Using external as main drive

I have an iMac and MBP. I use the imac 7 days a week and the laptop when ever I need to, maybe 3 days a week and all the time when I go away. It'll be in use every day when I get to college next year.
I take a huge amount of photos and use the iMac for the processing etc.
However, I make websites in iWeb and do a huge amount of other work with documents and random files.
What I am looking for is the best way to be able to use the 2 machines and have them singing from the same hymn sheet. For example I can sync the 2 documents folders easily enough, but something like iWeb, with its domain file buried, that is a bit annoying. Any program like iWeb must be individually set up to sync its own specific files with the corresponding locations. Not what I want
I was considering having the iMac run from an external all the time but firstly I don't really like this idea (thoughts??) and also the need for the iMac to be able to run on its own with nothing connected is lingering in the background.
What would you experts suggest is the best way for on the fly syncing of the two machines?
Regards

There is no problem running from an external drive.
When I use Tiger, I boot it up from my external drive. Contrary to what you might think, it runs at about the same speed as if it were the internal drive, after booting.
Of course the clone can only run on an identical or very similar computer, and certainly only one with the same processor, Intel or PPC.

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[SOLVED] Kernel panic when using external USB hard drive

I have a desktop PC with a 64 bit arch install, on a Core2 Duo 6320 CPU. I have been using (and continue using right now) a 500 GB "Iomega Desktop Hard Drive" external USB hard disk without problems. But I have just bought a 3 TB "Seagate Expansion" external USB hard drive and I'm unable to use it from my Arch install. Each time I try to format it or to copy data from the PC, Arch freezes with a kernel panic. Sometimes it freezes faster and I cannot see anything, but others I am able to see the following kernel messages, repeating several times:
[11701.205071] sd 3:0:0:0: [sdf] uas_eh_abort_handler ffff880014e13380 tag 29, inflight: CMD
[11701.221297] sd 3:0:0:0: [sdf] abort completed
[11701.221313] scsi host3: uas_eh_task_mgmt: ABORT TASK failed (wrong tag 0/256)
[11701.221323] sd 3:0:0:0: [sdf] uas_eh_abort_handler ffff880014e13500 tag 30, inflight: CMD
[11701.237550] sd 3:0:0:0: [sdf] abort completed
[11701.237567] scsi host3: uas_eh_task_mgmt: ABORT TASK failed (wrong tag 0/256)
[11701.237576] sd 3:0:0:0: [sdf] uas_eh_abort_handler ffff880014e13680 tag 31, inflight: CMD
[11701.253922] sd 3:0:0:0: [sdf] abort completed
[11701.253936] scsi host3: uas_eh_task_mgmt: ABORT TASK failed (wrong tag 0/256)
[11701.253956] sd 3:0:0:0: uas_eh_device_reset_handler
[11704.252182] scsi host3: uas_eh_task_mgmt: LOGICAL UNIT RESET timed out
[11704.252196] scsi host3: uas_eh_bus_reset_handler start
[11704.252443] usb 5-6: stat urb: killed, stream 0
[11704.358882] usb 5-6: reset high-speed USB device number 3 using ehci-pci
[11704.483206] scsi host3: uas_eh_bus_reset_handler success
Strange enough, the drive is listed by lsusb command as a 2TB but I don't think this is related to the problem (as the OS sees the 3 TB). This is the lsusb output:
Bus 001 Device 003: ID 0bc2:3312 Seagate RSS LLC SRD00F2 [Expansion Desktop Drive 2TB]
I have tried the drive on other PCs and it works flawlessly. Also tried booting Windows 8 on the same PC I have Arch installed in, and in Windows it also works perfect. I have tried using ext2 and NTFS filesystems. Tried also changing the USB cable without success. And right now I'm out of ideas. Any suggestions?
Last edited by doragasu (2014-07-03 11:06:25)

looks like it could be the UAS module , check https://bbs.archlinux.org/viewtopic.php?id=183190

Using External CD Rom drive to import music from CD to Itune

I have itunes 6.0 on an XP laptop, and an external TDK DVD/CDrom drive. Itunes imports music from CDs when I use the drive on the laptop, however, only imports links (seem like URL links) when I use the external drive to import music from a CD into a playlist.
I am trying to use the external CD rom drive for importing music into Itunes, but there seems to be a problem, or I have not checked some box or the other. Can someone help??
Thanks

