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Any way to boot an existing installation of 10.5.8 Leopard from USB or FW ?

Hi there,


I am having a problem - I have upgraded my trusty old A1211 Macbook Pro with a new drive.
Everything is working superb, a fresh installation of Lion is installed on my new drive - already installed inside my macbook.


The thing is I have removed my old drive (used for years with software, settings, libraries and whatnot) and installed it inside a USB case.


The disk is detected correctly works great BUT it will not allow me to boot from USB into my old installation of OSX 10.5.8 Leopard that is still UNTOUCHED on my old external drive.


It will boot ok as 10.5.8 when installed inside my macbook but it will NOT allow me to boot into 10.5.8 when it is inside my USB enclosure.


I have tried installing it inside my FIREWIRE enclosure and it still will NOT boot into 10.5.8.


From what I have read - 10.5.8 does not have a file that would allow it to boot from either USB or FIREWIRE - is that the case ?


The drive is correctly detected, it is accessible I can access the files copy / delete / move them - but it REFUSES to boot into my old system ...


I tried partitioning my new drive - I created a partition the size of my old drive and intended to use CARBON COPY CLONER to clone my old HDD with 10.5.8 and make it a secondary partition on my new drive - I wanted to clone the data from my old drive into the new one - and be able to boot my machine INTO my 10.5.8 OS X installation (leaving my Lion partition intact and ready to be used when needed).


After selecting my SOURCE partition (old HDD with 10.5.8) and selecting my DESTINATION partition - CCC displays a message saying "warning, the resulting partition will not be bootable - the source drive is missing a mach_kernel file)


Any ideas how I could boot into my old 10.5.8 system - without removing and installing the disk as a primary internal drive ?


I am trying to boot using the Option key.
I tried using System Prefs --> Startup disk tool - but it doesn't even appear as an option in there (the disk is plugged in and detected in the system - it does not appear however in the list of startup disks to select from.


Before you ask - WHY would You want to boot into an ancient copy of OS X ?


The disk holds my fathers entire system, settings, old garage band files, old Adobe CS4 installation, files, everything. As it is a real mess - I wanted to skip doing a full migration off the old System, and wanted to have a Clean OSX install on his new primary drive - and retain the option for him to boot into his old OS - as he goes and when he needs it.
I can migrate all this stuff manually into Lion, and - I COULD use the migration assistant.


At this point however I intend to suspend logical reasoning and will dedicate my efforts to boot into this pathetic 10.5.8 installation - even if it is the last thing I do.


I have a second macbook pro (same generation higher model - A1260) - with almost the exact same setup - the difference being the "old drive" in that scenario holds a 10.6.8 Snow Leopard installation - not a 10.5.8 Leopard one - and this one boots off both USB or Firewire enclosures - LIKE A CHARM.


I managed to make a complete Clone of the old 10.5.8 partition (using Carbon Copy Cloner) INTO my new drive - and as I suspected - holding option on startup - it sees the clone copy on the second partition - but after selecting it and hitting enter it displays a crossed circle logo for half a second - and then ignores my command and proceeds to boot into Lion installation on the first partition. Had I upgraded the 10.5.8 to 10.6.8 before I had my hard drives switched - It would work a-ok.


What infuriates me is that If I ripped open the macbook - and installed my old drive in place of the new one - It WILL boot into 10.5.8 without a hitch.


But if I tell it to boot into 10.5.8 off a USB / FW enclosure - it defaults to the drive installed INSIDE the MB.


Why ?

Posted on Feb 26, 2015 5:04 PM

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12 replies

Feb 26, 2015 5:36 PM in response to neur0n23

From what I have read - 10.5.8 does not have a file that would allow it to boot from either USB or FIREWIRE - is that the case ?

Hmmm, I've not read or ever heard of that & I can boot any version of OSX from external USB or FW drives, but have never dealt with a Laptop installation, yet the "warning, the resulting partition will not be bootable - the source drive is missing a mach_kernel file", may be the reason.


Long shot, but with some chipsets in external drives I get the no entry symbol until I boot from the Restore Partition, use DU to Repair the whole drive, then repair each Partition, & after the last "Rebuilding Boot Caches" in red, it will boot from those drives.

Feb 26, 2015 11:20 PM in response to BDAqua

To clarify - let's not mix the two scenarios (two Macbook Pros - the other one running also 10.7.4 Lion in my internal drive but booting nicely into 10.6.8 on my OTHER drive - without any problems whenever I want).


