Use DVD-RW as bootable drive

Anyone know how to do this? It would be very convenient if I could keep my necessary programs and files on this disk. Then I would have my desired settings and programs any where I could find a Mac. I have not attempted to do this yet. I would assume that all that is needed would to format the RW-disk to Mac OS Journaled Format using disk utility and then boot off the leopard disk and select the RW disk as the install destination (one would need a second DVD reader). Then just hold the c key to boot off the disk. Please correct me if I am wrong.
Thanks,
MacGuy3000
Yes I could just bring my MBP but that is not always a choice or very convenient.

This will not be possible with the tools Apple has provided. The Mac OS X install DVD does not startup and give you access to the Finder and/or the parts of Mac OS X that allow you to burn a disk. The "Installer" application that is the only one running. It's true you can open the Disk Utility from inside the Installer, but you would have to finalize the blank DVD before exiting the Disk Utility to continue with the install, and then it wouldn't be possible to install to it.
The only third party utility that used to allow you to create startup CDs or DVDs was . However, it hasn't been updated for quite a while and has never been updated to even work with Mac OS X 10.4.x (Tiger).
-Doug

Similar Messages

A Firewire External Drive to use as Bootable drive?

Hello fellow Apple enthusiasts,
1.1 I was hoping one of you might care to suggest how would I go about using my Firewire (FW) drive as a bootable drive?(I believe during restart I press the "T" key to initialize this process)
It is a 120 GB drive that I have partitioned into 2 parts a 30 GB which has my apps, etc, and an 80 GB section with work files.
1.2 Should I just use an app like Super Duper to clone my G3 and iBook HD's? (hmmm maybe just one of them) But that would limit my ability to use the FW for all and any HD's
1.3 I do have a bona-fide edition of Tech Tool 4, should I make an "eDrive" on the FW to reboot from? or install Tech tool on the FW as an app itself?
1.4 Or possibly one of you may know of a better suggestion to make a part of the Firewire drive a drive that can rescue other Macs, namely my own

1.1 I don't think 'T' is what you're after - that will boot your computer as an external FW drive.
Given a bootable FW drive, you can either (1) choose it as your Startup Disk in System Preferences, or (2) hold down the Option key while restarting/booting and choose the drive from the options displayed. I believe that (1) is recommended but there might be situations where (2) is the only option.
1.2 I'm not sure what you mean by "limit my ability to use the FW for all and any HD's". Do you want to use the drive to backup all your computers?
It is perfectly possible to clone a HD to a partition of an external FW drive. To do this, you can partition the FW drive in Disk Utility making sure that the partitions you plan to clone to are big enough, of course. Doing this will erase any data on the FW drive, however, so be sure to back it up. Some people also recommend writing zeros over the disk before proceeding. Again, Disk Utility has options to do this. When you partition, make sure that you choose the same type of file system as you're using on your macs.
I've never used Super Duper, but Carbon Copy Cloner will certainly let you create a bootable clone a HD on a partition of the FW drive. I use it for this purpose and have happily booted from the clones when necessary. If you consider CCC, be sure to read the documentation - especially "B4 U Clone" - so that you prepare the external drive correctly and take the steps you need to to ensure a successful cloning operation. For details see http://www.bombich.com/software/ccc.html. Note that the latest version is only for 10.4/10.5, but the earlier version is suitable for 10.2/10.3. I believe the latest version does a very good cloning job. The earlier version does not copy all the extended attributes etc. that you may care about. On the other hand, I have certainly restored successfully from clones made using the earlier version.
Super Duper has an excellent reputation and is supposed to copy extended attributes etc. nearly flawlessly. I can't speak from experience in this case, though, and I don't know how flexible it is in terms of allowing clones to partitions etc. as I've never used it.
1.3 Sorry, can't answer this - I don't know what you're referring to.
1.4 Only that if Super Duper can't do what you want, CCC probably can. Whichever you use, be sure to read and follow the instructions and to test the clone by booting and working from it to assure yourself that it really is satisfactory.
Good luck.
- cfr

My Macbook keeps saying 'The burn to the MATSHITA DVD-R UJ-898 drive failed. The burn failed because of a medium write error.' everytime I try to burn a cd with data on it, it has only just started doing it after 2 years of use, how do I fix it?

