Anyone else unable to boot off External Hard Drive?

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Level 1

19 points

Anyone else unable to boot off External Hard Drive?

Two years ago I installed Leopard on a pair of striped Fantom Hard Drives (3TBs) via Firewire 800, and have been running my 2007 Macbook Pro off it ever since. When Snow Leopard came out, I updated it with no problems. When Lion came out, again no problems.

Last month I bought a CalDigit VR2 with dual hard drives (4TBs) specifically built for running OS externally. But no matter how I configure, install, or connect... it will not boot up my Macbook Pro, or my Macbook Air.

Last week I bought a new Fantom external hard drive (1.5TBs) and discovered the same exact issue, with one exception... the Fantom will boot the Macbook Pro via USB 2.0, but only when plugged into the left side port.

Has anyone else noticed this change?

P.S. I've talked to the people at CalDigit, Fantom, and Apple, and no one seems to have an answer.

MacBook Pro, Mac OS X (10.6.7)

Posted on May 4, 2012 3:40 PM

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Answer 1

ds store

Level 7

30,725 points

May 4, 2012 4:22 PM in response to lippyloggy

Did you try installing on a single spindle then Carbon Copy Cloning that to the RAID 0 pair on the external?

Since Snow we haven't been able to directly install OS X onto RAID 0 setups, we had to clone, don't know how that's going to work with Lion, since you've upgraded it on a pair alreaddy likely means it still works.

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Answer 2

lippyloggy Author

Level 1

19 points

May 4, 2012 4:31 PM in response to ds store

Yes, I used Carbon Copy Cloner with the operating system on MacBook Pro's internal drive as the "Source" and the the single Fantom external drive, as well as the CalDigit dual Raid 0 external drive, as the "Destination".

CalDigit still wouldn't boot. Fantom drive still only booted via USB 2.0, and only off the left USB port.

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Answer 3

ds store

Level 7

30,725 points

May 4, 2012 4:58 PM in response to lippyloggy

Powered drive, not port powered?

Mac''s have been cutting them off if they drain too much.

I have no problem booting off cloned drives, 10.6.8.

I haven't heard of any screaming death threats concering Lion not booting off a clone, so I assume all is well there.

I can only think it's something wrong with the ports, since you've used it like that for quite some time, perhaps they are worn out?

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Answer 4

lippyloggy Author

Level 1

19 points

May 4, 2012 5:02 PM in response to ds store

Both the Fantom and CalDigit have their own power source.

Interesting thought that the ports might be worn out from overuse. But my Macbook Pro is still running off the original set of striped Fantom drives. So the port still works. Just not with a newly "blessed" drive.

I never use the Firewire 400 port and that doesn't work either.

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