First, Jaguar does not come on a DVD. The standard Jaguar release comes on two CDs. What you probably have is a gray color OEM DVD or a copy that was made for a specific Mac model and will not work with your computer. Furthermore, in order to run OS X on your computer you must first install a firmware update.
You also need at least 128 MBs of RAM for OS X and at least 3 GBs of free space on the hard drive during installation. Your particular model requires that OS X be installed on a drive or partition that is less than 8 GBs. If your hard drive is larger than 8 GBs it must be partitioned such that the first partition is no larger than 7.85 GBs and OS X must be installed in that partition. The drive must also be formatted Mac OS Extended (HFS+).
Furthermore, you cannot boot OS X from a USB drive, only from a Firewire drive.
You will need to get the correct Jaguar installers. You can purchase the right package at www.applerescue.com. Your particular model is compatible with Panther thru 10.3.9. Panther would be a better choice than Jaguar because it is much faster even on your iMac. However, OS X will not be very fast on your computer because it lacks CPU speed and video horsepower. If you continue to install OS X, then you should plan to install the maximum of 512 MBs of RAM that iMac supports.

Computer crash with iTunes - Using external firewire 800 drive

I am using an external firewire 800 drive (2TB Lacie) to store all my music for iTunes... At random times this crashes the computer, the music "skips" and the computer has a grey notice telling me to shutdown immediately. I am not sure why this is happening, but think this must be some sort of conflict issue... but no clue how to resolve... Any advice would be great!! Thanks!

Oh no, sounds like kernel panics. Time to head directly to The X Lab to read the FAQs and get started with maintenance and troubleshooting. Unfortunately, this problem goes way beyond iTunes, so for additional support, you should post in the appropriate OS X forum.

Transfering iTunes files to new computer using external USB hard drive

Thought this could be useful:
If you want to transfer your complete iTunes library to a new computer preserving all your playlists and library information, but without using your iPod as a hard dive, or without burning a CD or DVD, you can do it by using an USB external hard drive following these easy steps:
1) Quit iTunes
2) Connect your USB external hard drive to your computer and acccess it thru My PC or Windows Explorer.
3) Create two new folders in your external hard drive (you can name them LIBRARY Backup and PLAYLISTS Backup).
4) Open the LIBRARY Backup folder.
5) Open another Windows Explorer or My PC window; open the iTunes Music folder (usually located in C:\Documents and Settings\Owner\My documents\My music\iTunes).
6) Copy all of its contents (only the contents, not the whole folder) to the LIBRARY Backup folder you created in your external USB Hard Drive.
7) Close both the LIBRARY Backup folder from your USB external hard drive and the iTunes Music folder.
8) Open the PLAYLISTS Backup folder from your USB external hard drive
9) From your iTunes folder, copy the iTunes Music Library.xml to the PLAYLISTS Backup folder.
10) Close all the windows and extract your USB external hard drive from your PC ()
11) Install iTunes in your new computer.
12) Using Windows Explorer open the iTunes Music folder (usually located in C:\Documents and Settings\Owner\My documents\My music\iTunes).
13) Connect the USB hard drive to your new computer and open it using another Windows Explorer window.
14) Open the LIBRARY Backup folder and copy all of its contents (only the contents, not the whole folder) to the iTunes Music folder in your new computer. After the copying is complete, close this folder.
15) Copy the PLAYLISTS Backup folder to you new computer’s desktop.
16) Close Windows Explorer and extract USB hard drive.
17) Open iTunes
18) From the File menu, choose Import. Navigate to the iTunes Music Library.xml file on the Desktop and click Choose. The imported playlist will show only songs located on the computer's hard disk or external media.
19) You can now delete the xml. file from your new computer’s desktop if you wish.
PC Windows XP Owner of 5th Generation iPod

Type "move itunes library" into the Google search bar.
Type "ipod touch not recognized by itunes" into the search bar at the top of this page by "Support"

