System Preferences Startup Disk Vs. Boot with Option key depressed.

External FW drive connected via standard 400 FW cable, is recognized by System Preferences>Startup Disk, proving that it contains a valid OS X system. But when selected, and clicking Restart, first in the System Preferences>Startup Disk window, then in the modal dialogue, the computer beeps, but does not restart. Same behavior when the computer's internal drive is selected.
The only way to select a startup disk is booting the computer (select Restart from Apple Menu) holding the Option key, clicking the required icon, and then clicking the arrow at the right end of the window.
I have run DiskWarrior, zapped the PRAM (that should take care of startup settings), no change.
Sum up: System Preferences>Startup Disk does not perform.
Powerbook PPC.

Charly,
there might be a timing problem. At the time when the Mac PRAM asks for the startup disk the firewire disk might not be "present" yet. Can you turn on the external disk manually?
Does the preference pane "remember" your selection of the startup disk or does it change it back to the internal disk?
You might want to run some system maintenance, especially clean the caches: Mac OS X 10.3/10.4: System maintenance
If this answered your question please consider granting some stars: Why reward points?

Similar Messages

External backup drive doesn't show in System Preferences/Startup Disk

Using SuperDuper!, I thought I created a bootable backup on my LaCie FW 200GB ext. HD. I opened System Preferences/Startup Disk to try booting from the LaCie by changing the Startup Disk to the LaCie. The LaCie didn't appear, there. My Mac HD is there, and a Network Startup icon with a question mark in it, is there. I'm on a standalone machine. My Ethernet port is used for a cable modem.
I Restarted and held down the Option key to see if the LaCie would show up that way. No luck. The LaCie is mounted on my desktop, and the System Profiler shows it on the FW bus. So, I don't really have a bootable backup drive (or volume). The LaCie is not partitioned, nor is my internal startup disk.
I did use Disk Utility & found I had to repair the LaCie. Initially, DU said the disk couldn't be repaired, but on a repeat, the LaCie shows as repaired.
How can I get the LaCie to show up in System Preferences/Startup Disk?

Select the external drive's icon and press COMMAND-I to open the Get Info window. In the pane labeled "Ownership and Permissions click on the small triangle gadget beside the word Details. You should see at the bottom a box labeled "Ignore permissions on this volume." If there's a checkmark in the box uncheck it. Close the Get Info window. Now see if the drive appears in the Startup Disk preference.
If you still have a problem then you might try the following:
Extended Hard Drive Preparation
1. Open Disk Utility in your Utilities folder.
2. After DU loads select your hard drive (this is the entry with the mfgr.'s ID and size) from the left side list. Click on the Partition tab in the DU main window.
3. Set the number of partitions from the dropdown menu (use 1 partition unless you wish to make more.) Set the format type to Mac OS Extended (Journaled, if supported.) Click on the Partition button and wait until the volume(s) mount on the Desktop.
4. Select the volume you just created (this is the sub-entry under the drive entry) from the left side list. Click on the Erase tab in the DU main window.
5. Set the format type to Mac OS Extended (Journaled, if supported.) Click on the Options button, check the button for Zero Data and click on OK to return to the Erase window.
6. Click on the Erase button. The format process will take 30 minutes to an hour or more depending upon the drive size.
Next clone your system to the external drive:
How to Clone Using Restore Option of Disk Utility
1. Select the destination drive on the Desktop and press COMMAND-I to open the Get Info window. At the bottom in the Ownership and Permissions section be sure the box labeled "Ignore Permissions on this Volume" is unchecked. Set Ownership and Permissions as follows: Owner=system with read/write; Group=admin with read/write; Other with read-only.
2. Open Disk Utility from the Utilities folder.
3. Select the backup or destination volume from the left side list.
4. Click on the Erase tab in the DU main window. Set the format type to Mac OS Extended (journaled, if available) and click on the Erase button. This step can be skipped if the destination has already been freshly erased.
5. Click on the Restore tab in the DU main window.
6. Select the backup or destination volume from the left side list and drag it to the Destination entry field.
7. Select the startup or source volume from the left side list and drag it to the Source entry field.
8. Double-check you got it right, then click on the Restore button.
For added precaution you can boot into safe mode before doing the clone.

Bootcamp disk icon does not appear in the System Preferences/Startup Disk. Any help ideas ?