My Macbook keeps saying 'The burn to the MATSHITA DVD-R UJ-898 drive failed. The burn failed because of a medium write error.' everytime I try to burn a cd with data on it, it has only just started doing it after 2 years of use, how do I fix it?

Have you tried using a different brand of optical disk? (You don't say whether you are doing CDs or DVDs.) Some are better than others.

Looking to buy archival discs for my GH82N drive - can I use dvd-r discs?

Looking to purchase archive discs but not finding out many facts about the gh82n drive on my HP computer. Will I be able to write to dvd-r and dvd+r discs alike?
Thanks!
Peter

The GH82N is capable of using DVD-R or DVD+R media. That said, I use only DVD+R.
I am a volunteer. I am not an HP employee.
To say THANK YOU, press the "thumbs up symbol" to render a KUDO. Please click Accept as Solution, if your problem is solved. You can render both Solution and KUDO.
The Law of Effect states that positive reinforcement increases the probability of a behavior being repeated. (B.F.Skinner). You toss me KUDO and/or Solution, and I perform better.
(2) HP DV7t i7 3160QM 2.3Ghz 8GB
HP m9200t E8400,Win7 Pro 32 bit. 4GB RAM, ASUS 550Ti 2GB, Rosewill 630W. 1T HD SATA 3Gb/s
Custom Asus P8P67, I7-2600k, 16GB RAM, WIN7 Pro 64bit, EVGA GTX660 2GB, 750W OCZ, 1T HD SATA 6Gb/s
Custom Asus P8Z77, I7-3770k, 16GB RAM, WIN7 Pro 64bit, EVGA GTX670 2GB, 750W OCZ, 1T HD SATA 6Gb/s
Both Customs use Rosewill Blackhawk case.
Printer -- HP OfficeJet Pro 8600 Plus

How do I install Windows 8 on Mountain Lion (mac mini) 2010 Server using bootcamp with out Optical Drive?

I have a 2010 Mac Mini server running 10.8.4 (12E55). I just bought a brand new copy of Windows 8 from micrsoft. I have tried using boot camp and it will not recognize a burned DVD in my remote optical drive on my laptop running windows 7 or my macbook running Lion 10.7.5. I have had Microsoft on both of my computers remoted in for about 8 hours and they tried just about everything that I've tried.
Microsofts tech support has made me a bootable DVD and a bootable Flash Drive through remote desktop (awsome good job microsoft tech support). I have even tried formatting my mac mini's second 500GB hard drive to FAT32 using this whole disc as my windows partition. I know that when I go to install windows 8 it is going to reformat the drive to NTFS but all the articles that I've found, say this is what you have to do to get the drive formatted properly to get the ball rolling and get windows will fix it when it goes to install by reformatting to NTFS.
Ok so right now I have my second 500GB hdd on my mac mini formatted to FAT32 and I have tried to reboot holding my option key like I do on my mac book. If I want to boot to a different hdd on my macbook all I do is hold the OPTION key during start up and you get prompted to choose one of the bootable disc that is on your computer. Well if I put my USB drive which is bootable on my macbook into my macbook and do this right now its not showing up.
Now I just put the DVD that they made me in my macbook and it shows up as bootable disc. But the USB doesn't. (1 hour later) I just got microsft to remake the USB drive and am going to try that again so ta ta for now and I'll come back on to post to tell you if it works.

mikkel-kj wrote:
These apps paralells and fusion and virtualbox, are they in Mac App Store? And when I have the app installed what then, now it ain't only bootcamp what shall I do now to install windows 8?
Mikkel
Parallels, Fusion, and VirtualBox are available from their respective sites. Read their installation instructions which explain how to install Windows.

