External Boot Drive

Beardy · Dec 4, 2012, 10:31 AM

I've read some threads on here where people have talked about using external drives as boots drives for things like Bootcamp.

I was looking a the specs of the WD VelociRaptor on the Apple website and notice amongst the features they advertise is

Use as a lightning-fast system boot drive

http://store.apple.com/uk/product/HA...%3Dthunderbolt

Now I know that's one hugely expensive HD but can Apple be advertising that is it's not true ? From what I have read using an external drive as a boot drive is nothing something OSX supports.

blueroom · Dec 4, 2012, 10:33 AM

OSX supports booting from nearly everything including the SD card. Just hold down the option key.

Want real speed; get an SSD.

justperry · Dec 4, 2012, 10:34 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Beardy

Now I know that's one hugely expensive HD but can Apple be advertising that is it's not true ? From what I have read using an external drive as a boot drive is nothing something OSX supports.

Where you read that nonsense, macs can boot from an external since forever.(Almost)

GGJstudios · Dec 4, 2012, 10:35 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Beardy

Now I know that's one hugely expensive HD but can Apple be advertising that is it's not true ? From what I have read using an external drive as a boot drive is nothing something OSX supports.

Of course OS X supports booting from external drives. Just press the Option key while starting your Mac to select from available boot drives. It doesn't matter what brand or model of external drive you have.

Carl Spackler · Dec 4, 2012, 10:36 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Beardy

From what I have read using an external drive as a boot drive is nothing something OSX supports.

You most certianly can boot OS X from an external drive. I'm currently computerless and regularly boot from an external USB2 drive on my wife's Macbook, holding down the Option key during boot up.

xgman · Dec 4, 2012, 10:38 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Beardy

I've read some threads on here where people have talked about using external drives as boots drives for things like Bootcamp.

I was looking a the specs of the WD VelociRaptor on the Apple website and notice amongst the features they advertise is

Use as a lightning-fast system boot drive

http://store.apple.com/uk/product/HA...%3Dthunderbolt

Now I know that's one hugely expensive HD but can Apple be advertising that is it's not true ? From what I have read using an external drive as a boot drive is nothing something OSX supports.

I am going to use 2 of these. One I will replace with a boot SSD I already have and the other velociraptors for storage etc.. May be some random transfer speed loss compared to what it would do if it could be installed internally, but it really can't. At least practically. So the next best thing. Basically you setup the internal drive, clone it to the external and set in preferences to use as boot drive. The Mybook Duo's can be set to use each of the 2 drives independently.

Beardy · Dec 4, 2012, 11:17 AM

Okay, so can you set up your Mac to boot up every time from an external drive or do you have to select it manually ?

So could you use one of these as a boot drive and also put a Bootcamp partition on it ?

GGJstudios · Dec 4, 2012, 11:18 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Beardy

Okay, so can you set up your Mac to boot up every time from an external drive or do you have to select it manually ?

So could you use one of these as a boot drive and also put a Bootcamp partition on it ?

If it's not your internal drive, I think you have to select it manually on each boot. Yes, you can put a Bootcamp partition on any drive.

majkom · Dec 4, 2012, 11:23 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by GGJstudios

If it's not your internal drive, I think you have to select it manually on each boot. Yes, you can put a Bootcamp partition on any drive.

OMG, of course you can set external drive as primary for boot and not to do that everytime manually: System preferences - startup disk - choose whichever you want...

EPiCDiNGO · Dec 4, 2012, 11:26 AM

What options do I have to run bootcamp off an SSD internal or external without paying for a 750gb overpriced option ? I have a 250gb Samsung SSD inside my 2010 MBP and the space is enough combined with an external for my movies. The bottom line is a fusion with 128gb SSD is out of the question since I cant use bootcamp and an external is also out of question as it also will not run bootcamp and I also cannot afford to pay for a 759gb option :/ The mac mini seems more and more temping

----------

Quote:

Originally Posted by GGJstudios

If it's not your internal drive, I think you have to select it manually on each boot. Yes, you can put a Bootcamp partition on any drive.

How do u put bootcamp onto an external drive ? I read it's a limitation of microsoft not allowing this ?

Beardy · Dec 4, 2012, 11:40 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by GGJstudios

Yes, you can put a Bootcamp partition on any drive.

Definitely ?

I've order a 1TB Fusion drive because of Bootcamp. If this is really the case I am going to change to 3TB Fusion and get an external SSD for the Bootcamp partition.

blueroom · Dec 4, 2012, 11:45 AM

Consider getting a Synology NAS for your media files. Your SSD will boot faster than any mechanical drive.

I've got a 2010 MBP with a 180GB SSD and all my media is on the NAS. Wirelessly too. Accessible from all your computers.

Another option is pull your optical drive out and replace it with an optibay HDD.

Kadath · Dec 4, 2012, 04:02 PM

As of June/October you still could not bootcamp from any external drive. I see no announcement changing that. Did it?

https://discussions.apple.com/thread...art=0&tstart=0
https://discussions.apple.com/thread...art=0&tstart=0

torana355 · Dec 4, 2012, 04:14 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Beardy

Definitely ?

I've order a 1TB Fusion drive because of Bootcamp. If this is really the case I am going to change to 3TB Fusion and get an external SSD for the Bootcamp partition.

You cant boot windows off an external...Stick with your 1TB fusion if you need bootcamp, or you can get the 3TB fusion and split them into logical drives and use the SSD for bootcamp and OSX.