Problems Installing Win7 using External, USB DVD Drive

I have a mid 2010 15" i7 MBP which I upgraded to from 4GB to 8GB RAM courtesy of OWC. I recently upgraded the 500GB 7200RPM HD with a 240GB OCZ Vertex 3 and using an OWC Data Doubler, I replaced the DVD SuperDrive with the 500GB Hard Drive.
I used an External USB DVD Drive to install OS X SL On the SSD without issues. Also, I got all my updates and software installed and working without any problems.
I've been running great for about 2 weeks now, so I decided to install Windows 7 64bit Ultimate. I ran Boot Camp Assistant and partitioned the 240GB SSD in half 120/120. Everything went fine with creating the partition. I selected to Install from the Win 7 DVD media in the USB DVD drive and rebooted. I got a grey screen. I turned the computer off and turned it back on. Holding down Option, I selected the Install DVD from the Boot Menu. I then got a screen with the Apple Logo flashing intermittently with a Circle/Cross Hatch. So I can't get the Windows Install to start to save my life. I know the External, USB DVD works since I used it to install OS X and I have no problems using it in OS X. I Know the media works because I tried a test install, without activation in a VMWare Fusion VM.
Any suggestions are appreciated?

So here is the answer. The Firmware on the MacBook Pro only supports installation of OS X from External Media and will not install operating systems from 3rd Parties. I tried to install Windows XP, Win7 Ultimate 32 & 64bit, and Ubuntu 11.04 but no success.
Supposedly, the MacBook Air does support installation of 3rd party operating systems from external media, but I have no way to confirm this.
I ended up reinstalling the internal DVD drive installing Win 7 and Ubuntu on the SSD. Using rEFI, I'm able to triple boot all 3 operating systems. Then removed the drive again and reinstalled the 2nd HD. Everything seems to be working fine.
I'm looking for someone who has experience in Mac EFI Hacking to see if there is a way to enable booting 3rd Party OSes from external media. I'm guessing someone could examine the MBA firmware and figure out how to hack that capability into the MBP.

Possibility of ipad using external dvd/cd drive.

Will either gen of the ipad be able to use an external cd/dvd drive? And if so what brand?

Because Apple didn't include that functionality in either iPad. They don't have USB ports. They don't allow, as I understand it for the installation of the drivers that would be required.

Using external & internal hard drives on one project

I'm working on one project.
I've captured a lot of raw video. I'm about to run of space on my external hard drive which is a Lacie d2 qadra 500 GB. Is it OK to start capturing on the iMac's internal hard drive and use both for one project on one timeline?

Yes, you should be able to do this easily by setting adding the internal drive as a capture drive via the 'System Settings' then select the 'Scratch Disks' tab. Checking the Video Capture should automatically select the Audio capture for that drive as well.

Using external back up drive

Is there an app that allows me to use my existing seagate freeagent 1 TB external harddrive as a backup I can sync with?
Thanks for any suggestions!
J

sync with in what regard, what use.
You can use same as a time machine backup, or an external data archive, etc.
you can have it connected to the back of the NEWEST airport extreme as TM backup.
More specifics needed.
You can use your hard drive as a backup or archive in many ways as mentioned here:
Methodology to protect your data. Backups vs. Archives. Long-term data protection

Time Machine error-43 using external 500GB LaCie drive

I occasionally get an error during the Time Machine backups. Here is the error log from the latest error. I bought this LaCie USB external 500GB drive a couple of weeks ago and began running Time Machine at that time. The errors only appear to happen every few days. The "put hard drive to sleep when possible" option is not checked. The Computer sleep slider is set to 1 hr.
Thanks for your help,
George
Dec 18 09:19:00 george-halls-imac /System/Library/CoreServices/backupd[3465]: Starting standard backup
Dec 18 09:19:00 george-halls-imac /System/Library/CoreServices/backupd[3465]: Backing up to: /Volumes/LaCie/Backups.backupdb
Dec 18 09:19:01 george-halls-imac /System/Library/CoreServices/backupd[3465]: No pre-backup thinning needed: 505.0 MB requested (including padding), 434.75 GB available
Dec 18 09:19:02 george-halls-imac /System/Library/CoreServices/backupd[3465]: Stopping backup.
Dec 18 09:19:02 george-halls-imac /System/Library/CoreServices/backupd[3465]: Error: (-43) SrcErr:NO Copying /Library/.localized to /Volumes/LaCie/Backups.backupdb/george hall’s iMac/2008-12-18-091900.inProgress/9863A023-A4C2-4965-B232-1A4D9A1AB91F/Macintos h HD/Library
Dec 18 09:19:02 george-halls-imac /System/Library/CoreServices/backupd[3465]: Copied 2 files (11 bytes) from volume Macintosh HD.
Dec 18 09:19:02 george-halls-imac /System/Library/CoreServices/backupd[3465]: Copy stage failed with error:11
Dec 18 09:19:08 george-halls-imac /System/Library/CoreServices/backupd[3465]: Backup failed with error: 11

