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Bootable 1TB ext HD with Firewire 800?

Dal123

Dal123

macrumors 6502a
Original poster
Oct 23, 2008
903
0
England
I recently bought Western Digital Hard-Drive Studio edition, despite being formatted for Mac and specifically for Mac, it is un-bootable from a Power PC mac; which in my eyes is worthless as whole point of an external Hard-Drive is to be able to recover your computer as it was.
Searching Western Digital's website I have found only two drives that are bootable from Mac which are http://www.wdc.com/en/products/products.asp?driveid=724 and the pro version :rolleyes:. Which only have USB 2.0 connection.
Anyone know of any decent bootable drives on firewire 800 with a Power PC Mac?:confused:
 
miles01110 said:
Any external drive is bootable by a Mac, depending on what you use to back up your data. Time Machine doesn't create bootable backups, CarbonCopyCloner and SuperDuper do.
Click to expand...

Don't think so http://wdc.custhelp.com/cgi-bin/wdc.cfg/php/enduser/std_adp.php?p_faqid=1787&p_created=1203707437&p_sid=Dzjwns_j&p_accessibility=0&p_redirect=&p_srch=1&p_lva=&p_sp=cF9zcmNoPTEmcF9zb3J0X2J5PSZwX2dyaWRzb3J0PSZwX3Jvd19jbnQ9MTI4LDEyOCZwX3Byb2RzPTIyOCZwX2NhdHM9JnBfcHY9MS4yMjgmcF9jdj0mcF9wYWdlPTEmcF9zZWFyY2hfdGV4dD1ib290YWJsZSBtYWM!&p_li=&p_topview=1 well not according to that link.
I have been using Super Duper to create bootable back-ups under all different settings from GUID Partitions, to Apple Maps under every different setting possible. After viewing the above link and discussing this matter on this forum it is clear that not all drives perform bootable back-ups :D.
 
Take a look at externals from OWC (macsales) and Lacie. I've used both.

Intel Mac's will boot from USB but, as I recall, that is not true of the older PowerPC processors.
 
bdj33ranch said:
Take a look at externals from OWC (macsales) and Lacie. I've used both.

Intel Mac's will boot from USB but, as I recall, that is not true of the older PowerPC processors.
Click to expand...

Cheers bdj :), I'll check em out, I'm using a Power PC, I'm getting on well with it and have done for a few years and don't want to upgrade as just getting acquainted with the software and don't think the new mac will allow my old software :(.
 
Just to make sure there is no confusion - PowerPC will boot from an external with Firewire.
 
Do you need to boot off the external drive much? If all you need to do is have a bootable backup that you can clone back onto an internal hard drive, USB 2 will do ok.

It is indeed noticeably slower (I have a Newertech Ministack and I've booted it off USB and FW to test it out), but depending on what you need, USB is tolerable.

The Ministack is good but more expensive than the WD My Books, but comes with a USB and FW hub.

Oh, by the way, the newer PowerPCs do boot off USB:
http://www.tuaw.com/2006/10/25/boot-your-powerpc-mac-from-an-external-usb-drive/
http://www.macosxhints.com/article.php?story=20060301112336384
 
plinden said:
Do you need to boot off the external drive much? If all you need to do is have a bootable backup that you can clone back onto an internal hard drive, USB 2 will do ok.
Click to expand...

Thanks Plinden, I won't be booting off it too much, but it is important that I have firewire 800 as I will be using the drive regularly for storage.
I don't want to get a new mac as my software probably won't work; like with Quark Xpress was for older macs and can come across little problems with it on my existing mac and no doubt this would all recur with a new mac. I want to be able to use my software and if I was to upgrade all we would be talking lots and lots of money which I don't want to do :(.
 
MacAficionado said:
What matters here is not the drive, but how you format it. Any external drive with 10.5.x will boot both PPC and Intel.
Click to expand...

I'm using 10.4.11 .... and before you say 'upgrade' don't think I can as I think the newer one needs intel processor I think :confused:.
 
Anyone got any ideas/ recommendations for a bootable external hard-drive operating on a Power PC Powerbook G4 operating system Mac OSX 10.4.11?
 
"Anyone got any ideas/ recommendations for a bootable external hard-drive operating on a Power PC Powerbook G4 operating system Mac OSX 10.4.11?"

You will need something with Firewire 400 and an Oxford "9xx" series controller chip in it.

USB2 alone won't do. Others may correct me if I'm wrong, but I don't think you can boot a g4 from USB.

I would suggest you search for an enclosure first that has these specs. Once you have the enclosure, just pick up a "bare drive" to go inside. Do they have "MacAlly" products over there?
 
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