Windows on mac via external dvd drive

can I boot on an USB external dvd drive with an old macbook pro without Boot Camp 5

https://discussions.apple.com/message/22528243#22528243

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Install Leopard via External DVD Drive?

This is a question for a friend, as I don't have an external DVD drive I can't test it out for myself, but basically can OSX 10.5 Leopard be installed using an external drive?
His internal Superdrive doesn't work properly, very similar to the issues discussed in the "Apple.com > Support > Discussions > iMac G5 > Using DVDs and CDs with your iMac G5" section. I'm not sure of the brand of external drive, but I believe it's connected via USB2.0.
That's pretty much it, any help is, as always, very much appreciated!
Scoobs.

An external DVD drive will work, but it must use FireWire for a G4 or G5. USB or FireWire will work with Intel Macs.

Windows and Mac on external bootable drive

Hi,
I am looking for a way to have two partitions on an external drive, one being a bootable Mac partition, the other a bootable windows 7 partition. The two partitions will be used on two separate computers (I have a Mac that I will use the Mac partition with and I have a pc that I will use the windows partition with). I do not need to be able to access the windows partition from the Mac, or the Mac partition from the windows machine.
Is this setup possible? I have looked on the Internet but am getting conflicting theories. Will it work if I format the first partition is hfs+ and install Mac on that, then format the second as ntfs and install windows 7 on that? What partition scheme would I have to use?
Cheers.

Let me see if I read things right...
You have an external dirve with a MacOS partition and a Windows 7 Partition (most likely a drive that used to be in a Mac and had BootCamp on it). You want to copy the Mac Partition onto a Mac, and copy the Windows Partition onto a PC and use the two separately. Is this right?
If so, the Mac side is fairly easy, assuming that the version of MacOS installed on that external drive is as new as (or newer) that the version shipped with the Mac you are trying to copy it to. I personally prefer SuperDuper for cloning my Mac volumes, but a number of other people use Carbon Copy Cloner (CCC). Both tools work great for cloning one MacOS partition to another. I use this to keep a regular backup of my MacOS volume, in case of a disaster.
The Windows side isn't quite as easy, but it is generally possible. If you try to use the Windows Backup utility to make a partition backup of your Windows instance on the external drive, it will work, but it will also try to do a sector copy of the MacOS partition as well, but it doesn't do that so well. For Windows systems, I tend to use a third party tool for my backup images. It's called Acronis True Image. If you connect the external drive to your PC, and run Acronis True Image, it will let you create a backup clone image of the Windows 7 partition on the external drive. Since the drive will be GPT (for MacOS) and not MBR, you may need to spring for the Plus Pack for True Image to be able to backup the volume on the external drive. I would suggest the Plus Pack anyway, because I believe it also has the support to restore the backup image to different hardware.
When you install Windows, it stires information about the hardware in your system, and the drivers it need to load to properly boot. If you significantly change the hardware, Windows won't boot, and will crash loading drivers leavign you unable to boot the Windows instance. I know that Windows XP had an installation option which was called a "repair install" which would boot from the install CD and wipe the hardware section of the registry clean, and then re-run the hardware detection phase of the install, but it would not touch the user installed software (unless it hooked into the hardware layers). I'm sure that similar exists in Windows 7, but I haven't had to use it myself, so I'm not sure how you would use it. I had mentioned the Plus Pack for Acronis True Image, because it assists you with this component.
In the end, you can do what I think you are trying to do, but the Windows side isn't near as easy to do as the MacOS side. I would suggest that you consider starting the PC with a clean install of Windows 7, and user the migration tools, or just install the apps and copy the data manually...

From PC to Mac via external hard drive

i really need some advice please...
i have recently moved out of my parents house to live with my partner
i bought a compatible external hard drive for PC and Mac so i could transfer all my music/iphone data etc
the hard drive works fine with the mac so there is no issue there
however, my partner also has an external hard drive. itunes only works when its plugged in and all of his music library comes up etc
i tried to get itunes to do that for my hard drive so that i wont lose any of my iphone data etc...
i am yet to succeed and now whenever i put my partners hard drive it and click itunes, itunes is now blank
is it possible to have to seperate libraries and for itunes to recognise them? i.e when i plug my hard drive in and click itunes all my files and music appear
then if i take mine out and put my partners in, for his music to appear etc
i would really appreicate any suggestions?
thanks

When you connect a different hard disk, launch iTunes while holding the option key down and you'll get a prompt to select a library or create a new one. Select the library on your HD. Alternate iTunes library: http://support.apple.com/kb/HT1589
This could become cumbersome, so check some of these alternatives:
How to use multiple iPods, iPads, or iPhones with one computer, http://support.apple.com/kb/HT1495

How to share files between pc and mac via external hard drive

how can i share my files(mp3,mp4,documents) from my harddisk with mac. i am a new mac user and i have a harddisk of NTFS format(as i was a pc user).I learned that mac supports FAT32 format and therefore i can't write data on my external hard drive.
but, reading a section of OSX yosemite(under compatibility) it is said that now we can easily share files between pc and mac.
So please suggest me easier way that how can i share files between macs and pc as my friends uses pc and in future i really want to share my data with them without any hustle and i dont wanna loose my data in future

You can format the HDD to a common one like ExFAT or Fat32 but a reformat will delete all data off of the HDD.
Your other option is to use a third party software such as Paragon or Tuxera that will allow you to write to a NFTS formatted HDD.
Ciao.

