Can powermac g5 boot from USB?

Yes, barely.. Just got back from fighting in Ukraine. AZOV Battalion is tough, but they train you and I had to come back for my son. I still have USA Citizenship, but if things in the USA don't change, may go back 🙂

As for my G5, PowerBook G4, etc.. I am just glad to help around here when I can..

And yes, I also used the command "boot ud:,\\:tbxi and USB works perfectly on the PowerPC Macs. Even the Pismo works this way to boot USB, but slow.

A G5 as mentioned above can boot from a USB drive provided it the following conditions are met.

1. The image is restored properly through Disk Utility to the drive.

2. The USB Drive is set up as Apple Partition Map.

3. The USB drive is USB 2.0 certified, and at least 8GB in size.

I personally use my USB drive to boot a G5 whenever it needs a fresh Leopard install.

Yes, the G5 can boot from USB fine. Hold down Option/Alt and select the USB drive.

https://support.apple.com/kb/TA25908

I've done it myself with my G5. However, for some reason it doesn't appear in the Startup Disk control panel of Leopard.

Hi, I have a dual 2.0 and I'm trying to install Leopard from Tiger 10.4.11, but my optical "doesn't read it." I went to Best Buy and got this LG USB op drive (http://www.bestbuy.com/site/LG+-+8x+External+USB+2.0+Double-Layer+DVD%26%23177%3 BRW/CD-RW+Drive/5584219.p?id=1218666587572&skuId=5584219), but it says it needs 10.5.4 or higher to run it: a catch 22, as I need it to install Leopard, which I need in order to run the drive to install Leopard, ad infinitum.

I tried anyway and I saw the big black X and folder, but when I restarted it to load it, the same thing came up again and again: "restart to load" Now I'm looking for an internal DL optical drive that will read this Leopard disk and even Mac tech people at the store threw their hands up. Really??!! You don't know one single dual layer optical drive upgrade that will work in a G5??!! Bullcrap. That just means Apple doesn't make one, so you don't care. I'm so ******. But I'm trying to install their software!!! And if I can't, then I have to return Leopard! No sale.

Anyway, rant over. Now I want to try what you suggest, except I don't know how to 1 or 2 or check for 3. Can you help PLEASE???! THANK YOU!!

You have the same LG Superdrive I use.. To boot from it, you need to go into open firmware.. Since this is the only USB device connected to your Power Mac.. do a devalias and look for "ud".

Type this: boot ud:,\\:tbxi - Voila! Tiger will boot up.. I have done this just recently and can vouch that it works perfectly..

I have the same LG drive as the OP does.. and I have no problems booting Tiger, Leopard, even Snow Leopard install screen with this drive.. all I do is go into open firmware and type: boot ud:,\\:tbxi and thats it.

Thanks romko23, but I took it back and ordered the firewire one that BDaqua suggested, as I only have one USB port left and no room for cards anyway. I'm also under the impression that firewire 800 is as fast as or even faster than USB (is that true?)

My new problem is the 3TB Barracuda I just bought. It shows up on "about this mac" w/ 2.7 TB (I realize this part is not a problem), but there is no icon for it on the desk top- no way put stuff in it. I don't even know if this means that it still needs to be formatted or not, as it does read it in "about this mac" under "Serial ATA."

I don't know what you mean by "devalias." I just want to get Leopard on there- hopefully straight onto the new HD, so I can just migrate from my two other HDs. My hope is that Digital Performer will run more smoothly and maybe even faster. I do have 6.5GB RAM.

Thats a shame, man! That superdrive is a great little drive for what I use it for and its fast, boots up Tiger and Leopard in no time.. But, alas.. You got the 100.00 OWC external which is nice also.. just bulky. As for the 3TB Barracuda, did you format the drive in Disk Utility as Apple Partition or APM?

Remember, these drives come pre-formatted for PC's, so you need to format it for Mac using PowerPC's APM partition scheme. 2.7TB sounds like the norm as some space is reserved for the operating system, so no problem there. I believe the Apple Partition Map can only accept up to 3TB.. 4TB wouldn't work as you would have to partition it.

devalias also called: device alias - shows what hardware devices are on your logic board.. USB,USB1,USB2, etc.. mean the USB ports.. ud is short for USB DEVICE.. and this is what your would find in order to boot the PowerPC using USB. You also have USB on the OWC External which you ordered.. Try this:

Try to boot from USB when you get it.. Hold down OPT+COMMAND+O+F to get into Open Firmware. Next type "devalias" and search for "ud". Once you find ud with your Leopard or Tiger disk in the drive.. type:

boot ud:,\\:tbxi - This will start to boot from USB.

easy.

