-
All replies
-
Helpful answers
-
Feb 19, 2016 7:26 AM in response to 4scahillby den.thed,Yes, but the external drive (USB or FireWire) must be Partitioned "GUID Partition Map" and Formatted "OS X Extended" before your iMac can startup from it.
Partitioning "GUID" and Formatting "OS X" will erase all of the data stored on the drive. So if your WD Passport already has backups or data stored on it, you will want to use another empty drive.
To set up an external drive or thumb drive, see > Starting from an external USB storage device (Intel-based Macs) - Apple Support
Additionally because it sounds like you have a 2010 OS X 10.6 or earlier iMac. Another option is to startup from the OS X install disc that originally came with that iMac, navigate to Utilities and use Disk Utility to setup a new bootable external drive or thumb drive.
-
Feb 19, 2016 7:59 AM in response to den.thedby 4scahill,Thank you I did partition and install the Snow leopard Os 10.6.8 onto the Passport. I also have a thumb drive which has been partitioned accordingly. When I try to boot up (with and without ) the original disk, as soon as I get to the apple logo It dumps the grey screen for kernel panic. I was able to get into verbose mode, But I know little about GRUB. Willing to learn tho Pretty sure the internal HD has failed.....
-
Feb 19, 2016 8:23 AM in response to 4scahillby den.thed,If it does not startup into Startup Manage holding the Option key (preferably using a USB keyboard), then it may have a more serious hardware problem than a failed HD. see > How to choose a startup disk on your Mac - Apple Support
Will it start in Safe Mode...? see > Try safe mode if your Mac doesn't finish starting up - Apple Support
What does the Apple Hardware Test say...? see > Using Apple Hardware Test - Apple Support
-
Feb 19, 2016 8:57 AM in response to den.thedby 4scahill,Trying safe mode now... first time I have heard the hd in days...... oh noooooooo.............. grey restart your computer screen of death................