Nice Cat

Q: Mac OS X on Pendrive as External Bootable Operating System Drive?

Hi All,

 

I am wonder if I can buy pendrive and install operating system on it

and boot to it whenever I need to?

 

 

I did search internet, but all posts are about how to put mac OS X installation disk or image on pendrive.

I don't want copy OS X installation disk on pendrive, that is different thing.

I want to be able to use it as system drive , install application in there and work on some projects.

 

(I have OS X 10.6.8, but I need to do/test things on newer version of mac OS X 10.7+)

 

 

Any recommendations for good bootable pendrive?

Any for methods how to do this?

Mac Pro, Mac OS X (10.6.8), Early 2009, 4.1, CPU:2x2.26

Posted on Jul 30, 2016 4:26 AM

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Q: Mac OS X on Pendrive as External Bootable Operating System Drive?

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  • Helpful answers

  • by BobHarris,

    BobHarris BobHarris Jul 30, 2016 5:07 AM in response to Nice Cat
    Level 6 (19,420 points)
    Mac OS X
    Jul 30, 2016 5:07 AM in response to Nice Cat

    Yes, you can do that.

     

    Format the flash drive as Mac OS Extended (Journaled) also known as HFS+

     

    Then point the installer at the flash drive.

     

    NOTE: your Mac will boot and run very slowly from the flash drive, but it will boot.

  • by Nice Cat,

    Nice Cat Nice Cat Jul 31, 2016 10:07 AM in response to BobHarris
    Level 1 (4 points)
    Mac OS X
    Jul 31, 2016 10:07 AM in response to BobHarris

    Thank you BobHarris!

    So it can be done, but for more pro application there will be issue with time or freezing..

    In my mac pro I have only USB2.0 (no adapters to 3.0) so that would be another bottleneck I guess..

    If I want to do something in Logic Pro X or Unity 3D v5 it might be to challenging for it..

     

    What about pocket size external hard drive then?

    I found one here:

    https://www.amazon.co.uk/Sonnics-External-transfer-Windows-Android/dp/B01GQFWCHG /

     

    Would it perform similarly to Mac Pro 2009 stock drive and be able to run pro apps?

     

     

     

     

     

    (I have plans for proper hardware update after September...

    for now I need something cheap but working how it should.)

  • by macjack,

    macjack macjack Jul 31, 2016 10:11 AM in response to Nice Cat
    Level 9 (55,694 points)
    Mac OS X
    Jul 31, 2016 10:11 AM in response to Nice Cat

    .

  • by BobHarris,Solvedanswer

    BobHarris BobHarris Jul 31, 2016 3:40 PM in response to Nice Cat
    Level 6 (19,420 points)
    Mac OS X
    Jul 31, 2016 3:40 PM in response to Nice Cat

    I don't know about freezing, but USB Flash Drives are generally not all that fast.  I've created several USB Flash Drive bootable OS X system (mostly for emergencies), and they work, but it just takes a long time to boot, and they are sluggish read/writing data to/from the Flash Drive.

     

    I've also do the same thing with a SD Card for my 2011 Macbook Pro, which has an SD Card slot, and I get similar slow performance.

     

    A USB 2 external hard disk, or slightly better, a Firewire 400 or 800 external hard disk would be faster, but not nearly as fast as the internal SATA attached disk.  The USB2 or Firewire attached hard disk will still boot slower than the internal (but not nearly as slow as a Flash Drive), and a USB2 or Firewire attached hard disk will read/write slower than the internal disk.

     

    If you need different OS X versions installed, then you would be better off partitioning your internal hard disk and installing Lion 10.7 (or a newer OS X version) on another partition, and making your Mac a dual-boot system.

     

    If you are just doing this because your current internal hard disk is too small for your needs, then it would be better to just replace it with a larger internal disk, and partition it so you can install more than 1 OS X release.

     

    If you really want to increase your performance, then replace the internal hard disk with an SSD, and your system will feel new again.

     

    If you do not use your DVD drive, you can even get a DVD to internal disk converter, such as OWC's Data Doubler <http://MacSales.com> and keep your own internal disk. plus have an SSD.  Put your primary OS X release on the SSD, and the less needed OS X release on the original hard disk, and again have a dual boot system.

     

    However, to get some experience with dual booting, you can go ahead and install OS X on an external disk and play with it to see how you like it.  If you think you can live with it as is, stop there.  If it is moving in the right direction, but it is too slow, then start looking at a partitioning your internal disk, or getting a larger internal disk.  If you want that extra performance, start looking at an SSD replacement for the hard disk or an SSD replacement for your DVD drive.

     

    That is my suggestion.  NOTE: I've used the OWC SSD Data Doubler in my 2009 27" iMac at work, and I replaced my 2011 Macbook Pro hard disk with an SSD, and kept my DVD.  The SSD in both cases gave my systems lots of new life.

  • by Nice Cat,

    Nice Cat Nice Cat Aug 1, 2016 1:00 AM in response to BobHarris
    Level 1 (4 points)
    Mac OS X
    Aug 1, 2016 1:00 AM in response to BobHarris

    Thank you very much for your help BobHarris