thecoolguy321 Posted May 16, 2007 Share Posted May 16, 2007 I installed OSX to my external usb hdd enclosure by booting from the disc. However, now that the installation completed successfully, I can't figure out how to boot from it. I change my bios to set the usb enclosure to 1st priority (it supports this) and it seems to skip and go straight to my HDD and boot vista. Can anyone walk me through getting this to work? I'm also having trouble getting any boot programs to work with vista, although i'm not sure if one is even needed if the install is to an external HDD. anyways, i appreciate the input. my hardware should be compatible (I have a dual core pentium D 805 w/ssd2). Thanks! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mac Boy Posted May 16, 2007 Share Posted May 16, 2007 My Dell can boot osx from an external drive when I set the bios option. I then get the Darwin bootloader screen. Are you sure yout bios supports it? Can you boot another Windows installation from the external drive? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
thecoolguy321 Posted May 16, 2007 Author Share Posted May 16, 2007 That's interesting. I also have a Dell dimension e510. I have tried to boot from it with winxp before, and it would have worked (went to loading screen and would almost finish) but the external drive was corrupted. Could it be because of my hdd? the install went fine and i formatted it as part of that so I assume not.. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
thecoolguy321 Posted May 17, 2007 Author Share Posted May 17, 2007 bump Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mac Boy Posted May 17, 2007 Share Posted May 17, 2007 Well if your drive is corrupt, fix it. All I know is that I can boot osx and linux from an external usb-powered drive with no problems. Just make sure that you have only primary partitions -- not extended -- on all drives. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Oracle67 Posted May 17, 2007 Share Posted May 17, 2007 What if you press F8 on StartUp? What options you have on that action? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
thecoolguy321 Posted May 17, 2007 Author Share Posted May 17, 2007 I figured that using the installer to format the drive would fix the corruption tell me if i'm wrong. The only partition I made was with the installer itself. Also, Oracle, I have tried that. The only option I get is to boot into windows vista. No other choices except some diagnostics. any other ideas? And i'm also not sure what the difference between a primary and extended partition is. I seem to remember making an extended partition on the external usb drive with the osX installer. maybe that's the problem? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Oracle67 Posted May 18, 2007 Share Posted May 18, 2007 Os X cannot installed on a fat32 or ntfs extented partition on a possible external logical drive... Dont complain about that. Do proper work, the most of us we try the most of compinations to se what works and what not. Use IDE drive primary(recomended). Use PS/2 key and mouse(works most of time) You can use it like usb external thats no problem most of times(depended of hardware). Make sure that it isnt the last partiton on the last logical drive(user problem/misunderstunding). To be sure that you dond damage your system unplug your working (xp, vista, linux, whatever...) drives, and "play" with that drive only pluged(thats the most clear to chek your system). Disable SMART. Try to instal (try -v -x ...anything). Search related topics on that forum for simular problems. Give the most of details about your system with photos of possible error reports. Thats basic things to do just to chek your system and to help us in our way to help you. Wish you luck. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
thecoolguy321 Posted May 21, 2007 Author Share Posted May 21, 2007 Good advice i'm going to work on it tonight. Basic system details include: Dell dimension e510 with Pentium D 2.66 GHZ, 1 gig ram, ati radeon 300SE graphics accelerator, usb mouse and keyboard. Any red flags there? Oracle, I'm not sure what you mean about the partitions. The installer was what made the partitions in the first place. The drive should be Mac format. Essentially i want to confine the install to the USB drive, not partition my main drive which is a 300 gb STAT 7200 rpm one. Thanks Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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