Problem with new internal hard-disk install

[Abstract]

(I've searched the forum and went through the guide....)


I have a new Seagate laptop drive for my MacBook, but I don't know what to do next. I used Carbon Copy Cloner to clone all the contents of my Macintosh HD to my backup harddisk. It's a WD Passport, which uses USB (not FireWire), so I can't boot off of it.

Since my drive isn't bootable, (I think) the normal sequence of events would be to use my Mac OS X Leopard restore disks, boot off of the Leopard restore disk, and copy the cloned drive over via the Disk Image application. However, I don't have the Leopard restore disks. I just moved from Australia to Canada, and I can't find them. I think they're in a box being shipped to my by boat. My boxes will take 2-3 months to arrive. However, I found the Tiger restore disks sitting in my 32 disk CD case full of music CDs. Can I use that?

Without the restore disks, what can I do? My Leopard drive and all my personal files have been cloned to an external USB drive. I don't have the Leopard upgrade disks yet, and I have the Tiger install disks that came with my computer. Can I still restore everything to the way it is now?

 

[plinden]

Although Apple doesn't (apparently) officially support booting off USB drives, your USB drive should be bootable. I've done this often with my iMac and wife's MB.

 

[Str8edgepunker]

Yes. You should be able to install tiger on the external drive and restore the image using carbon copy cloner.

 

[plinden]

Hmm, I think he already has a clone on his external drive so won't want to install Tiger on it.

Just try booting into the external drive. If that works (and it should), replace the HD in the MB, boot back into the external drive and CCC back onto the new drive.

 

[sickmacdoc]

First off, as long as the external drive is formatted as Mac OS Extended (Journaled) AND includes a GUID partition map (defineable in Disk Utilities) full USB boot support is offered when used with Intel Macs (like your MacBook). The only time FireWire is required to boot from a drive is if the Mac is a PowerPC based machine (that is, prior to the Intel based Macs). They also require a partition map type of APM to boot from them rather than the GUID that Intel Macs require just for trivia.

So based on that you can complete this with no disks required. Simply:

• Use CCC to clone the internal drive to an external (as it sounds like you have already done-- though it will need to be redone if the external is not formatted as mentioned above).

• Restart your Mac while holding down Option to select the external as the drive to boot from. Go ahead and use it for awhile until you are satisfied that it is identical to using your machine from the internal drive.

• Shut down and install your new internal drive

• Start up again from the external drive. Go into Disk Utilities on it and format the new internal as Mac OS Extended with a GUID partition map.

• Run CCC again- specify your external as the "Source" and your new internal as the "Target" and let it clone the external to the internal.

• Reboot from your new internal drive- and enjoy the additional space that it provides!

 

[Abstract]

Yes. You should be able to install tiger on the external drive and restore the image using carbon copy cloner.

Yes, but I upgraded to Leopard last year. I just don't have the disk on hand. I'm afraid that if I clone my internal drive, and try to move everything to the Tiger OS X, something will go wrong.

Although Apple doesn't (apparently) officially support booting off USB drives, your USB drive should be bootable. I've done this often with my iMac and wife's MB.

First off, as long as the external drive is formatted as Mac OS Extended (Journaled) AND includes a GUID partition map (defineable in Disk Utilities) full USB boot support is offered when used with Intel Macs (like your MacBook). The only time FireWire is required to boot from a drive is if the Mac is a PowerPC based machine (that is, prior to the Intel based Macs). They also require a partition map type of APM to boot from them rather than the GUID that Intel Macs require just for trivia.

So based on that you can complete this with no disks required. Simply:

• Use CCC to clone the internal drive to an external (as it sounds like you have already done-- though it will need to be redone if the external is not formatted as mentioned above).

• Restart your Mac while holding down Option to select the external as the drive to boot from. Go ahead and use it for awhile until you are satisfied that it is identical to using your machine from the internal drive.

• Shut down and install your new internal drive

• Start up again from the external drive. Go into Disk Utilities on it and format the new internal as Mac OS Extended with a GUID partition map.