Downloading files from PC to Mac via external hard drive

I have already downloaded the files from my PC to an external hard drive. I have connected that external hard drive to my iMac and am attempting to bring those files onto my iMac, but don't know how. Can anyone help? I have it connected, but it seems to be showing up at my Time Machine Backup and I can locate any of the files from my PC.

Hi and welcome to Discussions,
here are several ways to migrate your PC files http://support.apple.com/kb/HT2518
but it seems to be showing up at my Time Machine Backup and I can locate any of the files from my PC
I am not sure if I understand that one correctly.
Does your external harddisk comes up as a Time Machine backup in OSX ?
Or is Time Machine asking if you want to use that external harddisk for backup ?
Regards
Stefan

Installing Windows 7 from external DVD drive

I removed the internal DVD drive and replaced it with an OCW SSD on my 15" MBP. I used Disk Utility to format it to MS-DOS(FAT). I bought Windows 7 and downloaded the .iso file from the website. I used Disk Utility to burn the .iso image onto the disk. Since BootCamp won't recognize my external DVD drive I installed rEFIt, so after I restarted twice it came up with a prompt to boot from Windows install CD. I click the the icon, the screen goes black, and then the DVD drive stops spooling and I have to hold the power button down to restart it normally. What way is there to install WIndows 7 from an external DVD drive?

Maybe use Winclone (Mac app)? Others here know more about using Winclone than I do.
I use Casper (Windows app) for cloning an internal Windows partition to an external drive, so a Casper restore would be just the opposite, but requires a CD drive which you are now lacking.

External dvd drive recommendations

Hello everyone--Could anyone recommend to me, or point me to a link with a list of, mac-compatible external dvd drives that will work with idvd? Thanks in advance!

http://discussions.apple.com/thread.jspa?messageID=5530204&#5530204
http://discussions.apple.com/thread.jspa?messageID=5333091&#5333091
http://discussions.apple.com/thread.jspa?messageID=5174797&#5174797
http://discussions.apple.com/thread.jspa?messageID=5202981&#5202981
http://discussions.apple.com/thread.jspa?messageID=5566746&#5566746

Boot Windows AND FreeBSD from my MacBook Pro 8,3 using an external DVD drive. I'm considering to remove my DVD-ROM and replace it with an SSD drive. That doesn't seem to work. Why not?

As the title says, I'm attempting to boot off my favorite operating systems, Mac OS X, Windows 7 and FreeBSD from an external DVD drive. However, for some odd reasons, booting the Windows DVD and FreeBSD 9.1 install DVD from the external drive does not seem to work. I was able to create a bootable USB with the Windows installer, but whenever I attempt to do the same with FreeBSD, I only get an error message that says "No bootable device -- press any key to restart." Is this a limitation that Apple deliborately created? If so, why won't Apple let its customers do whatever they please with their computers, considering that customers who want to change the hardware and/or operating systems knows what he is doing, without having to worry about some silly Apple limitations?
If I sound rude, I apologize for that, as no impoliteness is intended from my side.
In advance, thanks. Have a wonderful day, everyone.

That is only partially correct at best.
When you are booting off Windows or any other operating systems that usually don't support EFI (including Windows), your Mac uses something called CSM-BIOS. And as long as that CSM-BIOS implementation on EFI-based Mac do not support booting off from USB (note that Mac OS X Installer works fine when booting from USB), not even a USB Apple SuperDrive which once was an internal drive, there mot definately is something for Apple to fix.
When attempting to install Windows via BootCamp, a somewhat hybrid GTP/MBR table is created. When you boot off the installer disc of the OS you intend to install (i.e. Windows 7, FreeBSD, etc), your Mac might not support the EFI boot option (at least my 2011 17-inch MacBook Pro doesn't support that), so the only way of booting that second OS installer is via the regular BIOS, which Apple's EFI based systems implement as CSM-BIOS.

Does MC700 support Windows 8.1 Update (install via external DVD)

Hello,
I have problem with Windows 7 Pro X64 on Bootcamp so I want to re-install Windows with 8.1.
I removed old bootcamp, download lastest driver via Bootcamp assistant. Create new partition for Windows. Reboot and install via DVD external (that DVD get from that MC700). However I got black screen with blinking cursor.
I don't make sure does MC700 (early 2011) support install Windows via external DVD ?
Hope some ideas !
Thanks !

