HD issues. Can I boot from external?

Question

HD issues. Can I boot from external?

Hey guys. I'm still trying to hang on to my powerbook g4 running 10.5.8. The past few days it has been making a funny noise randomly and freezing up (my guess is HD). I have recently preformed a time machine backup on my external HD. The main thing I'm concerned about losing is my 35 GB iphoto library. Not sure if I'll buy another mac or a PC. I'd like to be able to burn my photo library onto dvd's ( I bought an external dvd burner). So my question is, can I boot from my external if its partitioned (itunes, backups, and I have an empty one) so I can attempt to burn these DVD's before the whole thing dies and 5 years of memories are erased? Will this keep it running long enough for me to do online backups as well? Thanks!

PowerBook, Mac OS X (10.5.8), 1.5 GHz PowerPC G4

Posted on Jan 2, 2014 7:33 AM

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Answer 1

Jan 2, 2014 8:22 AM in response to powerbookluvr2010

You can boot from an external drive, but Time Machine backups are not bootable. If you want to create a bootable "clone," get the free version of a program like Carbon Copy Cloner or Super Duper, and use that. Hopefully, your boot volume will last long enough for one more copy.

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Answer 2

Jan 2, 2014 8:35 AM in response to Curt Wiederhoeft

Thanks Curt-I'm not sure I undersand. What do you mean time machine is not bootable? And when I download ccc do I put it on the external along with the OSX from my disk? Do I need a firewire or will usb transfer be fine?

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Answer 3

Jan 2, 2014 8:57 AM in response to powerbookluvr2010

Time Machine is indended to be an archive to revert to earlier versions of files and folders. It doesn't provide an alternate way to boot your Mac. If you open the "Startup Disk" in your System Preferences, you'll see that you can't switch over to that volume as a startup disk.

If that empty partition on your external drive is formatted correctly, as Mac OS Extended+Journaled, it can be used as a home for a "rescue" startup disk that can be created by CCC or Super Duper (which can be run from the startup disk or any volume that's NOT the destination volume).

And technically, it should be Firewire. USB booting isn't officially supported, but I've seen it done on the "Aluminum" models (definite no-go on Titanium). It's extremely slow when it does work.

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Answer 4

Jan 2, 2014 9:21 AM in response to Curt Wiederhoeft

Ok, thank you- I'll locate a firewire asap. I am new to this whole thing so sorry for my ignorance. So I download CCC to my internal HD Do you have a link to the FREE version?), Let it duplicate all the stuff on my computer, then copy it to the properly partitioned portion of my external? How do I then get my computer to boot up using that external? Do I still need to install OS from my disk or will that be transferred over during the CCC copy? Sorry, I'm trying to be very careful, I know my time is limited before i lose everything! Thanks a BUNCH!

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Answer 5

Jan 2, 2014 9:20 AM in response to powerbookluvr2010

There are two ways to get it to boot to the external: the first is the "Startup Disk" System Preference file I mentioned. All valid, connected boot volumes will appear there. You just click on the one you like, and restart. The second way is to hold down the Option key at startup, right after the chime. Agasin, the valid boot volumes will appear there. But your trackpad won't work yet, so you have to use arrow keys to select the drive, and the Enter/Return key as an "OK.

The advantage of the first method is that it is "persistent" as long as you kerep that externnal drive connected. Set it once, and every subsequent boot will occur from thaty drive until you unplug it, or set it back to the internal ibn the preference. The second method has top be done at every startup.

And if you haven't done it before, the iDisk Utrility app in your Utilities folder is the tool to use to properly format your destination volume.

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Answer 6

Jan 2, 2014 9:24 AM in response to powerbookluvr2010

oh,tyhe free versionsof both are easily available fro ther developers. Can't look right this minute.

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Answer 7

Jan 2, 2014 10:30 AM in response to Curt Wiederhoeft

OK, I got some free time, and access to a real computer (my typing from Android screen was pretty atrocious). Here are the download links straight from the developers, so there's no risk of crapware being added.

Carbon Copy Cloner: http://www.bombich.com
Super Duper!: http://www.shirt-pocket.com/SuperDuper/SuperDuperDescription.html

And to follow up on your other question, both of these programs will copy the OS and set the flags needed to make it a legal boot volume. You do not need to run or copy anything else. If your rescue drive is *smaller* than your internal HD, you may have to exclude some items--make sure it's just Apps and files, not anything from the System.

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Answer 8

Jan 2, 2014 12:35 PM in response to Curt Wiederhoeft

Thank you so much!!!! I picked up a firewire at lunch and when I get home, I'll give it a whirl. You're a lifesaver. Ill post in a few days and tell you my result! 🙂

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Answer 9

Jan 14, 2014 5:23 AM in response to Curt Wiederhoeft

Well, It took awhile to get a firewire that would work with my external (had to order it from the manufacturer). Finally got it yesterday, downloaded ccc and started. It gave an error message when trying to copy my iphoto folder, then when I came to check on it again, the screen was black and it won't boot 😟 Lucially I have many successful backups on time machine so I should be able to use migration assistant to get them off of there. I was going to try to put them on my sisters laptop, but it dosen't have enough free space! I was gonna wipe the drive and just reinstall Leopard, but her optical drive is shot, and my external drive won't let me boot from the startup dvd.

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