Everything works fine but the Bootcamp disk icon does not appear in the System Preferences/Startup Disk.
When I am in Win7 I am easily rebooting my iMac by right-clicking on the Bootcamp icon.
When I am in Mac OS I wish to do same but that Bootcamp icon does not appear. Everytime I am restarting my iMac and pressing on the Option key to select the Windows disk.
Does anyone have an idea how to adjust to bring the Bootcamp icon to the Startup Disk panel ?

Use BootChamp instead; perhaps you have an NTFS 3rd party driver installed and has its own control panel.

Firewire Drive shows in Startup Disk -- But not with Option

I just added a new firewire backup drive. It's the only ext. drive attached. I ran SuperDuper to make a bootable clone of my startup drive. The drive shows up in Startup Disk, with the proper OS, 10.4.11, same as my int. drive.
But when I restart and hold down the option key, only my int. drive shows up.
What do you think is going on?
Thanks

From Western Digital's support web page [HERE|http://wdc.custhelp.com/cgi-bin/wdc.cfg/php/enduser/stdadp.php?pfaqid=1715]:
====
Power PC based Macintosh computers are unable to boot to a My Book external hard drive.
Question
Why am I unable to boot to a WD My Book external hard drive using a Power PC (PPC) Based Macintosh computer?
Answer
Problem:
Power PC based Macintosh computer systems are unable to boot to the following My Book external hard drive:
* My Book Pro II Edition
* My Book Premium II Edition
* My Book Home Edition
* My Book Studio Edition
Intel Macintosh computers are not affected by this issue and are able to be booted from My Book external hard drives if the partition on the drive has been setup as a GUID partition scheme.
Cause:
This issue is a Macintosh bug cause by the Mac ROM code of the computer and how it attempts to boot from the first SCSI LUN it detects (LUN 0). In the case of the aforementioned hard drives, the LUN 0 device is dedicated to the button board and safe removal tools of the hard drive case and not the internal hard drive, thus causing booting to be impossible.
Resolution:
There is currently no resolution to this issue. If a resolution is found by Apple, this answer will be updated with this information.
=====
Unbelievably, they blame Apple for the problem.

OSX No Longer Default Boot - Have To Boot With "Option" Key

I tried to dual boot my Macbook Pro Retina 15" (running Mavericks 10.9.5) with Windows 8.1 Pro using mac's "Boot Camp Assistant".
Everything went fine until I entered the Windows Set-Up and then had to cancel it (because I can't find my Product Key). Thats fine, I was just trying out the dual-boot feature - I don't care if I cannot get Windows to work.
PROBLEM: Now, every time I restart my computer, I have to do it while holding the Option key, or else I get the message: No bootable device -- insert boot disk and press any key
When I hold the Option key, I only have the option to boot into the regular Mac OSX, so Im not sure why it is not booting into by default.
I re-partitioned my HD to not have the Windows partition on it at all, and when I go back into Boot Camp Assistant I do not have the option to "remove Windows partition", but I still have to hold the Option key when I turn on my Mac to actually boot into my OSX.
Basically, how do I make OSX my default boot like it was before (as it is the only one on the HD)?
Thanks!

Yea, that's the disk that you are supposed to select as startup disk as it contains files that boots your OS X
recovery partition usually has the word RECOVERY labeled on the recovery partition along OS X it's usually labelled
something like 'OSX RECOVERY'
Good Luck Mate!

No screen displayed when booting with options key held down

When I hold the option key down to select which OS I want to boot into I am getting nothing displayed on the screen but the booting has paused waiting for my input because I can use the cursor keys and return to get the system to boot.
Anyone got any ideas as to why I cant see the choices?
Thanks
Gary

Just a quick follow up on this problem. I have just tried the Mac Mini on my TV using the HDMI port and I get the boot menu displayed when holding down the Option Key and it works fine. The issues are arising when I plug a VGA adaptor into the mini display port and use that with my monitor. The monitor is not reporting any out of range or sync signals while booting and I have tried 3 different monitors of various ages and all have the same result.
I also get no apple logo or any display while OSX is loading when I use the monitor
Gary

Mac Pro only booting with option key down

I have an 8-core mac pro that is great except for some odd booting issues. I have 3 internal drives, one with OSX 10.4.9 on it, the other with just files and the last with windows XP. I also, at times, have USB drives (or an iPod) plugged into the mac. When I restart, even if I have selected a boot volume in the startup settings, the machine will just go black. Sometimes it will play the startup chime multiple times, other times only once or not at all. The only way to get it to boot up into osx or windows is to hold down options. Even then, it only seems to work if I unplug all external drives from the machine. Any ideas whats going on or how I might fix this?
Thanks!