How did you delete old windows
How did you create the new partition
Are you using an external DVD drive? This won't work, you need to use the SuperDrive in your Mac
Check here to see what windows you can install
http://support.apple.com/kb/ht5634

Installing Windows XP on Lion using external DVD drive

Hi, this is my first time posting on a forum at all, so just keep that in mind when dealing with me.
I have recently attempted to install Windows XP by partitioning my drive using the disk utility (seeing as Bootcamp no longer supports Windows XP installations). The problems start when I boot from the installation disk; an error "no bootable device - insert boot disk and press any key" occurs. I am inclined to believe that this is due to me using an external DVD drive when doing all of this. I am using an external DVD drive because my internal DVD drive has been spoilt and is no longer useable.
Does anyone have a solution for me? It seems that it is not possible to install windows using an external DVD drive.

I am doing this after doing a full wipe of my hard drive and reinstalling lion.
Previously, I had lion, and made a partition using disk utility and booted from the disk (this time it was from my Mac's SuperDrive which was functioning perfectly at this point in time) and finished the installation completely fine. I then used the drivers that were in my Snow Leopard DVD (I have a Snow Leopard DVD from a previous Mac I purchased).
The only difference between then and now is that I am using an external DVD drive.

I converted from a PC to a Mac Mini. I have my PC documents backed up on a DVD disk. I have an external DVD drive connected to the Mac Mini. I want to open them up and save them to the Mac, BUT....when I put the DVD disk in the Mac is NOT reading it!

I converted from a PC to a Mac Mini. I have my PC documents backed up on a DVD disk. I have an external DVD drive connected to the Mac Mini. I want to open these documents up from the DVD storage and save them to the Mac, BUT....when I put the DVD disk in the Mac is NOT reading it!

Hi Joe,
Thanks for your quick response. I should add....it worked before. When I previously inserted the two DVDs into this remote drive, and I went into finder, I could click on the "remote device" line and see all my saved documents (excel, word, etc) on the DVD and open them on the Mac. Now I cannot see them, when I try to open them on the Mac, nothing happens, nothing is displayed. I just re-tested the remote DVD drive with a CD and, no problem, it opened up the CD via iTunes and I cold play the CD. SO......I know the remote DVD drive (it's an LG by the way) is fine, it's something to do with some settings on my mini mac,especially where I could open it previously. I do not remember changing any settings since then.
When I go into system preferences and click on CD/DVD it gives me options of how to open up a music CD (default is iTunes), a DVD (default is iMovie), etc. The problem is my DVD is all miscellaneious files/documents. I just want to be able to see them in the finder. I also tried to open them via microsoft word, from the remote disk and again, it could not open the drive, even though some of the documents were microsoft word documents. Again, I was able to open them previously and the DVD is not corrupted in any way.
Any additional advice?
Thank you!

Installing Windows 7 on Parallels with external DVD Drive

Hi. I have a Mac Mini, and just finished installing Parallels 8. I am now trying to install Windows 7, but they system is not recognizing my external DVD drive. I get a message telling me to install from an image file? Not sure what that means. Help! Thx.

I am doing this after doing a full wipe of my hard drive and reinstalling lion.
Previously, I had lion, and made a partition using disk utility and booted from the disk (this time it was from my Mac's SuperDrive which was functioning perfectly at this point in time) and finished the installation completely fine. I then used the drivers that were in my Snow Leopard DVD (I have a Snow Leopard DVD from a previous Mac I purchased).
The only difference between then and now is that I am using an external DVD drive.

External DVD drive compatible with Windows 8

I am looking to purchase an external DVD drive to use with the U430 laptop which is running Windows 8. Which units does lenovo offer that can run in this OS? Would the 0A33988 work; the specs only list Windows 7. I don't think the DB60 will work in Windows 8.
Thanks
joe

I recently ran into that problem. In order to have the hard drive compatible for both PC and Mac it must be in a FAT32 format. In order to do this though all your files will be deleted (in order to reformat). You can do this by plugging in the hard drive into you mac and going under disk utility and there you will find your hard drive and under erase change the format to FAT32 and then you press erase (all will be deleted off the external drive though)

Install Windows from external dvd drive?

ok.there is my problem.
I have a Mac Pro here.Last week the dvd driver stopped work and I do not have time to fix it now and I need urgently install the windows xp because need to use a specific app for windows.
Is it possible to install windows xp on bootcamp using a external dvd drive (usb).
thank you.

I have the exact same problem - my internal SuperDrive died and I'll be damned if I'm going to pay over $500 to get a new one. It appears to be utterly impossible to install Windows from an external DVD drive. At least it seems to be that way for me and my machine.
I've tried my drive connected with USB and with Firewire. I've tried rEFIt. I've tried booting with the Option/Alt key. My Mac seems unable (or unwilling) to do this.
I've found many many people with the same problem and only a very small handful that seem to eventually get it to work.
I've even tried to use the 30 day trial of VMFusion (which is not a long term solution because it doesn't use/mimic sufficient video drivers to support the games I want to play) to install Windows to the partition and I can't get that to work either. The Windows installer seems to refuse to install an older version of the system when the boot version has already been updated to a new one.
Does anyone out there have a way to reliably install Windows on a BootCamp partition?
Cheers,
Fusilier

Windows on mac via external dvd drive

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