Bootable External Drive

[daryl66]

I have started thinking about an external drive for all of the obvious reasons. I have seen posts here that indicate that any purchase should be "bootable". Are the firewire, and usb drives that indicate osx compatabililty bootable?? If not, how does one determine "bootability".  Is this typically a function of drivers??

I would like to have one drive that could used for both the Imac and the Powerbook. Does it make sense to partition  it and put osx for each machine on separate partitions??  We do not do itunes, or video, and have   a moderate bit of photography. Both machines are utilized today at about 40 percent of available  disc space. Sync is not an issue.

Daryl

[MacHeadCase]

I'll let others be more specific with the advice but right away what I can tell you is that if you want an external HD to be bootable, you'll need it to be FireWire because USB externals are not bootable under Mac OS X.

I think you can get an HD that has multiple interfaces such as FireWire400/USB 1.1/USB 2 but to be bootable it will definitely have to be connected via FireWire.

[sandbox]

Hey Daryl, in today's environment I would purchase a external drive that was both Firewire and USB, like
this one http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00064FXS...ce&n=172282

It should cost around $100.00 bucks.

I would partition it for each computer so you could have identical files from each unit backed up separately.

The Bootable option is in the Back-Software, ........ when you back up to the partition, you have the option to make it bootable or not.

This drive comes with free back-up software, but you can use any software you like.

[daryl66]

MHC  and SB:  

 Exactly what I was shooting for.  Found a 250gb combo drive at Clubmac for $114 which looks like it will do the trick.   I had no idea there were so many options until I started 'googling"


Many thanks

Daryl

[krissel]

For future reference, Intel Macs can boot from USB. (Some older PBs could boot from OS 9 via USB.)

Here's the skinny on bootability with Intel/PPC Macs:

QUOTE

Native on Intel Macs - Synchronize! Pro X runs natively on Intel Macs. Bootable backups can be made to both FireWire and USB 2.0 external hard drives. Intel Macs will boot from backups on either type of drive, while PPC Macs will not boot from USB drives.

While you can use Synchronize! Pro X to put a bootable backup of a PPC Mac on one partition and a bootable backup of an Intel Mac on a different partition of the same hard drive, and you can start up the PPC or Intel Mac from the appropriate partition on that drive, you can't start up an Intel Mac from a bootable backup of a PPC Mac, or vice-versa.

http://www.qdea.com/pages/pages-sprox/sprox1.html

[sandbox]

Good for you daryl, remember........ your backup is only as good as the drive you put it on. Quality is important.

Good luck!

[MacHeadCase]

QUOTE(krissel @ Jul 19 2006, 04:21 AM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}>

For future reference, Intel Macs can boot from USB. (Some older PBs could boot from OS 9 via USB.)

Here's the skinny on bootability with Intel/PPC Macs:
http://www.qdea.com/pages/pages-sprox/sprox1.html

That's good to know, Kris, thanks.

I knew about OS 9 but saw in the list of Daryl's Macs in his profile that it was a good hunch he was on OS X. But for sure I never thought the Intel-based Macs are bootable using USB as well. That's excellent!