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jeegan · May 2, 2005, 12:32 PM

Can I boot my iBook via a USB DVD-ROM? If so, how do I?

D'Espice · May 3, 2005, 01:49 PM

Nope, you can't. iBooks (and as far as I know this goes for every other Macintosh computer as well) cannot be booted from a USB device. Internal harddrives and Firewire drives are supported, USB is not to this very day.

Ji Eun · May 6, 2005, 08:07 PM

why the hell not? that doesn't make any sense to me. when i was having issues with my iBook i can't count how many times i wished i could boot from my external USB drive. if there is some technical reason for this i'd like to hear it.

D'Espice · May 7, 2005, 05:50 AM

There is no technical reason for this, x86 PCs have been doing it for years. Only Apple knows for sure...

tooki · May 8, 2005, 09:25 PM

D'Espice is wrong. All AGP Macs (this includes all iBook models) can boot from USB and FireWire devices. Macs have been able to boot from USB and FW for far longer than PCs.

tooki

Ji Eun · May 8, 2005, 11:21 PM

perhaps that's true if you have the skills, but my more or less default OS X configuration has never let me install the operating system onto my external USB drive, let alone boot from it

tooki · May 9, 2005, 02:02 AM

I've never had a USB disk large enough to hold Mac OS X, but I have tested USB booting from Mac OS 9 on my old PowerBook, and it works fine. I don't have a USB optical drive to play with now, though I know for a fact that in the past, booting from USB optical drives did work.

tooki

D'Espice · May 9, 2005, 03:55 AM

OK let's give this a shot. I have a 40GB USB drive. I'll use CCC to clone my OS X and try booting.

D'Espice · May 9, 2005, 05:02 AM

Sorry tooki, but it definitely doesn't work. I used CCC to clone my Panther. It shows up in System Prefs but when selecting the USB drive and clicking reboot, nothing happens. All I can hear is this clicky sound but it doesn't reboot. When selecting the internal harddrive and clicking reboot, it reboots.
When rebooting manually and holding the ALT/Option key, the only boot volume I can select is the one on the internal harddrive - no USB volume whatsoever. When booting from the Panther DVD, the USB drive has a red exclamation mark and it says "You cannot install Mac OS X on this volume. You cannot start up your computer using this volume". That pretty much says it all, doesn't it?

Maybe it used to work with older Macs, don't know. But it definitely does not work with my iBook.

tooki · May 9, 2005, 05:16 PM

Sounds like maybe Mac OS X doesn't do it. It's most unlikely that the functionality has been removed from the firmware. I wish I had a USB optical drive to test with...

tooki

Ji Eun · May 9, 2005, 10:54 PM

Originally Posted by D'Espice

Sorry tooki, but it definitely doesn't work. I used CCC to clone my Panther. It shows up in System Prefs but when selecting the USB drive and clicking reboot, nothing happens. All I can hear is this clicky sound but it doesn't reboot. When selecting the internal harddrive and clicking reboot, it reboots.
When rebooting manually and holding the ALT/Option key, the only boot volume I can select is the one on the internal harddrive - no USB volume whatsoever. When booting from the Panther DVD, the USB drive has a red exclamation mark and it says "You cannot install Mac OS X on this volume. You cannot start up your computer using this volume". That pretty much says it all, doesn't it?

Maybe it used to work with older Macs, don't know. But it definitely does not work with my iBook.

i said the same thing like 5 or 10 posts up.

MrEUser · May 15, 2005, 03:09 PM

The clicking you heard is indicitive of an undercurrent condition. There wasn't enough current available for the HD to function. When you connect an external HD to laptop USB ports there is often not enough current available for the HD and electronics running the connection. USB standard tops out at 500mA if I remember correctly and this is often the minimum amount needed for HD operation (motors pull more current durring start up). Soultion is to get a dual head USB cable (one head does data and power, the other does power only, total up to 1 amp current draw). There are other reasons for a clicking USB external drive, this one is just the most likely in your situation. You may want to try hooking up the laptop to a power source while doing this experiment if you have only a single head USB cable. That may help provide enough power as well, no guarantees though as I don't know enough about the internal power circuitry in the laptop. Whatever you use as a sloution (if you reach one), please let me know. Thanks, Everett

tooki · May 15, 2005, 04:04 PM

I must also point out that the original poster never mentioned Mac OS X, and I know with absolute certainty that the 500MHz iBook can boot Mac OS 9 from USB, be it from a Mass Storage device like a thumb drive or hard disk, or a USB optical drive with a Mac OS 9 disc.

tooki

sniffer · May 23, 2005, 08:13 AM

Doesn't work on an iBook 600 Rage 128 mobility either (OS X software). I got a fried Firewire port as well, so it looks bad for external booting. (Not that USB1 is very stable for data transfer anyway IME.)