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External HD?

tobio

tobio

macrumors regular
Original poster
Sep 5, 2004
146
0
London
I just read through the instructions and am looking forward to trying this out, unfortunately I am away at my parents all weekend so I will have to wait until next week. :(

However one thing struck me while reading about all the partitioning business.

Couldn't you make your life a lot simpler and install either Windows or OSX (or both) onto external Firewire or USB hard disks?

[Just noticed that someone else raised this point before me, I missed it on my first sweep through the forums]
 
Mitthrawnuruodo

Mitthrawnuruodo

Moderator emeritus
Mar 10, 2004
14,451
1,100
Bergen, Norway
There has been some other threads mentioning that Windows will not boot from a Firewire disk. And very few Macs (non of the current ones, AFAIK) will boot from USB. So the answer must be: Probably not... :)
 
c-Row

c-Row

macrumors 65816
Jan 10, 2006
1,193
1
Germany
tobio said:
Couldn't you make your life a lot simpler and install either Windows or OSX (or both) onto external Firewire or USB hard disks?
Click to expand...

Apparently FireWire isn't supported by the Windows install routine. USB however might be completely different. The issue has been brought up within several other threads, maybe you want to check those as well.


[edit] Ah, mere seconds too late... :D
 
tobio

tobio

macrumors regular
Original poster
Sep 5, 2004
146
0
London
I had no idea that intel macs didn't boot from firewire anymore (ignoring windows for a second)

My powerbook is perfectly happy to do so, and I always saw it as a really good way to test out things exactly like this. I haven't had my mini long enough to try it, but its a real shame if that function is gone.
 
balamw

balamw

Moderator emeritus
Aug 16, 2005
19,366
979
New England
Liquidity X said:
thats Fire Wire, i'm think USB2 will have a greater chance of working, and am looking for a thread on that.
Click to expand...
In that thread I mentioned that USB booting support in Windows is usually a function of the BIOS not the OS, so it would have to be implemented in EFI.

These macs purprotedly won't even boot OS X from USB, so the chances are slim, unless narf and blanka introduce specific USB support into their solution.

B
 
Mitthrawnuruodo

Mitthrawnuruodo

Moderator emeritus
Mar 10, 2004
14,451
1,100
Bergen, Norway
Liquidity X said:
thats Fire Wire, i'm think USB2 will have a greater chance of working, and am looking for a thread on that.
Click to expand...
Not likely since most current Macs won't boot from USB disks at all (as I said earlier in the thread)... :rolleyes:
 
M

mainsolutions

macrumors newbie
Mar 17, 2006
1
0
Intel Macs EFI support USB booting

According to Apple Reps at MacWorld, the new Intel Macs support Firewire booting and USB booting through EFI, though I've yet to see someone test it.
 
Mitthrawnuruodo

Mitthrawnuruodo

Moderator emeritus
Mar 10, 2004
14,451
1,100
Bergen, Norway
mainsolutions said:
According to Apple Reps at MacWorld, the new Intel Macs support Firewire booting and USB booting through EFI, though I've yet to see someone test it.
Click to expand...
That would be great... anybody out there with a new Intel Mac and a USB2 disk that would care to try...?

I could boot my Pismo from a USB disk, but not my iBook. It would be great if that was an option again... :)
 
LimeiBook86

LimeiBook86

macrumors G3
May 4, 2002
8,001
45
Go Vegan
Mitthrawnuruodo said:
That would be great... anybody out there with a new Intel Mac and a USB2 disk that would care to try...?

I could boot my Pismo from a USB disk, but not my iBook. It would be great if that was an option again... :)
Click to expand...
Yeah I have an intel iMac and a USB to IDE adapter. But, I'd have to install Mac OS X with the discs that came with my iMac to the HD, I don't have enough space on the HD to do so. But, I'll look around to see if I can find a hard drive big enough to install Mac OS X on it, I can probably take out the extra languages etc but, we'll see what happens.

...Now it's off to find a hard drive :D
 
balamw

balamw

Moderator emeritus
Aug 16, 2005
19,366
979
New England
JoeTheZombie said:
Edit: Apparently, someone has figured a way around this problem:http://www.ngine.de/index.jsp?pageid=4176
Click to expand...
Wow, that's wild since it essentially only involves minor edits to some text files and no new binaries. Makes you wonder why Microsoft doesn't just make similar edits.

The ability to boot a full Windows OS off of USB 2.0 or FireWire would be a great boon to system administrators and other troubleshooters.

B
 
Mitthrawnuruodo

Mitthrawnuruodo

Moderator emeritus
Mar 10, 2004
14,451
1,100
Bergen, Norway
BlueRevolution said:
you say "most", what are the exceptions?
Click to expand...
I'm just covering my back with that "most"... ;)

I've not seen a Mac boot from USB since my Pismo, and that's hardly current anymore, right...? But I've not tried all models (naturally) so I'm just relying on what I've heard (i.e. read) about USB booting here and elsewhere online... :)
 
kalisphoenix

kalisphoenix

macrumors 65816
Jul 26, 2005
1,231
1
Mitthrawnuruodo said:
Not likely since most current Macs won't boot from USB disks at all (as I said earlier in the thread)... :rolleyes:
Click to expand...

All Intel iMacs can boot from USB. I know this because I've done it a few times. I assume that the MBPs and Mac minis can boot from USB as well.
 
I

iEdd

macrumors 68000
Aug 8, 2005
1,956
4
Okay, so I have a 160gb drive in my intellimac and I have a FW400 only external 200GB, which I wanted an exact mac system backup on and 40GB for windows. Is there no hope for me?
Unless a USB->FW adaptor could work... Or I just buy a cheap external USB 2 drive..
 
Mitthrawnuruodo

Mitthrawnuruodo

Moderator emeritus
Mar 10, 2004
14,451
1,100
Bergen, Norway
kalisphoenix said:
All Intel iMacs can boot from USB. I know this because I've done it a few times. I assume that the MBPs and Mac minis can boot from USB as well.
Click to expand...
Cool... there were some whispers about it but this is the first confirmation I've seen... Thanks... :)
 
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