No bootable drive after installing windows successfully

I am trying to install Windows XP/Vista 32 Bit On Intel Mac Notebook through BootCamp.But after installing windows successfully,when it reboot?resatrt,It gives me error message that NO bootable Drive ,Press any to key to continue.......
I have Downloaded Windows XP/Vista 32 Bit ISO format and burned it on my DVD through Disk utility.I can install windows successfully but when it restarted then it gives that message.However I am able to locate windows hard drive after holding the Option Key and when I choose the windows HDD (BootCamp),It gives me same error.
I started the installation in osx using boot camp, and the windows was completely installed, even the boot camp driver for windows was installed and there are options to restart into either windows or mac osx.
But when I restart the machine and choose to go into windows, it just can not boot, saying no bootable device. If I insert the installation disc into the drive, then I restart and go to windows, it can boot successfully.
Please Help.
Much appriciated.

While we all have MacBooks in this forum not all of us use BootCamp. There's a BootCamp Support Community where everybody uses BootCamp. You should also post this question there to increase your chances of getting an answer.
https://discussions.apple.com/community/windows_software/boot_camp

I have a dvd stuck in the drive and as I can not boot is there a way of removing the dvd ?

Hi
I have a dvd stuck in the drive and as I can not boot is there a way of removing the dvd ?

Boot with the option key down. You will see a window showing all the bootable systems. Select the OSX boot and hit return. Once you are booted into OSX, use the Startup Disk system preferences to change your default boot volume.
Startup Manager: How to select a startup volume

WIN 2000 "No Bootable Drive Error" on new K7N2 Delta

Installed new MSI K7N2 MB and AMD Athlon XP 2500+ chip on Saturday and get to WIN 2000 boot and then blue screen error "can not find bootable drive?".
My friend tried booting from his and my WIN 2000 CD to no avail. Both drives show up on startup. Checked cables and tried swopping to no avail.
Any help would be apprreciated. I have tried the stickies to no avail.
Set up:
Maxtor 20 g master (OS System installed)
Maxtor 80 g slave for video editing
HP CD RW
NEC DVD RW
AGP display Video Card
IEEE firewire PCI
FDD
AMD Athlon 2500+ XP (333 FSB)
MSI K7N2 Delta MB
Antec 300 w mini-tower case ( bought off shelf at store) (do not have the specs on AMPS as I am at work)
Could it be the PSU?
I know Wonk or someone can offer me their guidance please. The Mrs. is PO'd.

I got that same error today, when I was trying to add a new boot drive with fresh W2K. I'm going to rant for a while, but you can skip it if you're not using an external drive and you've tested your internal drive ATA (round or ribbon) cables. (note that they can be v-e-r-y bad even if they look OK). I'll explain how these things relate to "No boot drive", but you'll have to bear with me, I'm still venting and trying to get over how stinking aggravating, time-consuming, AND expensive these components can be and still the manufacturers won't take responsibility for problems. Sony orphaned this one while it was still on the shelves at office supply stores.
Anyway, I'm such a fool --I know real well that my SONY CRX2100U USB external CDRW is a pig, but I always forget about that because it works pretty well with my MSI board and W2K *once everything is installed*. But it dies suddenly if I run the W2K setup from it (seems liek the USB20 driver gets stepped on or something. With other machines, like a Toshiba laptop, I have to disconnect it to boot at all. It gets in the way of the boot, somehow. it seems to have some issues with USB 2.0 compliance. So if you're working off an external hard drive, you might want to consider that it can be less than well-behaved at boot time.
What's this got to do with "no bootable drive"? I don't know, really. JUst that Win2K setup blows its brains out and suddenly stops knowing about the USB 2.0 drive, and a Toshiba laptop can't boot with a Sony USB 2.0 drive connected to it.
One other problem it might be: The ATA cable MSI puts in the motherboard boxes is either a good one or a really awful one. The awful ones are truly awful--I suspect that they attract and amplify electromagnetic radiation from sun spots or something...something makes the system go NUTS reporting disk errors and such. My K7N2 Delta ILSR came with the red plastic round cable, it is good as gold. My K7N2 Delta-L came with a wire-mesh wrapped 80-conductor cable, and I never saw anything more evil than it was, when brand new on a new system. It *looked* fine, good as new, but acted like it was shorting out the drives. Fuh, as much as I like to get free cables, I'll never use that one again. I dug up a twisted old ATA 80 c0nductor (blue-terminated) cable out of an old box and put it in, in place of the wire-mesh round cable, and the system came back to life immediately.
You pro'lly otter get a known good-quality 80 conductor cable for the internal drives.
So hope this helps.

