So I've read and have been told that USB 2.0 drives are bootable on a Macbook with a Core2Duo in them. That's great, but are their any other conditions to be met? I'd like to boot another operating system on my USB 2.0 Hard Drive (Preferrabley Ubuntu or Vista if at all possible) but the last time I had Ubuntu completely installed on my Flash Drive, it booted fine on my brothers desktop but I couldn't get the same result with my Macbook. Do I first have to partition the drive as HSF+? Would booting OS's be any easier on a Firewire enclosure? What conditions must be met? Thanks for the help.
Got a tip for us?
Let us know
Become a MacRumors Supporter for $50/year with no ads, ability to filter front page stories, and private forums.
What are the conditions to Boot USB 2.0 Ext. Drives?
- Thread starter Jibberish18
- Start date
- Sort by reaction score
http://www.google.com/search?q=intel+mac+usb+boot&btnG=Search&hl=en
I've only booted into OS X off of USB/FireWire. You're going to need to use the GUID Partition Table and then partition that up for Ubuntu and Windows.
That extended to USB 2.0 when the Core2Duos entered the Macbooks. If I'm correct.
Does the GUID Partition require me to partition the entire drive by any chance? Cool that you were able to boot into OSX by the way.
GPT would define the entire disc and it's not a file system. You can have HFS+, FAT32/NTFS, and ext2/3 under it.Does the GUID Partition require me to partition the entire drive by any chance? Cool that you were able to boot into OSX by the way.
Yeah that's what I thought. Just the answer I was looking for as I wasn't exactly sure on what GUID was. So technically, I SHOULD be able to boot into another operating system with an external drive, only problem is I would have to set the ENTIRE disk to GPT? Is this something only OSX would recognize? This might be a task for a fast Thumb Drive or a very cheap enclosure and hard drive.
Got it! Thanks a lot for being so helpful buddy. I really appreciate. I'm going to set up my entire Flash Drive in GUID and try and reinstall Ubuntu. So if that boots up. I'll lets you guys know what happens. Thanks!
I'm going to set up my entire Flash Drive in GUID and try and reinstall Ubuntu. So if that boots up. I'll lets you guys know what happens. Thanks!Well I followed all the proper instructions and it still didn't work. I'm not sure what I'm doing wrong. I took my Seagate External 120GB USB2.0 Hard Drive. Went into Disk Utility in OSX and partitioned the entire hard drive with GUID and all "Free Space". Popped in Ubuntu 8.04 and installed everything properly. Rebooted and got nothing.
So does anyone have any idea why it's not working?? Did I do anything wrong?
So does anyone have any idea why it's not working?? Did I do anything wrong?
I belive Under "Erase" you have to change Volume Format to MS-DOS for Linux to work. I don't have my Linux thumbdrive here with me, will take a look later.