How to make Ext USB drive bootable?

[garycurtis]

I use SuperDuper to back up to a partitioned 2Tb USB 3 drive. How can I make this a bootable drive? The system is already on the drive. Is it a question of configuring something in Disk Utility, or do I pay attention to the Get Info Permissions options?

running Mavericks on a late 2013 iMac.

 

[John T]

I used to use SuperDuper and seem to remember that you could set it up to create a bootable backup.

Failing that, in Disk Utility, make sure the external drive, when partitioned, is formatted to GUID. This will make the drive bootable.

 

[FreakinEurekan]

I use SuperDuper to back up to a partitioned 2Tb USB 3 drive. How can I make this a bootable drive?

I'm guessing you mean how do you boot to it - it's probably already "Bootable".

To boot to a different drive, hold down the Option (Alt) key while starting up.

 

[r0k]

I use SuperDuper to back up to a partitioned 2Tb USB 3 drive. How can I make this a bootable drive? The system is already on the drive. Is it a question of configuring something in Disk Utility, or do I pay attention to the Get Info Permissions options?

running Mavericks on a late 2013 iMac.

If I want to make a drive bootable, the first step I take is to look at it in Disk Utility. If it's not already partitioned, I create a single partition scheme, GUID partition table (under options), HFS+ Journaled. I never pick case sensitive.

I do this routinely when upgrading HDD or installing an SSD in any Mac. First I create a bootable empty drive, then I either clone using CCC or install the OS and migrate from the old drive to the new one during the install. Lastly I test booting to the new drive before opening the case to put it in. Sometimes this requires holding option while booting and picking the new drive.

 

[garycurtis]

My drive is unfortantely (or maybe not) already partitioned. And I have never seen the GUID protocol mentioned as an option in Disk Utility.

How can I get this train back on the tracks?

I will,however try Carbon Copy Cloner and move over my System from my main HD.

thanks

 

[Weaselboy]

My drive is unfortantely (or maybe not) already partitioned. And I have never seen the GUID protocol mentioned as an option in Disk Utility.

How can I get this train back on the tracks?

I will,however try Carbon Copy Cloner and move over my System from my main HD.

thanks

You are fine. Unless you specifically went into options in Disk Util and changed the partition to something other than GUID, it will be the default GUID.

If you just fired up SD and used the default options below, you have a bootable clone.

Like FreakinEurekan mentioned, just hold the option key at boot and select the SD drive to boot from it as a test.

 

[garycurtis]

You are fine. Unless you specifically went into options in Disk Util and changed the partition to something other than GUID, it will be the default GUID.

Please excuse my unfamiliarity with the technical terms. I don't see GUID mentioned in the config options in Disk Utility. My 2Tb drive currently has two partitions. The system was copied over to one of these.

It won't boot. And in Disk Utility I am not offered the option for Permissions Repair on the drive. Not sure that that matters.

However, using SuperDuper and Carbon Copy Cloner to move the system over simply hasn't worked. What my ultimate goal is this — Get to the AP Store from that drive and download a fresh version of Mavericks. But I can't boot, can't get on the AP Store. Can't do much of anything.

Thanks --- this is all going beyond my Mac comfort zone.

 

[Weaselboy]

You are fine. Unless you specifically went into options in Disk Util and changed the partition to something other than GUID, it will be the default GUID.

Please excuse my unfamiliarity with the technical terms. I don't see GUID mentioned in the config options in Disk Utility. My 2Tb drive currently has two partitions. The system was copied over to one of these.

It won't boot. And in Disk Utility I am not offered the option for Permissions Repair on the drive. Not sure that that matters.

However, using SuperDuper and Carbon Copy Cloner to move the system over simply hasn't worked. What my ultimate goal is this — Get to the AP Store from that drive and download a fresh version of Mavericks. But I can't boot, can't get on the AP Store. Can't do much of anything.

Thanks --- this is all going beyond my Mac comfort zone.

When you go to format a new drive, before you add any partitions there is an Options... button at the bottom. If you select that, you can choose the partition map scheme for the drive. But if you did not change this and just formatted to the normal Mac OS Extended format, you should be okay. It may have something to do with the other partition and which one you made first.

Try this... attach the drive then launch Terminal and enter "diskutil list" without the quotes and post up the output of that command. It should look something like this.

/dev/disk2
   #:                       TYPE NAME                    SIZE       IDENTIFIER
   0:      GUID_partition_scheme                        *16.2 GB    disk2
   1:                        EFI EFI                     209.7 MB   disk2s1
   2:                  Apple_HFS Untitled                15.9 GB    disk2s2

Then we can try and help you out.

Did you use the default SD copy like in my earlier screenshot?

 

[garycurtis]

When you go to format a new drive, before you add any partitions there is an Options... button at the bottom. If you select that, you can choose the partition map scheme for the drive. But if you did not change this and just formatted to the normal Mac OS Extended format, you should be okay. It may have something to do with the other partition and which one you made first.

Try this... attach the drive then launch Terminal and enter "diskutil list" without the quotes and post up the output of that command. It should look something like this.

/dev/disk2
   #:                       TYPE NAME                    SIZE       IDENTIFIER
   0:      GUID_partition_scheme                        *16.2 GB    disk2
   1:                        EFI EFI                     209.7 MB   disk2s1
   2:                  Apple_HFS Untitled                15.9 GB    disk2s2

Then we can try and help you out.

Did you use the default SD copy like in my earlier screenshot?

----------

Terminal shows me almost the same data as in your screenshot. But is missing the Apple_HFS notation on any of my 3 drives. Two of those drives currently will boot.

 

[chown33]

Terminal shows me almost the same data as in your screenshot. But is missing the Apple_HFS notation on any of my 3 drives. Two of those drives currently will boot.

