Smphoto74
Level 1 (5 points)

Q: 2012 27" iMac(late) won't boot to Thunderbolt Drive

Got a new 2012 27" iMac and I can't get it to boot to my Thunderbolt Drive.  I can use my 2011 iMac and 2011 MBP and it boots to the Thunderbolt Drive just fine.   Thunderbolt drive is a Little Big Disk SSD drive.

 

After start up I get a chime, white screen then a cycle with a line through it then about 30 seconds later the iMac turns off.  Any Ideas?

Posted on Dec 21, 2012 1:53 PM

by varjak paw,Solvedanswer
varjak paw varjak paw
Level 10 (169,883 points)
A:

Boot your iMac from the Recovery Partition by restarting and holding down the Option key. You can then install that version of OS X on the external drive as normal and it should then work. Your iMac will need to have a working Internet connection for the installation.

 

Regards.

Posted on Dec 21, 2012 2:25 PM

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Smphoto74

Q: 2012 27" iMac(late) won't boot to Thunderbolt Drive

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  • Helpful answers

  • by varjak paw,Helpful

    varjak paw varjak paw Dec 21, 2012 2:01 PM in response to Smphoto74
    Level 10 (169,883 points)
    Dec 21, 2012 2:01 PM in response to Smphoto74

    Did you install the version of OS X that came with your 2012 iMac on the exernal drive via the Recovery Partition on the iMac, or clone the iMac's hard drive via a tool like Carbon Copy Cloner? The late 2012 iMacs have a special build of 10.8 and won't boot from the version currently available from the App Store or on any earlier-model Mac.

     

    Regards.

  • by Smphoto74,

    Smphoto74 Smphoto74 Dec 21, 2012 2:09 PM in response to varjak paw
    Level 1 (5 points)
    Dec 21, 2012 2:09 PM in response to varjak paw

    No I did not. :/  How do I get one now?  lol  I have tons of backups on different drives but had no idea about the 2012 iMacs having a speical version of the OS. 

  • by varjak paw,Solvedanswer

    varjak paw varjak paw Dec 21, 2012 2:25 PM in response to Smphoto74
    Level 10 (169,883 points)
    Dec 21, 2012 2:25 PM in response to Smphoto74

    Boot your iMac from the Recovery Partition by restarting and holding down the Option key. You can then install that version of OS X on the external drive as normal and it should then work. Your iMac will need to have a working Internet connection for the installation.

     

    Regards.

  • by Smphoto74,

    Smphoto74 Smphoto74 Dec 21, 2012 2:34 PM in response to varjak paw
    Level 1 (5 points)
    Dec 21, 2012 2:34 PM in response to varjak paw

    That's what I was afraid of...8 hours and 22 minutes. lol 

     

    Thanks. 

  • by varjak paw,

    varjak paw varjak paw Dec 21, 2012 2:58 PM in response to Smphoto74
    Level 10 (169,883 points)
    Dec 21, 2012 2:58 PM in response to Smphoto74

    Cloning your iMac's hard drive to the Thunderbolt drive would certainly be faster.

     

    Regards.

  • by Smphoto74,

    Smphoto74 Smphoto74 Dec 21, 2012 3:05 PM in response to varjak paw
    Level 1 (5 points)
    Dec 21, 2012 3:05 PM in response to varjak paw

    Yeah, I've been running off of external SSD's(OS and apps) on my iMacs for a year now.  330mbps write and 490mbps read.  Can't complain about those speeds.  Just a shame it's not so plug and play with the new iMacs.  I used the Pegasus R4 for all my pics, videos so the SSD stays pretty free. 

  • by babowa,

    babowa babowa Dec 21, 2012 3:30 PM in response to Smphoto74
    Level 7 (32,049 points)
    iPad
    Dec 21, 2012 3:30 PM in response to Smphoto74

    Just an additional note for future reference: in general, Macs have never been able to boot from a system older than what they came with with a few exceptions: machines that were made right around the time a new OS is released would mostly still be able to boot into the previous OS even though they may come loaded with the new version. In this particular case, you are also adding a different build = special OS build version, which complicates things further.

     

    Check for updates on this article - it doesn't even have the new iMacs yet:

     

    http://support.apple.com/kb/HT1633#

     

    Checking further, this article includes the new 21.5":

     

    http://support.apple.com/kb/HT1159