If you remove all of your USB/FireWire devices will your start up issue go away. What about resetting PRAM…
http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=2238

Macintosh HD boot drive doesn't show up as Startup Disk (but boots fine)?!?

Hi,
My main internal bootable disk (Macintosh HD) does not show up in Systems Preferences > Startup Disk. If I want to boot from it, I have to either hold down the "Option" key at startup (and the disk appears fine, so I select it), or I have to wait for the machine to explore all other boot options before it finally resorts to booting from the internal Macintosh HD.
I cannot simply select "Macintosh HD" from the Startup Disk preference pane.
I have already tried repairing permissions, and I did a "Verify" in Disk Utility - everything checks out fine.
I even replaced the StartupDisk.prefpane file from another disk, but no improvement.
How can I get my hard drive to show up in the "Startup Disk" preferences?
(I should mention that this is a new hard drive that I just installed by cloning it from another bootable drive). The other bootable drive shows up fine in the Startup Disk prefs.
Help would be greatly appreciated!

The Partition Map Scheme is currently set to "Master Boot Record."
What does this mean?
That's normally used for Windows.
Do I need to change it to GUID?
Yes.
How do I do that?
You have to re-partition the drive, which means it will erase everything on the drive.
Boot from the Leopard install DVD (hold "C" while booting), choose you language, then select Disk Utility from the "Utilities" menu. Select the drive (at the left, not the volume indented below it), and click the "Partition" tab. Set "Volume Scheme" to "1 Partition", then click the "Options" button. Select "GUID Partition Table", then click "OK". Enter a volume name, set "Format" to "Mac OS Extended (Journaled" and click "Apply".

Boot alt/option key

First thanks for read my question, so my problem is that I buy a Western Digital (My Book) USB external hard drive so I did a backup with Carbon Copy Cloner and SuperDuper both apps do a great backup job and with both I can boot from my USB external hardrive via System Preference Startup Disk, but when try to boot via restart and hold down alt/option key neither can boot Carbon Copy Cloner or SuperDupe not even my internal hard drive shows I releas the alt/option key and the computer boot from my internal drive so I disconect de external hardrive and restart my MacBook Pro (to see if the key is not working properly) but it works the computer show my internal drive almost instanyly so I choose it and the computer boots normaly then I try it again with the external hard drive conected and hold alt/option key for about 1 minute but neither hard drive shows but when I releas the alt/option key the computer boot from my internal drive properly.
so what I'm doing wrong?
Thanks

thank you both so I reset my Reset Parameters Ram then restar the computer and said I will hold alt/option key until something happend and guess what something and after like 2 minutes an half something happend the two hardrives show so I guess the slownwes of the system to recognize the external harddrive is because the hardrice is cheap and very slow but again
thanks

12 hour kernel panic, resolved with option key, but why?