• Run CCC again- specify your external as the "Source" and your new internal as the "Target" and let it clone the external to the internal.

• Reboot from your new internal drive- and enjoy the additional space that it provides!

Thanks a lot. I didn't know this. I've been around here for a long time, and I always remembered that one of the benefits of getting a FW harddisk was that having a FW drive was the only way to boot of an external HDD.

I'll give this a try, although I'm not sure if I have a GUID partition or not. I can't see this info in Disk Utility. What I see is that my external harddisk's partition map scheme says "Master Boot Record". My internal HDD says "GUID". Obviously I've done it wrong, and I'll have to clone my main drive again.

Thanks again.

 

[sickmacdoc]

<clip>
Thanks a lot. I didn't know this. I've been around here for a long time, and I always remembered that one of the benefits of getting a FW harddisk was that having a FW drive was the only way to boot of an external HDD.

I'll give this a try, although I'm not sure if I have a GUID partition or not. I can't see this info in Disk Utility. What I see is that my external harddisk's partition map scheme says "Master Boot Record". My internal HDD says "GUID". Obviously I've done it wrong, and I'll have to clone my main drive again.

Thanks again.

Well, its probably not so much that you did it wrong as much as the fact that that drive simply has not been formatted for Mac. The partition map type of MBR is the standard PC partition map, so chances are that the drive is currently also formatted as FAT32 or NTFS as well. BTW- you can see the current "Partition Map Scheme" for a drive in Disk Utility-- it is in the info at the bottom of the screen if you click a drive (not a partition on it) on the left to select it.

Don't know if you need a hand with setting the partition map (just disregard this if you don't ), but if you do:

• Run Disk Utility.
• Select the drive (not a partition on the drive) on the left with a single click.
• Click the "Partition" tab at the top of the screen.
• If the "Options" button at the bottom is grey (non-selectable), then change the "Volume Scheme:" at the top using the pull down menu. Change it from "Current" to "1 partition"-- the "Options" button will then become selectable.
• Click the "Options" button and select "GUID" in the window that appears (see below). Click OK to dismiss the window.
• Give the drive a name in the "Volume Information" section, and make sure "Format:" reads "Mac OS Extended (Journaled)".
• Click "Apply" at the bottom and in a few seconds the drive will be mounted on the desktop sporting its new format and partition map ready to clone to again with Carbon Copy Cloner.

Good luck!

 

[stoked1]

Have I formatted my firewire drive correctly?

First off, as long as the external drive is formatted as Mac OS Extended (Journaled) AND includes a GUID partition map (defineable in Disk Utilities) full USB boot support is offered when used with Intel Macs (like your MacBook). The only time FireWire is required to boot from a drive is if the Mac is a PowerPC based machine (that is, prior to the Intel based Macs). They also require a partition map type of APM to boot from them rather than the GUID that Intel Macs require just for trivia.

So based on that you can complete this with no disks required. Simply:

• Use CCC to clone the internal drive to an external (as it sounds like you have already done-- though it will need to be redone if the external is not formatted as mentioned above).

• Restart your Mac while holding down Option to select the external as the drive to boot from. Go ahead and use it for awhile until you are satisfied that it is identical to using your machine from the internal drive.

• Shut down and install your new internal drive

• Start up again from the external drive. Go into Disk Utilities on it and format the new internal as Mac OS Extended with a GUID partition map.

• Run CCC again- specify your external as the "Source" and your new internal as the "Target" and let it clone the external to the internal.

• Reboot from your new internal drive- and enjoy the additional space that it provides!

Hi,
I have a PPC G5 mac tower, osx 10.4, and I'm trying to repair the internal system disc.
No boot CD/DVD was included when I bought my refurbished ex-lease machine.

I'm using Super Duper to clone the system drive to a My Passport firewire external drive. It is invisible however when trying to boot off it.
I think I formatted it correctly, but how can I check to see if it is?

Is it possible to clone my system disk to a file on my 2nd internal drive and boot from this?
Thanks!