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Installing OS X on an external hdd?

Yes you can do that. I would recommend firewire and not usb. Once installed on the drive go into system preference and it should be an option under startup disc.
 
Neil321 said:
How can you use bootcamp on an external ?
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think he/she means the bootloader (hold down option on restart)

The external will have to have a GUID partition on it - with the OS installed on that partition otherwise it won't boot....well unless it is GUID it won't install the OS either.

I would recommend Firewire too - but USB2 is ok if it is only going to be used now and again. Are you cloning your current OS or using an install disk ?
 
Cloning my OS does seems like a more convenient approach but it might take longer because I'd obviously have to drag all my apps, music and pics with me. Since I use TM, can I just restore the OS to the external hdd and have that be bootable?
 
superspiffy said:
Since I use TM, can I just restore the OS to the external hdd and have that be bootable?
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Yes, just connect the external and the TM volume, start the disk with the Restore DVD, and Tools-->Restore from Time Machine and restore to your EXTERNAL drive.
 
I'm trying to install OS X on my external and it says I need to reformat it with a GUID table. How do you do this with Disk Utilities? Can I use my system restore disks to install OS X on the external?
 
Go into disk utilities select the drive you want to format click on the partition tab then the options button & format GUID
 
Type 'GUID' into Disk Utility's help and you'll get info on formatting a disk with a GUID partition table (which is done from Disk Utility, and is required in order to boot intel macs). Doing this will involve completely erasing that disk, so you might want to backup your data.
 
alphaod said:
Yes, just connect the external and the TM volume, start the disk with the Restore DVD, and Tools-->Restore from Time Machine and restore to your EXTERNAL drive.
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I have my TM connected to my AEBSn. I booted from the restore disk, select restore from TM and the computer gets stuck at searching for TM backups phase. Isn't it possible restore from TM+AEBSn?
 
So we're all in agreement that Boot Camp can't use an external drive? I'd love to have this functionality, if only for kicks.
 
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