The Notebook Review forums were hosted by TechTarget, who shut down them down on January 31, 2022. This static read-only archive was pulled by NBR forum users between January 20 and January 31, 2022, in an effort to make sure that the valuable technical information that had been posted on the forums is preserved. For current discussions, many NBR forum users moved over to NotebookTalk.net after the shutdown.
Problems? See this thread at archive.org.

    It is possible to boot OS X off external USB

    Discussion in 'Apple and Mac OS X' started by Budding, Nov 19, 2007.

  1. Budding

    Budding Notebook Virtuoso

    Reputations:
    1,686
    Messages:
    3,982
    Likes Received:
    0
    Trophy Points:
    105
    I have just recently discovered that it is possible to boot into the OS X partition on an external USB HD, not just Firewire. I have previously always thought that OS X, just like Windows, reset its USB port connections during boot up, thereby cutting off access to the boot disk if it were a USB drive.
    This seems to not be the case, which means that most of us Mac users will now be able to carry our own OS X to be used on other Macs!
     
    Budding, Nov 19, 2007
    #1
  2. cashmonee

    cashmonee Notebook Virtuoso NBR Reviewer

    Reputations:
    787
    Messages:
    2,859
    Likes Received:
    0
    Trophy Points:
    55
    How many Macs don't have Firewire? It is a nice thing though because many people have USB externals, but not with Firewire. Given the choice though, obviously I would prefer Firewire, but the option for USB would be nice if that is all you have.
     
    cashmonee, Nov 19, 2007
    #2
  3. M@lew

    M@lew Notebook Evangelist

    Reputations:
    38
    Messages:
    442
    Likes Received:
    0
    Trophy Points:
    30
    You CAN boot from an external, but it's pretty slow. I only use it if I really need to do something to my Macbook and the internal hard drive is unusable.
     
    M@lew, Nov 20, 2007
    #3
  4. circa86

    circa86 Notebook Virtuoso NBR Reviewer

    Reputations:
    685
    Messages:
    2,463
    Likes Received:
    0
    Trophy Points:
    55
    is it possible to install OS X to an external with a single user license? ex. I purchased Leopard, can I install a backup OS on an external HDD? using the same install disk?
     
    circa86, Nov 20, 2007
    #4
  5. Budding

    Budding Notebook Virtuoso

    Reputations:
    1,686
    Messages:
    3,982
    Likes Received:
    0
    Trophy Points:
    105
    As there is no serial or validation of any kind on the OS X installation disc, it would be possible to install your OS X on multiple HDs. However, I'm not sure about the legality of such. Perhaps it will be perfectly legal if you use it with the same machine.

    Regarding speed, I have to say the difference is not too significant. It does take a bit longer to boot up and load large programs, but nothing too agonising. Of course, Firewire would be faster, but USB isn't awful.
     
    Budding, Nov 20, 2007
    #5
  6. cashmonee

    cashmonee Notebook Virtuoso NBR Reviewer

    Reputations:
    787
    Messages:
    2,859
    Likes Received:
    0
    Trophy Points:
    55
    The best way to do this is probably just to use SuperDuper! to image your drive after you get it the way you like. That way all you have to do is blast the image back on to the drive if need be.
     
    cashmonee, Nov 20, 2007
    #6
  7. nycfly89

    nycfly89 Notebook Geek

    Reputations:
    4
    Messages:
    90
    Likes Received:
    0
    Trophy Points:
    15
    just a question..i have removed my old hard drive from my desktop and have it set up through usb so i can look at my old files. is it possible to boot windows from here? if so, how would i go about doing that?
     
    nycfly89, Nov 20, 2007
    #7
  8. Budding

    Budding Notebook Virtuoso

    Reputations:
    1,686
    Messages:
    3,982
    Likes Received:
    0
    Trophy Points:
    105
    You will not be able to boot into a Windows HD on a Mac, unless that HD has been partitioned by Boot Camp.
     
    Budding, Nov 20, 2007
    #8