Boot from a USB CD-Rom Drive

LordBeleza · 07-02-2004, 10:35 AM

How can I boot my ibook from a external usb device? Is it possible?

yellow · 07-02-2004, 10:38 AM

It'll be slow.. but put the CD in the external drive, boot the iBook and hold down Option. Eventually (it takes a while for the CPU to scan all the buses), all possible boot devices will show up. Click to select the one you want and click the (-->) right facing arrorw.

tlarkin · 07-02-2004, 11:19 AM

Also in system preferences you can choose your start up disk as well and then reboot the mac and it will boot off that start up device.

biovizier · 07-02-2004, 01:19 PM

I don't know if things have changed with the G4 iBook, but it apparently is not possible to boot a G3 iBook from an external USB CD:

"Mass Storage Class driver: Supports booting from a USB storage device that follows the USB Mass Storage Class specification. Mass Storage Class drivers do not support CD, CD-R, or other read-only media types."

http://developer.apple.com/documenta.../iBook.46.html

tlarkin · 07-02-2004, 02:42 PM

I am pretty sure that is no longer the case. The kbase article you linked is from Sept. of 1999. I am almost positive you can boot off external optical drives both usb and firewire using the boot option menu Yellow mentioned above.

07-02-2004, 10:35 AM	#1
LordBeleza Prospect Join Date: Jul 2004 Posts: 16	Boot from a USB CD-Rom Drive How can I boot my ibook from a external usb device? Is it possible?

07-02-2004, 11:19 AM	#3
tlarkin League Commissioner Join Date: Mar 2003 Location: Kansas City Posts: 11,347	Also in system preferences you can choose your start up disk as well and then reboot the mac and it will boot off that start up device. __________________ sudo make me a sammich http://www.tlarkin.com "It just told me what I already knew, that I'm a great and amazing guy, didn't I tell you baby, I'm Zaphod Beeblebrox."

07-02-2004, 02:42 PM	#5
tlarkin League Commissioner Join Date: Mar 2003 Location: Kansas City Posts: 11,347	I am pretty sure that is no longer the case. The kbase article you linked is from Sept. of 1999. I am almost positive you can boot off external optical drives both usb and firewire using the boot option menu Yellow mentioned above. __________________ sudo make me a sammich http://www.tlarkin.com "It just told me what I already knew, that I'm a great and amazing guy, didn't I tell you baby, I'm Zaphod Beeblebrox."

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07-02-2004, 10:38 AM	#2
yellow Moderator Join Date: Jan 2002 Posts: 10,677	It'll be slow.. but put the CD in the external drive, boot the iBook and hold down Option. Eventually (it takes a while for the CPU to scan all the buses), all possible boot devices will show up. Click to select the one you want and click the (-->) right facing arrorw.

07-02-2004, 01:19 PM	#4
biovizier All Star Join Date: May 2004 Location: london on ca Posts: 930	I don't know if things have changed with the G4 iBook, but it apparently is not possible to boot a G3 iBook from an external USB CD: "Mass Storage Class driver: Supports booting from a USB storage device that follows the USB Mass Storage Class specification. Mass Storage Class drivers do not support CD, CD-R, or other read-only media types." http://developer.apple.com/documenta.../iBook.46.html