Norman Howell1

Q: reformat my hard drive to journaled status

need to update my os and must reformat my hard drive to journaled status.  Have backed up hard drive to seagate 2tb usb drive.  need to change startup disk so I can reformat hard drive in computer.  Cannot find any clear, understandable instructions to follow to accomplish task.  Any help is appreciated.

iMac (21.5-inch Late 2009), Mac OS X (10.7.5)

Posted on Aug 12, 2015 8:36 AM

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Q: reformat my hard drive to journaled status

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  • by Norman Howell1,

    Norman Howell1 Norman Howell1 Aug 12, 2015 8:40 AM in response to Norman Howell1
    Level 1 (5 points)
    Aug 12, 2015 8:40 AM in response to Norman Howell1

    seagate usb drive is journaled and encrypted.  All files are there and functional.

  • by Roger Wilmut1,Helpful

    Roger Wilmut1 Roger Wilmut1 Aug 12, 2015 8:42 AM in response to Norman Howell1
    Level 9 (77,913 points)
    iTunes
    Aug 12, 2015 8:42 AM in response to Norman Howell1

    To start from another disk hold the option (alt) key while booting your Mac. You will be shown icons representing the available disks with valid systems. Click the one you want. and hit return. Next time you boot normally you will do so from the usual disk.

  • by Norman Howell1,

    Norman Howell1 Norman Howell1 Aug 12, 2015 8:44 AM in response to Roger Wilmut1
    Level 1 (5 points)
    Aug 12, 2015 8:44 AM in response to Roger Wilmut1

    Thanks, I will give that a try.  Never done this before so am working blind.  You have shed light on my problem;

  • by Norman Howell1,

    Norman Howell1 Norman Howell1 Aug 12, 2015 9:45 AM in response to Norman Howell1
    Level 1 (5 points)
    Aug 12, 2015 9:45 AM in response to Norman Howell1

    Thanks but I am still not getting in.  Apparently when I copied my hard drive to the seagate it did not copy the system files.  The seagate drive does not show as a potential start up drive.  How do I get the seagate to become a startup drive?  Do I need to coy OSX Lion onto it and can I do that?  This is the only mac I have so have downloaded it only onto one computer.  I am lost.  Seems apple would give some straightforward instructions as to how to update your drive to a journaled format so I could update my OS.  bummer.

  • by Allan Eckert,

    Allan Eckert Allan Eckert Aug 12, 2015 9:50 AM in response to Norman Howell1
    Level 9 (53,457 points)
    Desktops
    Aug 12, 2015 9:50 AM in response to Norman Howell1

    How did you copy to the Seagate drive?

     

    If you did a drag and drop then all of the invisible files were not copied.

     

    The only way to get everything is to have used cloning software to do the copy.

     

    The directions are at Make a bootable clone of your boot drive

  • by Norman Howell1,

    Norman Howell1 Norman Howell1 Aug 12, 2015 9:51 AM in response to Allan Eckert
    Level 1 (5 points)
    Aug 12, 2015 9:51 AM in response to Allan Eckert

    I used disk utility to do the copying.  Took about 5-6 hours to make the copy.

  • by Norman Howell1,

    Norman Howell1 Norman Howell1 Aug 12, 2015 10:21 AM in response to Norman Howell1
    Level 1 (5 points)
    Aug 12, 2015 10:21 AM in response to Norman Howell1

    Thanks but I am still not getting in.  Apparently when I copied my hard drive to the seagate it did not copy the system files.  The seagate drive does not show as a potential start up drive.  How do I get the seagate to become a startup drive?  Do I need to coy OSX Lion onto it and can I do that?  This is the only mac I have so have downloaded it only onto one computer.  I am lost.  Seems apple would give some straightforward instructions as to how to update your drive to a journaled format so I could update my OS.  bummer.

  • by BobHarris,Helpful

    BobHarris BobHarris Aug 12, 2015 12:57 PM in response to Norman Howell1
    Level 6 (19,272 points)
    Mac OS X
    Aug 12, 2015 12:57 PM in response to Norman Howell1

    Easy solution.  Get a copy of SuperDuper (free for full clone)

     

    It can create a bootable clone of your current boot disk onto an external disk.

     

    Next level of difficulty.

     

    Applications -> Utilities -> Disk Utility

    Select the external disk

    Partition -> Options -> GUID partition type

    Create a partition with Mac OS X Extended (Journaled)

     

    Disk Utility -> Restore

    Select your current boot disk as "Source"

    Select your external disk as the "Destination"

    Click "Restore" button

    This will copy the boot disk to the external disk.

     

    With either utility DO NOT get confused about which device is source and which is destination.