i have no idea why my ppc G5 failed to start this morning.
booted up last night at 10:30, read mail, went to see new video from "within temptation" emailed to me from student - also went to their website and to the site of 'nightwish"
listened to 2 samples and then went to watch 24.
shut down computer about 2am, having forgotten it was on.
it is scheduled to autoboot at 6:16am with itunes playing as my alarm.
this morning it did not complete booting before kernal panic. it would not boot
ran diskwarrior 4.1, it found 33% out of order and fixed most - still are some problems with SUID files, that i understand may not be problems, just un-updated database files. it went into kernal panic when i tried to check my other 500gig seagate drive (i have 2 internal drives) that is home to timemachine and DVD movies (250gig of each). inserted leopard disc, ran permissions and several were corrected, some would not be repaired. verified both discs - both are good.
from apple site (run from my macbook) shut down booted with 'X' pressed - no go.
then booted with 'option' key pressed, selected my hard disc and everything booted normally.....why?
as a 10yr apple user, if you can tell me why this happened &/or how i can avoid it in the future i'd really appreciate it
thankyou
DETAILS:
Tue Apr 7 16:38:59 2009
Unresolved kernel trap(cpu 0): 0x400 - Inst access DAR=0x0000000005F9D000 PC=0x0000000000000000
Latest crash info for cpu 0:
Exception state (sv=0x5962a280)
PC=0x00000000; MSR=0x40009030; DAR=0x05F9D000; DSISR=0x40000000; LR=0x00000000; R1=0x5967FAE0; XCP=0x00000010 (0x400 - Inst access)
Backtrace:
0x00000000
backtrace terminated - unaligned frame address: 0x0000001C
Proceeding back via exception chain:
Exception state (sv=0x5962a280)
previously dumped as "Latest" state. skipping...
Exception state (sv=0x5961a000)
PC=0x00000000; MSR=0x0000D030; DAR=0x00000000; DSISR=0x00000000; LR=0x00000000; R1=0x00000000; XCP=0x00000000 (Unknown)
BSD process name corresponding to current thread: kernel_task
Mac OS version:
Not yet set
Kernel version:
Darwin Kernel Version 9.6.0: Mon Nov 24 17:39:01 PST 2008; root:xnu-1228.9.59~1/RELEASE_PPC
System model name: PowerMac7,2
panic(cpu 0 caller 0xFFFF0004): 0x400 - Inst access
Latest stack backtrace for cpu 0:
Backtrace:
0x0009BCF0 0x0009C694 0x00029EA0 0x000AFC10 0x000B32F8
Proceeding back via exception chain:
Exception state (sv=0x5962a280)
PC=0x00000000; MSR=0x40009030; DAR=0x05F9D000; DSISR=0x40000000; LR=0x00000000; R1=0x5967FAE0; XCP=0x00000010 (0x400 - Inst access)
Backtrace:
0x00000000
backtrace terminated - unaligned frame address: 0x0000001C
Exception state (sv=0x5961a000)
PC=0x00000000; MSR=0x0000D030; DAR=0x00000000; DSISR=0x00000000; LR=0x00000000; R1=0x00000000; XCP=0x00000000 (Unknown)
BSD process name corresponding to current thread: kernel_task
*SYSTEM CONFIG*
Model: PowerMac7,2, BootROM 5.1.4f0, 2 processors, PowerPC 970 (2.2), 2 GHz, 5 GB
Graphics: kHW_ATIrv351Item, ATY,RV351, spdisplaysagpdevice, 256 MB
Memory Module: DIMM0/J11, 256 MB, DDR SDRAM, PC3200U-30330
Memory Module: DIMM1/J12, 256 MB, DDR SDRAM, PC3200U-30330
Memory Module: DIMM2/J13, 256 MB, DDR SDRAM, PC3200U-30330
Memory Module: DIMM3/J14, 256 MB, DDR SDRAM, PC3200U-30330
Memory Module: DIMM4/J41, 1 GB, DDR SDRAM, PC3200U-30330
Memory Module: DIMM5/J42, 1 GB, DDR SDRAM, PC3200U-30330
Memory Module: DIMM6/J43, 1 GB, DDR SDRAM, PC3200U-30330
Memory Module: DIMM7/J44, 1 GB, DDR SDRAM, PC3200U-30330
Modem: MicroDash, UCJ, V.92, 1.0F, APPLE VERSION 2.6.7
Network Service: Built-in Ethernet, Ethernet, en0
PCI Card: firewire, ieee1394, SLOT-3
Serial ATA Device: ST3500630AS, 465.76 GB
Serial ATA Device: ST3500630AS, 465.76 GB
Parallel ATA Device: PIONEER DVD-RW DVR-106D, 7.51 GB
USB Device: hub_device, (null) mA
USB Device: EPSON Scanner, (null) mA
USB Device: deskjet 5550, (null) mA
USB Device: Hub in Apple Extended USB Keyboard, (null) mA
USB Device: Apple Optical USB Mouse, (null) mA
USB Device: Apple Extended USB Keyboard, (null) mA
USB Device: USB Receiver, (null) mA
FireWire Device: iLINK DRIVE, SONY, 400mbit_speed
FireWire Device: unknown_device, unknown_value, unknown_speed
thanks!
Message was edited by: Moderator

I have no idea what could have caused the kernel panic, how to read a back-trace, or why the problem may have corrected itself after an option-key reboot.
However, in an unrelated topic, this statement raises some concerns:
..."ran diskwarrior 4.1, it found 33% out of order and fixed most - still are some problems with SUID files, that i understand may not be problems"...
I have never used "DiskWarrior" so am not familiar with details of the versions, but if permissions were repaired while booted from the "Disk Warrior" disk (which I assume was done since the system was described as unbootable from the drive) and if the OS contained on that disk was 10.4, and if the system on the hard drive was upgraded to 10.5 from an earlier version, then it is likely that "DiskWarrior" has reset the system's permissions to 10.4 values, which are incompatible with 10.5.
Furthermore, if the SUID messages appeared as a result of such an action, "repair permissions" in 10.5 will not repair them, and the messages do not fall into the category of those that should be ignored, potentially indicating that the system is in a state with security issues. Those familiar with the command line may be able to manually correct the permissions, but otherwise, an "archive and install" is likely the only recourse.
from:
http://www.alsoft.com/DiskWarrior/support.html
..."Note: If you have used any utility to repair permissions of a Leopard startup disk while started from Mac OS X 10.4 or earlier, Alsoft recommends that you perform an upgrade install of Leopard over your existing Leopard install. This will restore any changed permissions to their original values without altering your data."...