No I haven't done that! I can't find the new HD in Disk Utility. When I went into disk utility, all that I saw was my old HD (w/ Tiger) and "network." Choosing network put a spinning globe on the screen that took me two days to figure out how to get back. Does it matter what bay my new HD is in? Maybe I'm looking in the wrong part of disk utility.

Thanks so much for the advice. Some of the guys above seem to think that booting from firewire is better or even the only way. Why is that? Is it faster or more reliable? I don't know how to do it that way either. Would I do it your way, but choose the firewire port in Open Firmware and type something else? Or just load like normal? I upgraded from Panther to Tiger years ago and it seemed so much simpler then, just time consuming...

You know, I'm a total dunce when it comes to formatting. Can I just plug in my new HD solo and format it or do I have to have my old HD w/ Tiger on it too? I'm so afraid of accidentally formatting that and losing the info on it.

I'm also under the impression that firewire 800 is as fast as or even faster than USB (is that true?)

Way faster than USB.

Some of the guys above seem to think that booting from firewire is better or even the only way. Why is that? Is it faster or more reliable?

Again, much faster and as reliable as tomorrow. Firewire boot support is an integral part of PPC firmware.

My new problem is the 3TB Barracuda I just bought.

Seagates can be iffy in a G5. If Disk Utility doesn't see the drive, then you need to install a jumper on it to limit the data rate to SATA 3 Gbps if a SATA 6 Gbps drive or limit to SATA 1.5 Gbps if a SATA 3 Gbps drive.

The G5 controller doesn't always properly autonegotiate, thus the need for the jumper.

Also, to boot to a drive in a PPC machine, the Partition scheme must be APM. Due to a limitation of APM, max drive size supported is 2.2 TB.

If you want all possible, when formatting the drive, partition the drive so that no one partiton is greater than 2.2 TB.

You can also format set the partition scheme to GPT, but the drive won't be bootable; only good for storage.

First, though, open Disk Utility and format the new drive.

do I have to have my old HD w/ Tiger on it too?

Yes, you need a boot source and a source to run Disk Utility from.

Just pay attention to the drive make and name, and give your new Seagate a unique name.

If you can boot from the Install Disc, that'll work for formatting the new drive.

How to format your disks...

http://www.kenstone.net/fcp_homepage/partitioning_tiger.html

Thanks to Pondini, Formatting, Partitioning, Verifying, and Repairing Disks...

http://Pondini.org/OSX/DU.html

What about me? I thought I was helpful too... Just try what I told you to do and you will see that the optical drive will boot up Leopard in no time..

Its not that hard.

Open Firmware - press OPT+COMMAND+O+F

Type devalias and look for "ud"

type: boot ud:,\\:tbxi - this assumes you have ONE USB bootable drive hooked up.

Again, its not that hard.

No way! I'm totally thankful for your posts! It's just that it seems firewire 800 is faster and more reliable, and that's how I'm going to leave it afterwards. Also, I've had this computer for 6 years and never used a firewire device, so I'm kind of excited to see how fast it is. I will be considering your advice and everyone's advice for formatting this HD too (looks like I'll need to make a 2.2TB partition in APM, as that is the max, right? I'll put the OS on the 0.8TB partition, set it for "journaling" and use the other part for media [NOT set for journaling]).

I presume that my MOD is to format the new HD first, then load Leopard onto my old HD, then, load Leopard onto my new HD, so I can use Migration ***. to consolidate them (onto the 0.8TB partition). Then add my current backup (secondary) media HD onto the 2.2TB partition (while leaving it in the second bay as another backup- it's got 260GB, which is still useful).

If the firewire plan fails, I will try your USB solution. Just got my OWC op drive last night and I think I may go down to the studio and try it all tonight. Excited, but a little nervous. I need to be making music again and my Mac is dedicated to that (while my PC at home is for all else).

Right now, I have Digital Performer on a 180GB HD with Tiger, because it must be on the same HD as the OS. The audio files/undos/ancillary files are on a second 260HD. My main concern is that when they are all consolidated to one HD (though on different partitions), DP will still be able to find the current associations to these ancillary files.

I'll let you know how it goes and I'll be back with questions if it goes to **** in hand basket... or an optical basket.

Peace

I do have a question about journaling. Why should I turn it off on the media volume of my HD? Does it take up too much space? I'm concerned that it might be required for DP. Perhaps I should try to see how it is set on my current HD.