Cannot boot my mini from CD/DVD or external firewire drive

The problem I face is simple: I cannot boot my mini from CD/DVD or external firewire drive.
When I boot with option key down, I see the Mac OSX boot and a ghost Windows from an early BootCamp installation, removed long ago (I now use Parallels).
I tried disconnecting everything but keyboard and mouse, to no avail.
I tried resetting PRAM and NVRAM.
I tried disconnecting the mini from everything and waiting one night.
I tried erasing the disk from another Mac when booting the mini as FireWire drive.
And still, the mini refuses to boot from the original CD, or any external drive.
Anyone has an idea whether it is software or hardware ?
Could it be a consequence of the early Boot Camp install and then removal ? Is there a way to reverse this ?
Any help or hint will be appreciated.
Best regards
JC
Intel mini early 2006 Mac OS X (10.4.10) 2gb RAM, core duo

Hi DaddyPaycheck,
Thanks for your message. Indeed, I failed to mention the problem from the Startup Disk Preference point of view.
Bootable CD and/or external disks also never appear in Startup Disk Prefs.
It indeed sounds like time for a backup (I did that) and a HD erase and reinstall of OSX. But since the CD does not want to boot, I tried installing from another Mac with my mini booted as FireWire drive. And that failed, probably because the master mini I used was a G4 one...
Best regards
JC

DVD from a Hard Drive Camera.

I wanted some feedback on YOUR best way to make a DVD from a Hard Drive Camera. I have the Sony 60 GB HandyCam. It's great. I have many programs to create a DVD and edit them. Some are Quicktime Pro with MPEG 2 converter to 4 then to Streamclip, CaptyDVD, VisualHub, ImageMixer.
When converting to StreamClip , for instance, which formate is best????
I have found that the QuickTime Pro/2 to 4 converter then into iDVD gives me the best results. Then right to iDVD.
The Visual Hub program is great but it gives me the letter box effect. I rather have the true 16x9 formate.
Any other ideas or programs out there YOU like?
Thanks in advance, Don
MacBook core 2 Duo Mac OS X (10.4.8) iMac G4 flat panel

now we put the cart before the horse ...
mpegs are not meant for editing, any further processing; mpegs are a delivery- and playback format...
if you like to do editing (adding titles, music, disolves etc), use a recording-device which supports a codec which is MEANT for editing.. as "dv", on miniDV ...
Streamclip support basic editing (e.g. erasing parts)...
and the loss of audio by using Quicktime for convertign mpegs is another cup of tea ...
nack to your Original Post:
Capty is best in terms of quality, because no triple-conversion is needed, as long as you "burn" videoDVD with Toast or Sizzle ..
Streamclip (+mpeg2 plug-in) is best in terms of "options" ( you can edit AND convert)
DVD2DV is best in terms of usability .. one-click-only
VisualHub is best in terms of flexibility (swiss army knife converter)
ffmpegX + Sizzle is best in terms of cost - free (iLife comes preinstalled)
... and DVD as recording media is NEVER the best, compared to any/most miniDV camcorders... less usabilty (= not supported by iLife, needs additional processes etc), less quality AFTER adding anything/editing/processing, ...
so, back to Square One - get a miniDV for movie making ..

By mistake i erase my macbook pro hard disk how to reinstall the yosemite on my macbook because it donsnt read the bootable drive?

by mistake i erase my macbook pro hard disk how to reinstall the yosemite on my macbook because it donsnt read the bootable drive?

usamafrombeverly hills wrote:
when i start the macbook & press cmd+R it goes to the internet recovery
Well then when you erased your hard drive, your erased the Recovery partition, also.
Use Internet Recovery to either restore from your Time Machine backup or reinstall the OS if you don't have a TM Backup.
It will install the OS that shipped on that Mac. You can then upgrade via the App Store.

Trying to use my Lacie external hard drive to back up my iTunes library.

For some reason, I cannot send my iTunes song files to my external hard drive. My PC recognizes my hard drive (I formatted it) and it lets me save text files to the hard drive but it will not let me save my musci library to it. I am trying to transfer my iTunes library from my PC to my new Mac laptop and also just wanted to back up my iTunes library. Any help would be great.