Adding system to Startup Disk Preferences

I recently erased my windows partition and recreated it (so I could make it bigger) however it no longer shows up in the Startup Disk System Preferences. I can only boot to it by holding down option on start up and then it appears. How can i get it to appear in the Startup menu like before?

Hmmm, that could be the reason - using Winclone to restore the old Windows system rather than reinstalling. But this is just a guess on my part.
You might consider using the Startup Disk control panel installed in Windows with the driver installation. Select the Windows system and reboot. Then use it to select the OS X partition and reboot into OS X. Then see if it shows up in the OS X preferences - Startup Disk.

I am having trouble trying to boot from my lion osx install disk on a 2007 macbook. The disk ejects when I start up with the option key depressed. Anyone have any ideas?

I am having trouble trying to boot from my lion osx install disk on a 2007 macbook. The disk ejects when I start up with the option key depressed. Anyone have any ideas?
Thank you.

How did you get a Lion OSX install disc? They don't exist. Do you mean the gray disks that came with your 2007 MacBook?
If you mean the gray disks, try starting up with the "c" key held down.
What version of OSX is on your MacBook now? Have you tried booting from the Recovery partition?

How to select OS X startup disk after booting up in 8.6

I recently purchased an old iBook G3 (original clamshell model) to run some old Mac games I had laying around (was in a nostalgic mood I guess). It came with OS 8.6 and I installed an old copy of OS X 10.2 Jaguar onto it. It wouldn't let me run in the "Classic" environment, as it has OS 8.6, not OS 9.x. I found I was able to launch the computer from 8.6 by selecting the 8.6 start up disk, and thought I could try running some of my really old Mac apps. Long story short, once I booted up in 8.6 I've been unable to figure out how to boot back up in 10.2. It's been over 10 years since I last used anything older than Mac OS X, and I don't remember where everything is, and how to change the startup disk back to 10.2.
If anyone knows, please help. I'd really like to avoid doing a complete system restore if possible.

Two ways:
Boot Using OPTION key:
1. Restart the computer.
2. Immediately after the chime press and hold down the
"OPTION" key.
3. Release the key when the boot manager appears.
4. Select the desired disk icon from which you want to boot.
5. Click on the arrow button below the icon.
Use Startup Disk Preferences:
Open Startup Disk prefs from System Preferences.
Select the volume from which you want to start.
Click on the Restart button.
Click on Restart again.

My system showing startup disk full. I am using mac book pro retina display 15"

I would like to know how to clean the startup disk. The system showing startup disk is full and not opening files in photoshop and other softwares. I was trying to upgrade OS X Mavericks it required 4.99 gb space. available is 1.99 only. I have connected an external HD but it is showing readable only cant able to copy or delete files. But previously it was copying and removing. Please help

To fix your external drive try reformatting it with Disk Utility. (This assumes there is no data on it now that you wish to keep because it will erase the drive.)
Your disk space is low enough that you are in danger of not being able to boot the machine. You are on the right track trying to offload some files to an external disk.
See https://discussions.apple.com/message/24012341#24012341 .

Duplicate Startup Disks in boot menu

I have two ssd drives, one in optical bay and one in standard hd bay. I have a clone of Yosemite on both drives. When I boot and gold down option key to bring up boot menu I am seeing duplicate entries for one of my startup disks. So instead of two startup disks to boot into, I see three. How would I
go about removing the duplicate?

Thanks. I had actually tried that with the boot mode set at UEFI and it didn't work, but I gave it another try set at legacy and it works fine.
The documentation for this seems confusing to me, though. Isn't this RAID card considered a mezzanine card? The documentation here says to enable the onboard controller to get a mezzanine card to work:
http://www.cisco.com/en/US/docs/unified_computing/ucs/c/hw/C200M1/install/RAID.html#wp1016766

System Preferences Startup Disk Vs. Boot with Option key depressed.

Similar Messages

Maybe you are looking for