PPC iMac - 10.4.11 Booting from USB Drive

Question

PPC iMac - 10.4.11 Booting from USB Drive

Hi,

I've seen some conflicting info on the net and in this forum. What is the bottom line?

Can I boot from my USB 2.0 drive ( not flash ), or have I just wasted 7 hours doing a full clone to this drive?

Any work arounds, or bottom line do I need a FW drive for bootable backup?

Thanks

Message was edited by: Joshua Nelson2

iMac G5, Mac OS X (10.4.11), 2.5G RAM

Posted on Aug 6, 2010 3:11 PM

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Answer 1

BDAqua

Level 10

250,259 points

Aug 6, 2010 3:35 PM in response to Joshua Nelson2

I've had exactly one of dozens of PPC Macs boot OSX from USB, that's my eMac 1.42 GHz.

Mine that would not...

iMac G3/400
iMac G3/500
iMac G3/600
eMac G4/800
eMac G4/1GHz
G4 DA
G4 AGP
G4 QS2001
G4 Qs2002
MDD 1.25GHz
MDD 1.42 GHz
Mini G4 1.42 GHz
PM G5 Quad 2.5

I've read of maybe one model of iBook & one of PB that would.

I've tried all the hacks to to try to get them to boot OSX off of USB.

Won't hurt you to try though, boot holding the Option key down & try selecting it.

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Answer 2

Aug 6, 2010 4:22 PM in response to BDAqua

Yeah, I think, based on the aggregate of info, I'm going to forgo PRAM, VRAM, Firmware resets et al. Ok, back to the store for a FW Drive, lol.

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Answer 3

Aug 6, 2010 4:25 PM in response to Joshua Nelson2

You can always buy a new case with Firewire, if it's an internal drive; or you can clone it again to one.

Bruce

Is your external drive eSATA? Will a PPC Mac boot from an eSATA bus?

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Answer 4

BDAqua

Level 10

250,259 points

Aug 6, 2010 5:04 PM in response to Bruce Bathurst

Is your external drive eSATA? Will a PPC Mac boot from an eSATA bus?

An iMac G5 could not, unless you hacked into the case & did something like this...

http://blog.macsales.com/6374-owc-offers-first-ever-esata-interface-for-imac

PPC Towers can boot from eSATA if they have a bootable eSATA card, like the Firmtek/Seritek ones.

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Answer 5

Aug 6, 2010 6:18 PM in response to BDAqua

BG,

Hi. So, yes. But, hey: I never leave my home; I didn't know iMacs didn't have expansion ports! That OWL one appears very nice, though I'm unfamiliar with its plug. I asked because eSATA external drives are common. Though not that much faster than Firewire 800, it would prove a substitute: the earliest iMac G5 had optional SATA, so I thought the newer ones might have eSATA ports built in.

Guess Firewire 800 replaces it,

Bruce

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