Kadath · Dec 5, 2012, 12:27 PM

That's my understanding as well, which is why I was questioning what looked to be a ton of misinformation in this thread.

Beardy · Dec 5, 2012, 01:24 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by torana355

You cant boot windows off an external...Stick with your 1TB fusion if you need bootcamp, or you can get the 3TB fusion and split them into logical drives and use the SSD for bootcamp and OSX.

Really ? Is it a hugely involved process for both those solutions ? I'm not someone used to deep diving in the OSX underworld!

monsieurxu · Dec 10, 2012, 04:49 AM

Of course you could boot your mac on an USB stick (32gb). I can do it with my mbp5,5.

To do it, i'm using refit+syslinux on the stick. The third partition is ntfs the larger. I then installed win7 on this with nt6.x_fast_installer.

To boot, the trick is to reorder the hybrid mbr of the stick making ntfs partition first.

I should add that sometimes it screws my internal drive partition map. So be sure of getting a Time Machine Backup up to date.

ashleypenny · Dec 10, 2012, 09:05 AM

I've ordered the 27" iMac and wish I'd taken fusion now, but too late and don't want to cancel my order - crying out for this machine as my windows one is slow as hell and i just got a Nikon d800 so need something fast to process the 34mp raw files..

Have been looking at the LaCie rugged 120gb and would like to use that as a boot drive externally. Are there any benchmarks around how fast this is vs internal ssd? Or would it be the same? Is there definitely no way to boot it without holding a key down each time?

mihai.ile · Dec 10, 2012, 09:11 AM

The speed is the same and it is possible to configure the iMac to boot by default from a specified drive under settings.

ashleypenny · Dec 10, 2012, 09:33 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by mihai.ile

The speed is the same and it is possible to configure the iMac to boot by default from a specified drive under settings.

Thanks!

Dec 4, 2012, 10:31 AM	#1
Beardy macrumors newbie Join Date: Nov 2012	External Boot Drive I've read some threads on here where people have talked about using external drives as boots drives for things like Bootcamp. I was looking a the specs of the WD VelociRaptor on the Apple website and notice amongst the features they advertise is Use as a lightning-fast system boot drive http://store.apple.com/uk/product/HA...%3Dthunderbolt Now I know that's one hugely expensive HD but can Apple be advertising that is it's not true ? From what I have read using an external drive as a boot drive is nothing something OSX supports.
	0

Dec 4, 2012, 10:33 AM	#2
blueroom macrumors 601 Join Date: Feb 2009 Location: Toronto, Canada	OSX supports booting from nearly everything including the SD card. Just hold down the option key. Want real speed; get an SSD. __________________ My iOS devices are not jailbroken. Bill My Blog
	0

Dec 4, 2012, 11:45 AM	#12
blueroom macrumors 601 Join Date: Feb 2009 Location: Toronto, Canada	Consider getting a Synology NAS for your media files. Your SSD will boot faster than any mechanical drive. I've got a 2010 MBP with a 180GB SSD and all my media is on the NAS. Wirelessly too. Accessible from all your computers. Another option is pull your optical drive out and replace it with an optibay HDD. __________________ My iOS devices are not jailbroken. Bill My Blog
	0

Dec 10, 2012, 04:49 AM	#17
monsieurxu macrumors newbie Join Date: Dec 2012	Booting Win7 external drive Of course you could boot your mac on an USB stick (32gb). I can do it with my mbp5,5. To do it, i'm using refit+syslinux on the stick. The third partition is ntfs the larger. I then installed win7 on this with nt6.x_fast_installer. To boot, the trick is to reorder the hybrid mbr of the stick making ntfs partition first. I should add that sometimes it screws my internal drive partition map. So be sure of getting a Time Machine Backup up to date.
	0

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Dec 4, 2012, 11:17 AM	#7
Beardy Thread Starter macrumors newbie Join Date: Nov 2012	Okay, so can you set up your Mac to boot up every time from an external drive or do you have to select it manually ? So could you use one of these as a boot drive and also put a Bootcamp partition on it ?
	0

Dec 4, 2012, 04:02 PM	#13
Kadath macrumors member Join Date: May 2006	As of June/October you still could not bootcamp from any external drive. I see no announcement changing that. Did it? https://discussions.apple.com/thread...art=0&tstart=0 https://discussions.apple.com/thread...art=0&tstart=0
	0

Dec 5, 2012, 12:27 PM	#15
Kadath macrumors member Join Date: May 2006	That's my understanding as well, which is why I was questioning what looked to be a ton of misinformation in this thread.
	0

Dec 10, 2012, 09:05 AM	#18
ashleypenny macrumors member Join Date: Dec 2012	I've ordered the 27" iMac and wish I'd taken fusion now, but too late and don't want to cancel my order - crying out for this machine as my windows one is slow as hell and i just got a Nikon d800 so need something fast to process the 34mp raw files.. Have been looking at the LaCie rugged 120gb and would like to use that as a boot drive externally. Are there any benchmarks around how fast this is vs internal ssd? Or would it be the same? Is there definitely no way to boot it without holding a key down each time?
	0

Dec 10, 2012, 09:11 AM	#19
mihai.ile macrumors member Join Date: Oct 2012	The speed is the same and it is possible to configure the iMac to boot by default from a specified drive under settings.
	0