You can Use iTunes for Backing up your Music, but I do not favor this mehtod.
It works fine for music files BUT: I prefer more control and completeness over my backup process. It is also very important to note that a large limitation of using iTunes to manage the backup is that the iTunes method does not create or maintain backups of the two meta-data files (iTunes Library.itl & iTunes Music Library.xml) where your Playlists, Ratings, Play Counts, etc. are stored. See: What are the iTunes Library files?
If you are heavily invested in your Library data (Playlists, Play Counts, Ratings, Last Played, Date Added, etc.), it is crucial that you also make and archive multiple backups of your ‘iTunes Library.itl’ file.
If your music is located under one common Folder (e.g.-‘iTunes’), then it is easiest to physically copy that folder and all its sub-folders in one simple process. It can be done quickly, and incrementally – several times a day, when necessary. In the case of any data loss, just re-copy your entire (or partial) music library back to wherever it was, placing it in the main Folder that the previous iTunes expected. Along with the ‘iTunes Library.itl’ metadata file, this completes a full ‘restore’ of your music to the time of your last backup.
Use of a backup software program will greatly help. It will allow you to easily perform incremental backups of only the files that have changed. WinXP has such a facility built-in. I use a free program called FileSync ( http://www.fileware.com ). There are many out there. Some use Zipped files or proprietary formats, others use standard file formats. I like FileSync as it uses normal file formats that can be viewed/managed via any Windows program or utility.
iTunes Files to Backup (anytime you make additions or changes to the Music or Library that you want to retain)
1) All music files in their current folder structure (usually located in and under the ‘iTunes Music’ folder)
2) The Library database file: ‘iTunes Library.itl’ located in the ‘iTunes’ folder
3) The Library XML file: ‘iTunes Music Library.xml’ located in the ‘iTunes’ folder
4) Any XML playlist files created for Playlist retention
5) The two iTunes.pref files (optional)
-- C:\Documents and Settings\<your username>\Application Data\Apple Computer\iTunes\iTunes.pref
-- C:\Documents and Settings\<your username>\Local Settings\Application Data\Apple Computer Inc\iTunes.pref
6) The XML file of Ratings, Play Counts and Last Played attributes saved from the main Library and created by Otto’s SaveRatings script (also optional, but recommended):
“Download this: http://ottodestruct.com/itunes/SaveRatings.zip . It's a program, just run it like any other program. Run it on the machine where you're copying the info from BEFORE you move the files to the new machine. Click the "Save Ratings" button and it'll create a ratings.xml file. Now when you move the files, move the program and this file as well. Then after you make your new iTunes library, run it again and click the "Restore Ratings" button. Voila, all your information is back in the Library. Well, most of it anyway, it's not perfect. It'll tell you what songs it couldn't figure out though, and there's usually not very many.”
Here's a list of possible ways to copy your music files from your main iTunes computer to another storage medium for backup purposes.
1) Use an External Hard Drive to store the complete iTunes meta-data files and underlying Music Folder structure and songs from your main computer. They are quite cheap now, for their storage volume. This is my preferred main medium.
2) If you have Two Computers:
2a) Connect them through a router
2b) Connect them using a Direct (w/Mac) or Crossover (PC/PC) Ethernet cable (See: http://www.ifelix.co.uk/tech/3001.html)
2c) Connect them via a USB-to-USB Network Bridge. See: here as an example.
Copy the files and folders from one computer to the other. Use the second PC as your backup repository.
3) Burn several DVDs (at 4.7+ GBs each) with the music data files and store them safely. Re-writable ones are good for backup purposes (if your DVD drive can manage these).
4) Burn 6x more on CDs (at 700MB each) than in #3 above and store them safely in more space Re-writable ones are good for backup purposes (if your CD drive can manage these).
5) Use a larger USB Flash drive (1GB – 4+GBs) to store the files only if you have a small amount ripped music or have multiple and/or jumbo USB drives at your disposal that will fit your music library.
6) Use the Second Internal Hard Drive (if available) of your PC -- not optimum, as you really want to physically separate the storage of backups from the originals, but good as a tertiary storage device.
By keeping only one copy of your music (other than on the iPod), you are not truly 'backed-up' and are running a high risk of losing your music. Music files on just the iPod and the computer is not considered having any backup. If you cannot store your complete music files on the computer’s internal HD, then create and maintain at least two external sets (any multiple combinations of ExHDs, DVDs, CDs).
You need at least two full sets of your music, not including what is on the iPod:
-- One full set on the PC within iTunes (on internal HD or ExHD)
-- One full set on an separate external backup medium (CD/DVD/ExHD/other)
-- One (full or partial) set on the iPod
It is a good policy to backup all your important data. It is a very smart policy to back it up on more than one medium.

