backup disk: Select it, then click Continue.
Time Capsule: Choose your network from the AirPort menu on the right side of the menu bar, and then select your Time Capsule and click “Connect to Remote Disk.”
Network backup disk: Select it, then click “Connect to Remote Disk.”
If necessary, enter the name and password you use to connect to your backup disk, then click Connect.
Select the date and time of the backup you want to restore, then follow the onscreen instructions.
After you restore your system, Time Machine may perform a full backup at the next scheduled backup time. This is normal. Time Machine resumes incremental backups after the full backup is completed.
Thank you for using Apple Support Communities.
All the very best,
Sterling

Tiger won't boot from external firewire

Installed 10.4.3 DVD on clean external firewire (Extended/Journaled). Before I installed Tiger, I ran updates, and repaired permissions. Everything looked good to me.
I'm keeping Panther on main system drive for now - so from System Preferences>Startup Disk>the external tiger drive appears and I select it. Then I select restart and the promt confirms that the computer will restart with 10.4.3. Looks good so far.
After restart, I'm looking at the desktop, guess what? It's 10.3.9, not 10.4.3. How could that be?
Also, when I restart and hold down the Option key for Startup Manager options - the firewire drive does not appear as an option.
So Tiger appears in System Preferences>Startup Disc as an option, but the option doesn't actually work, and that drive does not appear at all in (Option key) startup manager.
I'm Indexing the firewire drive now (OMG is that slow or what!), but I'm not expecting this to make any difference. I'm stumped. What am I overlooking? Please advise.
Muchas Gracias

R MacCool,
"What if I manually drag and drop the 4 folders (from the Tiger DVD) onto a second internal SATA drive without partitioning the drive first? Will I be able to boot off an internal SATA drive like that? When I installed Tiger on the external firewire I see that 4 folders are there - I could drag them from that drive onto the second internal drive. Does that work?"
No, this does not work. MacOS X consists of more then 20,000 invisible files, most of them somehow connected and referencing each other.
MacOS X DOES boot from external firewire drives, both hard disks and DVD drives.
Why don't you just upgrade your current 10.3.9 to Tiger using this procedure: 10.4 Tiger Upgrade: Decision tree+Checklist?
"Why does Tiger seem to install correctly, then System Pref>Startup Disc recognizes it, but then after selecting 10.4.3 it restarts into 10.3.9?"
I am not a technician, but it could be that the firmware is the primary source for connectivity. After MacOS X has booted the internal firewire drivers might take over and "overrule" the firmware (this is why you can see it in the startup disk preference pane) but at boot-time it exclusively depends on the firmware. This theory might be completely wrong though.

Cannot boot from external HD

I have an external HD which my iMac backups my system daily. I use CCC for that and it has run fine so far. I never had any problem booting from that HD either by using Option/Alt during booting or thru using System Preferences.
Not now anymore. The iMac (late 2013, 27", FusionDrive) refuses to boot from it.
In System Preferences I can see the external HD as a bootable device. However the iMac still uses the internal drive.
When using Option/Alt I only see the internal drive and the restore partition.
I have made a (new) full backup to the external HD and CCC says it "blessed" the HD. But not possible to boot from. Further I did things like resetting Pram, resetting SMC. But does not help.
So next I installed the iMac from scratch (meaning starting the Internet restore and then do a full erase). But still the iMac will not boot from external.
I have connected the external HD to another Mac (Mini) and there it boots flawlessly. So to me there must be a problem with the iMac. But what can I do, this is a serious problem since I now have a backup but this can not fully be used?

- The issue is only if you want to boot from a USB3 external device.
- There are other ports on your machine that you can boot from, refer: Startup Manager: How to select a startup volume
- The ASC is not where Apple make announcements, Refer to their main website.
- Your question / query / feedback should be referred to : https://ssl.apple.com/support/feedback/
- If you find from Apple a resolution, post back. We would like to hear !
Cheers

Can't get my Imac to boot from external HD

Hello everybody out there in the community,
while preparing my system to update to Lion, I noticed, that my Imac appears not to boot from an external HD, when selected. When I press option-key and select the clone HD, I nevertheless hear the booting from the internal HD. Tried with firewire and with USB connection to no avail. Both ext. HD's are formatted MAC OS extended (journaled), with a GUID partition.
Any tips, hints or ideas will be appreciated!
Thank you!
(Specs: 3,6 GHz Intel Core i5)

Selected the clone from Preferences > Startup, did a reboot and it still appears that the booting is from the internal HD. I mean it appears like 90% of the booting sound comes from the internal HD, there is only a bit of light flicker (LED) at the beginning and the end of the booting process on the external HD. The clone is named 'clone'.
I did booting from an external HD on my old G5 imac a good few times, it took a while longer and I coud hear and see the booting (LED) from external HD, so I have kind of a 'feeling' how it should be like.
The external HD starts up no problem. It appears on the desktop, I can select it under Preferences > Startup and it shows up during startup using option-key.
Having done the booting, selecting the external HD, I can dismount it and still can open programms and documents, so it ought to be the internal HD ?

Install Tiger OS from external FW DVD drive

Because my G4 must be rack-mounted, I have removed it's superdrive to an external FW enclosure. Though it is the original drive, I am unable to startup from it with my full retail Tiger OS 10.4.22 disk.
The disk mounts just fine; running the installer shows a restart button but after the restart, boots from the 10.3.9 system on the HD, with the DVD mounted on the desktop. If I manually designate the Tiger OS on DVD in startup disk, on restart, it reverts to the 10.3.9 system on the HD as well.
I have tried C, X, option keys, These methods don't even show the DVD volume as an option.
What now?
G4 DP 1.42GHz Mac OS X (10.3.9) 2G RAM

Thank you,
Though I have not yet solved the problem, you steered me in the right direction. My enclosure is no longer supported by Yamaha, the original manufacturer, so obviously it is suspect. I am currently waiting for a reply from OWC to see if their most up-to-date enclosures are Tiger boot-compatible before plunking down the cash. I have not been able to locate any database with this information online.
Patchburn reported my drive as ready to go, so I guess the boot issue is not addressed by it specifically.

Startup from external FW on an G4?

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