Post your complete output. Diagnosing descriptions is difficult.

You can drag-select the text in the Terminal window, then command-C to copy to clipboard. Paste it and post it.

 

[garycurtis]

Sure. Here is what I came up with. I can't boot on 2Tb drive. And, on the 500Gb drive, I can't log on to the AP Store. It does boot, however.

Macintosh-6:~ garycurtis$ diskutil list
/dev/disk0
#: TYPE NAME SIZE IDENTIFIER
0: GUID_partition_scheme *1.0 TB disk0
1: EFI EFI 209.7 MB disk0s1
2: Apple_HFS Macintosh HD 999.3 GB disk0s2
3: Apple_Boot Recovery HD 650.0 MB disk0s3
/dev/disk1
#: TYPE NAME SIZE IDENTIFIER
0: GUID_partition_scheme *2.0 TB disk1
1: EFI EFI 314.6 MB disk1s1
2: Apple_HFS 2Tb overflow 1.5 TB disk1s2
3: Apple_HFS 2Tb Backup 484.4 GB disk1s3
/dev/disk2
#: TYPE NAME SIZE IDENTIFIER
0: GUID_partition_scheme *500.1 GB disk2
1: EFI EFI 209.7 MB disk2s1
2: Apple_HFS Boot Disk 199.0 GB disk2s2
3: Apple_HFS 300 Gb Drive 300.6 GB disk2s3
Macintosh-6:~ garycurtis$

 

[Weaselboy]

Sure. Here is what I came up with. I can't boot on 2Tb drive. And, on the 500Gb drive, I can't log on to the AP Store. It does boot, however.

/dev/disk1
   #:                       TYPE NAME                    SIZE       IDENTIFIER
   0:      GUID_partition_scheme                        *2.0 TB     disk1
   1:                        EFI EFI                     314.6 MB   disk1s1
   2:                  Apple_HFS 2Tb overflow            1.5 TB     disk1s2
   3:                  Apple_HFS 2Tb Backup              484.4 GB   disk1s3

This looks fine and should work. All I can think of is you did not copy the OS over properly with SD. Try doing it again with either CCC or Disk Utility.

 

[Fishrrman]

The OP asks:
[[ I use SuperDuper to back up to a partitioned 2Tb USB 3 drive. How can I make this a bootable drive? ]]

The answer could not be more simple.

Use either CarbonCopyCloner or SuperDuper to create a cloned backup on one of the partitions of the USB drive (preferably the "first" partition).

Then, boot from it by doing this:
- Restart
- Hold down the option key when the startup sound occurs, and keep holding it down until the startup manager appears
- Select the external partition with the pointer, and hit return

Works for me on pre-packaged USB drives, on home-built USB drives, on USB/SATA docked drives, and on USB flash drives...

 

[garycurtis]

Failed yet again.

Disk was reformatted and then partitioned in 2.
In the Info dialogue box I clicked the "Ignore Owernship" box
CopyCloner transferred my entire HD to the ext drive.

It won't boot up on that drive. And because it won't boot, I cannot access the AP Store to either get OS updates or download the complete Mavericks OS should I need it.

I tried the same process with Migration Assistant last night. The terminology get confusing. It kept talking about a transfer from one computet to another. All I want is an exchange between main HD and an ext HD.

Another oddity. Holding down the Option key at startup doesn't bring up the Start Disk choices.
And even further, why doesn't Disk Tools utility allow me to Fix Permissions on this recently formatted drive? Should I career?

Arghhh!

Arghh.

 

[Fishrrman]

garycurtis wrote above:
[[ It won't boot up on that drive. ]]

Be aware that -some- external USB drives are incapable of booting the Mac.
This is NOT a problem with software - rather, it's a problem with the controller board on the drive enclosure itself.

Who is the manufacturer of the drive enclosure that you are using?
What happens if you reboot and invoke the startup manager?
Does the external drive show up?
And then…. not boot?
Again, could be a problem with the controller chip/board in the drive itself.

If you want an external back that is GUARANTEED to boot your Mac (yes, "guaranteed"), do this:
1. Buy a USB3/SATA docking station and one or more "bare drives" to go into it. I specifically recommend this one:
http://plugable.com/products/usb3-sata-u3
2. Put bare drive into dock, initialize with Disk Utility.
3. Create your clone using either CCC or SuperDuper
4. Reboot.

 

[garycurtis]

I think you hit a nerve. The drive itself is a Toshiba 2Tb internal drive. The enclosure was made by Touro and OWC had them on sale for $1.

Looks like it's time to invest in a proper enclosure. How do I ascertain if my drive is Sata or eSata? All I know is that it's a 3.5" internal.

 

[Fishrrman]

[[ How do I ascertain if my drive is Sata or eSata? All I know is that it's a 3.5" internal. ]]

Take it out of the enclosure and look at it.

If it's a SATA drive, get the enclosure I referred to in post #15.

Put the drive into it, and see what happens next.
Unless there's something flaky on the controller board of the "bare drive" itself, it should boot right up (after a proper cloning job).

 

[garycurtis]

Fisherrman, I bought the drive dock from Amazon. Powered USB 3, with a on/off switch and LED.

It works just as promised. For less than $30. I can boot from and it is fast.

I have a question, at the risk of morphing this thread. I know that an HD I/O speed is the limit of any connection. And thus, Thunderbolt is a waste of time for a spinning HD.

But, say you have an SSD connected via USB 3 cable. Will the I/O speed of data exceed 70-90 Mb/sec? That is my current backups over USB-3 to a spinning disk are running at 70-90mb/sec.

Thanks. Happy camper in sunny Santa Monica