How do i transfer some files and applications to and make my ssd a bootable drive

I have a mbp 2009. i'm using the owc data doubler - installing 250gb ssd and keeping my 250 HDD. I want to transfer some apps and files from the HDD to the SSD and make the SSD the bootable drive. I'm not too familiar with teh inner-workings, so i'd appreciate a step-by-step instruction

First - if you want to have the SSD as your boot drive, put it in your hard drive bay and put your hard drive in the optical bay. MacBook Pros 'expect' the boot drive to be in the main bay - not the secondary bay.
After you've made the swap, hold down the option key whilst booting and select your hard drive to start up. Once you've booted, use Disk Utility to format the SSD ("Mac OS Extended (Journaled)") with a single GUID partition. Now you'll be ready to start moving things around.
The best thing you can do - since the HD and the SSD are the same size - is simply to use Carbon Copy Cloner to clone your 'old' drive to the SSD. Then you can boot from the SSD, erase (reformat) your hard drive and then move any files on the SSD that you want on your HD. If I were you, I would try to keep most of your music, photos & other docs on the HD and your applications, etc., on the SSD. DO NOT just move your entire user directory to the HD as there are likely some files that are expected to be found in your user folder (the user Library, etc.).
Easy enough?
Clinton

Why do you need a usb bootable drive to do a clean install of Mavericks (or any other OSX)?

I have had a few minor bugs with Mavericks, and I finally got an external hard drive, so I decided to do a clean install of Mavericks.
Every single tutorial I've found online has suggested making a usb-bootable drive to reinstall the os with. However, I simply backed up the things I wanted to save on my external hard drive, restarted holding Cmd+R and went to disk utility, erased my Macintosh HD in the correct format, then went over to the install Mavericks tab on the recovery mode screen. Now, I understand it takes a little longer to do it this way, but it's only got about an hour left, and I started the reinstallation about 20 min's ago.
Besides the much longer time to wait for the OS to reinstall using my method, without a USB drive, what is the disadvantage of simply doing it all through the recovery mode boot screen via wifi? I know I could have done the bootable drive on my external hd, but I'd rather not mess with partitions on this drive...it's just got my documents, music, movies...etc, and I'd like to keep it that way.
Any info would be appreciated.

Besides the time difference and the data used on your network connection they are the same.
Actually there is one difference depending on when the USB installer was made the software you load might be out-of-date. When you download from a Apple you know you are getting the latest versions. So if you do use a USB stick to install make sure you run a software update before doing anything.

DVD Drive will not recognize any movie DVD disk in the drive - thus will not play any dvd movies.

HP G71 449WV dvd drive will not recognize any dvd disc that has a movie on it. Will not play movies, keeps saying to insert disc when there is a disc in there. It will recognize a dvd data disc or a blank dvd, it just will not recognize any dvd movies. I've tried the microsoft fix it, downloaded new codecs, using different dvd playback software but none of that works since the drive will not recognize there is even a dvd movie in the drive. Computer is out of warranty.

Hello crollinsphoto1, welcome to the HP Forums.
It appears that you're not able to play movie DVD's in the DVD player in your notebook. I will try to assist you with this.
I'd recommend starting with this document:
Resolving DVD and Blu-ray Movie Problems (Windows 7).
Also, are these purchased DVD's or burnt DVD's?
Do the movies play in other sources? (DVD player, other PC)
Let me know how this goes.
Thanks.
I worked on behalf of HP.

Use DVD-RW as bootable drive

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