For the purpose of my problem I need help with - let's assume:


Inside My Intel macbook A1211 - I have a 750GB drive, partitioned:

- 1st partition - 420 GB osx extended running OSX Lion 10.7.4 (boots nicely without problems)

- Second partition - 330 GB - cloned from my old drive as a Source - running 10.5.8 Leopard - created using Carbon Copy Cloner (refuses to boot)


When I boot with option key pressed - I see Lion partition, recovery partition from Lion, second partition running OS X 10.5.8 - but when I select 10.5.8 it displays a crossed circle for half a second and proceeds to boot intio Lion.

When I leave the bootup as is - it boot straight into Lion - no problems.


On my USB / FW Enclosure I have:


- 320 GB original HDD with my old system - 10.5.8 Leopard (one partition)


When I plug it into USB/FW and boot using option key - I see all partitions inside My Macbook:

(1st partition, recovery partition, second partition with 10.5.8 AND my original 320 GB partition from external USB/FW - but neither 10.5.8 partition is bootable.


Any ideas ?

Aug 24, 2016 11:31 PM in response to neur0n23

hi mate,


just wondering if you found a way. i have an old 10.5.8 mac whose memory i'm trying to erase, but of course disk utility won't let me erase the running drive. the only way to do it is to create a bootable back-up and choose that back-up as the start-up disk and then erase the main drive. super duper makes the back-up but the back-up is not recognised as a bootable drive. your mentioning 10.5.8 not booting from an external firewire or USB is the first bit of clarity i've managed to find.

Aug 24, 2016 11:54 PM in response to grantfrombalmain

If you have a Mac OS X installation disc, you can set the Start Up disk in System Preferences to use that installation disc in the optical drive. Then restart. When you get to the Installer main screen, run Disk Utility from the menu bar; then erase the internal hard drive. After erasing, if your goal is to install a fresh system, quit Disk Utility and run Installer.


FYI - If the old Mac is a PowerPC Mac, it can start up from an external FireWire drive, but (usually) not USB. If the old Mac is an Intel-based Mac, it can start up from most USB or FireWire drives.

Aug 25, 2016 12:03 AM in response to Kenichi Watanabe

hi kenichi,


thanks for your reply. i threw out the start-up disk about a month ago because i haven't used the old powerbook G4 in years. i want to erase it because i'm going to recycle it at an e-waste collection.


it's strange - super duper does the back-up to lacie via FW800. the drive shows up on the desktop, but doesn't show up as an option under system preferences > start up disk.

Aug 25, 2016 12:25 AM in response to grantfrombalmain

You can try using Carbon Copy Cloner instead. The developer makes the last Tiger/Leopard version (3.4.7) available at no cost (unsupported). See the bottom of this web page


https://bombich.com/download


ALSO, since this is a PowerPC Mac, the external drive needs to be initialized using Apple Partition Map as the Partition Map Scheme, if you need to use as a startup disk. PowerPC Macs can read/write drives initialized with GUID Partition Table (the default partition scheme used on Intel Macs), but they cannot start up from such drives.


To check, run Disk Utility and select the drive in the sidebar; at the bottom of the Disk Utility window, read what it says for Partition Map Scheme. If it does not says Apple Partition Map, you'll need to erase it using the PowerBook, and then clone to it again.
NOTE: Select the DRIVE in the Disk Utility sidebar, NOT the volume indented below the drive. Erasing the volume does not change the Partition Map Scheme. Using the PowerBook to erase the drive should use as the Apple Partition Map partition scheme by default. You can confirm after erasing completes.

Aug 25, 2016 1:17 AM in response to grantfrombalmain

When you get to erasing the PowerBook's internal drive, you should use the Security Options button (on Disk Utility's Erase tab), to do a Zero Out Data erase. This writes zeros over the entire drive (so it takes a lot longer), but it makes your existing data unrecoverable.

i want to erase it because i'm going to recycle it at an e-waste collection.

That seems like a shame, if it's still working and is one of the later G4 models that can run Leopard... Maybe you can get something for it on eBay. 🙂

Aug 25, 2016 1:22 AM in response to Kenichi Watanabe

i hadn't even thought about trying to sell it - presumed everyone had moved on. sadly though, it has problems with the LCD screen. at times the bottom quarter of the screen is a white band. the picture occasionally breaks through, but it's pretty much stuffed. but that's ok - happy to at least recycle it rather than toss it.


thanks again for your help and knowledge.

Any way to boot an existing installation of 10.5.8 Leopard from USB or FW ?

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