Hi George,
The one way I found to get the TM back on the rail is to access my back up disk from finder, choose the sparse disk image. Hit cmmd-delete and banish it.
Start over again. Be sure to be connected by a wired connection as on a wireless network it will take a while. But I guess you have the HD attached via firewire or usb so it should not be a major issue.

Using external drives with OS X Server

Is it possible to use external firewire hard drives the same way that I would use an internal. I am asking this because we have 3 of them with 250Gb each. I would use them to increase the storage of a server, which would lower the cost of one and make it much more possible to buy. The drives wouldn't be removed and I would like to be able to apply security settings to control access to them. They can be easily formatted with the approperiate OS X file system.

It wasn't that I thought I couldn't use them I just need to know if I can put a user's home directory on there and have users save to them across the network. Can I in fact do this. A couple of people I have talked to about doing this had mixed thought so I figured I'd throw to you guys.

How can I use external clock to implement a delay?

Hi all,
I am testing to use external clock to drive dev/PFI0 (on device 6711) which is used as the clock for the analog ouput. I have thinking two applications by using the external clock but I don't have much idea on the implementation yet.
First of all, I have a sequence of data (array) with each sample being sent at the interval of 1us. I use an external clock (10MHz) driving the PFI0 so it is pretty easy to achieve that goal. I am thinking what happen if I want each sampel being sent at different time. For example, if I have 5 samples, I want the first one sent 1us after the task start and wait 2us to send the 2nd sample, wait 5us to send the 3rd sample and wait 11 us to send the 4th sample, and wait 1us to send the last sample. Is it possible to achieve that based on the external clock?
Second question is about the delay. My code require ciritcal timing and the builtin delay doesn't behave very well because I am running in windows. I can increase the priority of the vi to highest, it helps a bit but still not perfect. I am thinking if it is possible to implement hardward delay based on the external clock. Any idea?

Hello dragondriver,
To answer your first question, yes you could send data in that fashion. You would have to programmatically build a pulse train and use that to trigger the sending of data. The answer to the second question is essentially the same. You should be able to programmatically build a pulse train with a delay and use it as trigger to begin whatever operation you have.
Jonathan L.
Applications Engineer
National Instruments

