Intel iMac and USB External Drive

[KettyKrueger]

Hi All

Newbie here. I've just purchased a Iomega 250GB USB external drive for my music.

Problem is, my imac won't boot up when the drive is connected! I have to turn the damn thing off first.

Any ideas why this happens? Is therea work around?

Also, is it possible to boot from this? I've tried but with no avail.

Thanks in advance.

btw, it's an Intel iMac Core Duo 17".

 

[Fleetwood Mac]

Did you Mac startup fine with the drive plugged into before you tried to boot from it? Did you try to install OS X on it? Did you try to stick some flavour of Windows on it?

I'm not sure whats going on, but its likely that a format of the external will provide quick and dirty satisfaction. If that doesn't work you miht be able to DOA it.

 

[KettyKrueger]

Yeah, the mac started fine before and still does when the HDD is not plugged in!

It was formated under MS-DOS, but I just reformated it as Mac Extended Journal [or something] and it still doesn't work.

Might be able to DOA it? <--sorry what do you mean by that?

Thanks.

 

[Fleetwood Mac]

I'll make myself more clear. I wanted to know wether or not your Mac ever started up fine with the external plugged in and turned on. DOA stands for dead on arrival, if its a new disk and we can't fix it you can probably just return it to the shop or manufacturer.

When you start up your iMac with the disk off, and then turn it on when logged in does it show up on the desktop or in the Finder? Are you able to use it less the startup quirk?

What did you do to try and boot from the external?

By not startup, do mean a black screen? Grey screen? When you boot up you can holding the option key down on your keyboard before the grey Apple shows up. From there select Macintosh HD or whatever you may have renamed it.

 

[KettyKrueger]

Oh right!

If it's off when I boot up it works fine, no problems there. I just turn it on once the mac has fully loaded everything. Then it's visable in Finder.

If I leave on and boot up I get a blank grey screen, that's it! I have to hold the power button down to get out of it.

I've tried holding the option key but I still get the grey screen.

It's very odd! Like I said, other than these two minor inconviences it's fine.

Cheers for your help iDuck, do you think there is a simple remedy for this?

 

[nateDEEZY]

Same thing if you leave your Video iPod plugged in during reboot. What happens is that the mac thinks it may be a bootable hard drive so it searches it or does whatever and it hangs up trying to figure it out. Theres no real solution other than uplug your ipod/turn off your drive during reboot.

 

[Fleetwood Mac]

Same thing if you leave your Video iPod plugged in during reboot. What happens is that the mac thinks it may be a bootable hard drive so it searches it or does whatever and it hangs up trying to figure it out. Theres no real solution other than uplug your ipod/turn off your drive during reboot.

I've never experienced this. I have a mini, MacBook, and iMac and have successfully booted with USB drives (and iPod 5.5G + nano) plugged in on all of them. Somehow I don't Apple would leave the door open on an issue like this.

Make sure you have the latest firmware: http://www.apple.com/support/downloads/imacefifirmwareupdate11.html

Also, you can try resetting the SMC: http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=303446

 

[KettyKrueger]

Cheers again for the help.

Just download the latest firmware for my mac and also the SMC.

Even though I'm using an old firmware [IM41.0055.B08 (early 2006)] when I click to open the firmware I get a message that says 'This computer does not need this update'.

Again very odd, considering it's an old firmware and there is a more up to date one available.

Any ideas?

 

[KettyKrueger]

Cheers again for the help.

Just download the latest firmware for my mac and also the SMC.

Even though I'm using an old firmware [IM41.0055.B08 (early 2006)] when I click to open the firmware I get a message that says 'This computer does not need this update'.

Again very odd, considering it's an old firmware and there is a more up to date one available.

Any ideas?

Anyone any ideas?

 

[thejadedmonkey]

Somewhere under settings, try selecting the start up disk and make sure the internal one is selected, not the USB drive.

 

[emptyCup]

First start up with your external turned off (so you can startup). Plug in your external. System Preferences > Startup Disk. Select your internal drive. See if it works now. If not, check the manufacturer's web site and see if there are updated OS-X drivers for your drive.

I have no ideas after that except to power on your external after you boot. If you put your machine to sleep rather than powering off this should not be much of a problem. I only restart every month or so. Best wishes.

 

[KettyKrueger]

Somewhere under settings, try selecting the start up disk and make sure the internal one is selected, not the USB drive.

Tried that, made no difference. Been on Iomega's site, there are no new drivers.

I'm out of ideas.....

Does it make a difference that the USB drive is partitioned in 2, half has music and the other has the back up data? When I formated and partitioned I made sure that it was GUID and 'extended Journal' [or something similar]. Does that sound about right?

Cheers guys.

 

[QCassidy352]

Does it make a difference that the USB drive is partitioned in 2, half has music and the other has the back up data? When I formated and partitioned I made sure that it was GUID and 'extended Journal' [or something similar]. Does that sound about right?

shouldn't make a difference, but for what it's worth, yes, GUID and Extended Journaled is what my external USB drive is set to, so that should work...

very strange problem!