I just installed a new SATA disk in my Mac Pro and want it to boot off of it for a faster boot time. I have my main hdd as well. Can one be used on boot and one while the computer is running? im running 10.6.8 BTW.
Mac Pro, Mac OS X (10.6.8), 10GB Ram, 500GB HDD, 8800GTS+7300GT
Specify the new Startup Disk in:
System Preferences > Startup Disk
You can keep both drives in the machine, and boot the the other one when you please. To boot from a different drive quickly (but temporarily) hold down the Option key as you start up.
Many Mac Pro owners find a tangible speedup by establishing a lean, mean, Boot Drive, with only System, Library, Applications, and the hidden unix files including Paging/swap. Users are moved off to a second drive, and disk access to System files and User files speeds up a great deal.
This also makes system upgrades easier, because your files stay put and only the Boot drive get modified.
Japamac's blog: Make room for performance -- Moving the Home folder
I did not make the connection to your other query until now.
Part of whether a drive will boot depends on the source of the Mac OS X image on it.
If the image on it was the one that shipped with a different model Mac, even if fully updated, it will not boot a different model Mac (because the drivers for every Mac were never installed).
If the image on it was created with a "Full Retail" DVD or a "Full Retail" download, it will boot any appropriate Mac model, because those versions contain drivers for every appropriate Mac.
How to boot off of a disc?