Questions about using an external drive as my main drive

This topic has been addressed in discussion threads before, but I'm in search of a few details.
I have a Mac mini 1.42 combo, 512 mb RAM, with an external 250 gb MiniStack FW drive. The external FW drive spins at 7200 rpm, while the internal drive in the mini is a 4200 rpm model. Because of the higher disk speed, I'm considering making my external FW drive my main drive, then reformatting my mini's internal drive to use for backup purposes only. My backups to the mini's internal drive would be bootable, so I wouldn't have to have Tiger installed on the mini's internal drive.
Additionally, I've got my iTunes library on another partition on the same external FW drive. I'm really happy with the result of that move so far.
I've experimented a bit already. I've used SuperDuper to clone my mini's drive to a different partition on the external FW drive, and confirmed that I can boot from it using the external FW drive as my startup disk, so that's not an issue.
I'm planning to move over to the external FW drive and use that as my startup disk and main drive, but keep the mini's external drive as is for a while before I reformat it and use it strictly for backups. I've got some questions before I commit to this, though. (shudder!)
*Updates for applications and Tiger-If I continue to use Apple's Software Update to conduct my software upgrades, will it automatically update the applications on my external FW drive? I'm assuming that Software Update identifies the boot drive and the app's location before performing the update. I'm concerned that Software Update will become confused once it can't identify my mini's internal drive as the 'main' disk, and will lose the functionality to handle my updates.
*Default drives for other applications-For those of you that have already moved to an external disk as your main drive, did you have to change preferences in other apps (like the MS Office Suite) to tell them where to look for files and save new docs/save updated docs? I use Office a lot for a part-time job, and it would be a pain to have to manually update all that info.
*iTunes-As I've already stated, I've moved my iTunes music library over to a partition on my external FW drive and it's worked well so far. What concerns me is the funky way that Apple requires the iTunes management files and folders be on your main drive in your Home folder, but allows the music files to reside on a different disk. When iTunes needs to update itself, or manage the music library, is it going to be happy working from the home folder on the external disk, or will I have problems? In other words, as long as the iTunes management files are on my boot drive, am I OK?
Thanks for wading through this wordy post. If I decide to make the plunge, I'll report back to the list. I'm sure a bunch of mini owners are considering the move to external drives to boost performance. I love the machine, but I can always use more speed!
Mac Mini 1.42 Mac OS X (10.4.3) MiniStack 250 GB + Hub

No problem what so ever. I am not certain you will gain anything by it, though.

Can I use an external drive as my main drive?

My hard drive just died and I can't purchase a new one for about a month (I'm living in a mac-unfriendly place at the moment). Here are my questions:
1. Can I install an OS on my external Maxtor drive and use it as my main hard drive? Even with a dead internal drive?
2. If so, how do I properly install the OS onto the Maxtor?
3. (extra credit) I've been using my powerbook (AC 100-240V 50/60Hz) for the last 8 months in a country that uses 50hz 200V power. Though the apple adaptor specs clearly state that it is okay to use here, I'm wondering if it could be the reason for my drive's failure (This is the second powerbook that I've had here that has died -- seems suspicious).
Powerbook G4 15" 1.5Ghz Mac OS X (10.4.2)

You can use an external drive as your main drive,
although it's really not so hard to replace a drive
and you could get a new one for a hundred or so
dollars + mail order depending on what you go with.
Bear in mind the actual drive will not be unique to
Apple so that will be your best bet. Most drives are
Hitachi or Seagate I think - you might even be able
to upgrade to a faster 7200 drive - they start at
$150 I think.
As for the external drive, you can install the OS on
to it - I've seen that work - Apple store will
typically boot from an external firwire drive. I
think you might be able to plug in the drive, start
the machine with the install CD and then select the
external drive as the target to load the operating
system on - it should load on to it, assuming the
drive is in mac os format first. Others will pipe in
if I'm wrong. When you start the machine it should
search for your operating system.
You'll have no problems installing onto whatever drive you like, provided that it is powered-on during the boot process so Installer recognizes it. Once OS X is installed, holding down Option during power-on will allow you to manually select your external drive, since I think it will default to the internal until you tell it otherwise. Go into System Preferences --> Startup Disk and select your external as the new default.

Is there a way to have iPhoto NOT use the Photo Library on the Main drive?

I have thousands of pictures going waaay back to when iPhoto first came out. Most are on disc and on backup drives. I want to use the external drives to work from, within iPhoto. Is this possible?
I just got a Mac Mini and since i have a lot of external drives(over 6TB, I'm a pro photographer) I didn't need the larger main drive. I like to use iPhoto for snapshots of my family and friends and quickie uploads for them.
Thanks.

sure
Moving the iPhoto library is safe and simple - quit iPhoto and drag the iPhoto library intact as a single entity to the external drive - depress the option key and launch iPhoto using the "select library" option to point to the new location on the external drive - fully test it and then trash the old library on the internal drive (test one more time prior to emptying the trash)
And be sure that the External drive is formatted Mac OS extended (journaled) (iPhoto does not work with drives with other formats) and that it is always available prior to launching iPhoto
And backup soon and often - having your iPhoto library on an external drive is not a backup and if you are using Time Machine you need to check and be sure that TM is backing up your external drive
LN

Using external as main drive

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