how long does it take to boot up a desktop computer running a sata enclosed macbook pro removed harddrive?

Question

how long does it take to boot up a desktop computer running a sata enclosed macbook pro removed harddrive?

I've connected my Sata enclosed 250 gb MacBook pro hard drive that I had removed from my laptop to a school iMac. It's been almost 15 minutes since I selected the Orange hard drive that is mine from the list of available while holding option. Wondering how long to wait for this computer to boot up running my external hard drive before I give up or try again. There were two orange hard drives available when I connected my Sata, one of which was a backup....

iMac, external harddrive

Posted on Apr 19, 2015 2:16 PM

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Answer 1

babowa

Level 9

78,103 points

Apr 19, 2015 2:28 PM in response to kittywhiskers

What OS version is on the external?

And what OS version did the iMac come with?

Macs cannot boot from an OS version older than what they came with, so the iMac may be trying to boot, but is unable to. It shouldn't take more than a couple of minutes.

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Answer 2

Apr 19, 2015 2:35 PM in response to babowa

The external is from 2009, but I upgraded the OS last year so it should be running mavericks. The iMac is on 10.8.5. If it is still stuck loading, should I just unplug? Power off first? Does this risk corrupting the hard drive data?

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Answer 3

babowa

Level 9

78,103 points

Apr 19, 2015 2:51 PM in response to kittywhiskers

Well, as for the OS versions, it should work since the iMac is on ML and the external has Mavericks.

I don't want to tell you that powering off will not corrupt anything as it could, so at this point, it'd be at your own risk. But, if it is not responding at all, there isn't much else you can do. If you power off, let it go for a couple of minutes and then try to boot into the iMac OS (unplug your external, then plug it back in after booting up); then go to System Preferences > Startup Disk > and try the external one more time.

There is one other possibility I just thought of: you said it's a school iMac? Do they allow installs/booting from other sources or do they have them set up so you only have a regular user account (rather than an admin) which means you can't do any administrative stuff?

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