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You are here: MacNN Forums > Hardware - Troubleshooting and Discussion > Consumer Hardware & Components > Can you boot OSX from an iPod?

Can you boot OSX from an iPod?
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Lt_Core
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Apr 3, 2003, 05:59 PM
 
I would love to have a portable Firewire drive that can boot into OSX.

Can you load OSX onto the iPod and then select it to boot from?
     
gorickey
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Apr 3, 2003, 07:03 PM
 
Originally posted by Lt_Core:
I would love to have a portable Firewire drive that can boot into OSX.

Can you load OSX onto the iPod and then select it to boot from?
Yes.
     
bradoesch
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Apr 3, 2003, 07:15 PM
 
Although it's unsupported by Apple, if that matters to you.
     
gatorparrots
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Apr 3, 2003, 07:59 PM
 
You can also boot Linux from an iPod:
http://ipodlinux.sourceforge.net/index.shtml
     
subego
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Apr 3, 2003, 08:01 PM
 
I've heard the iPod drive isn't really designed to be used this intensively, so using it as your primary system disk would be a bad idea.

Could still make a good emergency boot disk tho...
     
GORDYmac
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Apr 4, 2003, 09:06 AM
 
Yes, it'll boot a few times, then die.
     
ryju
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Apr 4, 2003, 09:52 AM
 
Originally posted by GORDYmac:
Yes, it'll boot a few times, then die.
Serious?
     
GORDYmac
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Apr 4, 2003, 06:50 PM
 
Yes. I can't find the link now, but booting OS X is extremely intensive for such a small drive. The heat from the boot activity will ruin it.
     
bradoesch
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Apr 4, 2003, 08:42 PM
 
Originally posted by GORDYmac:
Yes. I can't find the link now, but booting OS X is extremely intensive for such a small drive. The heat from the boot activity will ruin it.
Wouldn't loading if full of songs be just as intensive?
     
icruise
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Apr 4, 2003, 10:02 PM
 
Originally posted by GORDYmac:
Yes. I can't find the link now, but booting OS X is extremely intensive for such a small drive. The heat from the boot activity will ruin it.
That's really not true. There are several windows subnotebooks that use the same hard disk as the ipod for their main hard disk. They don't seem to die after booting a couple of times... It is true that Apple doesn't support that feature for some reason, and there was a lot of speculation as to why (with a lot of people saying that it might not be good for the drive) but I don't think this was ever proven, and given my point above, seems unlikely.
     
Mac Zealot
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Apr 5, 2003, 08:17 AM
 
lol but I played a good game of quake3 off my ipod!

It just got warm *shrug*
In a realm beyond site, the sky shines gold, not blue, there the Triforce's might makes mortal dreams come true.
     
Jerommeke
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Apr 5, 2003, 01:57 PM
 
Originally posted by bradoesch:
Wouldn't loading if full of songs be just as intensive?
No.

Please, I know it sounds fun, but why do people never use their expensive thing for what it is used for.

For instance, one could go inside the washing machine, but it is not pretty recommended ;D.
iMac G5 2.0 Ghz 20", 2 GB RAM, 400 GB, OS X 10.4.5, iPod with color screen 60 GB
     
bradoesch
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Apr 5, 2003, 02:19 PM
 
Originally posted by Jerommeke:
No.

Please, I know it sounds fun, but why do people never use their expensive thing for what it is used for.

For instance, one could go inside the washing machine, but it is not pretty recommended ;D.
You might change my mind about this if you would explain yourself a bit more. Just saying no doesn't explain it very well.
     
Peter
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Apr 5, 2003, 02:34 PM
 
I have OS X installed on my iPod along with my precious school work It is just a very good back device .
we don't have time to stop for gas
     
billybob128
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Apr 5, 2003, 03:54 PM
 
ok we have established that it is possible so will someone with a higher IQ than myself (over 20) please explain how to do it?
please
     
scadboy
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Apr 5, 2003, 07:48 PM
 
145 here, so here goes?

connect your ipod to your mac
um, install os x onto the ipod

voilla

as far as booting off the ipod goes, the easiest thing to do is to connect the ipod to the mac you want to boot while the mac is turned off, and then hold down the option key on the keyboard just after you press the power button. This will boot you into openfirmware, and will allow you to select which disk you boot from. Just select you ipod when the screen comes up, and go from there.

I've heard that it's not good for the ipod, an it is a fact that apple does not support it, but I did this with my ipod for three hours a day, pretty much every other day for ten weeks last spring, and it didn't seem to do any damage. It did get pretty darn hot, though, so I stopped doing that.

I did it during my class because my school is still running os 9 on all of its machines, which is a total pain in the rear. So I'd just boot into OS x and run my apps. It ran pretty nicely on those cubes.

ciao,
     
icruise
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Apr 5, 2003, 10:12 PM
 
I think I read that the latest ipod software disabled being able to install OS X normally onto an ipod, but even then you can clone a working disk to an ipod with Carbon Copy Cloner.
     
Peter
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Apr 6, 2003, 05:47 AM
 
damn, best uninstall OS X on iPod then, it uses 2.5Gb ...
Could you boot into OS 9.2 from an iPod?
we don't have time to stop for gas
     
Jerommeke
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Apr 6, 2003, 08:47 AM
 
Originally posted by Icruise:
I think I read that the latest ipod software disabled being able to install OS X normally onto an ipod, but even then you can clone a working disk to an ipod with Carbon Copy Cloner.
You can maybe imagine what I am thinking now: Great.
iMac G5 2.0 Ghz 20", 2 GB RAM, 400 GB, OS X 10.4.5, iPod with color screen 60 GB
     
subego
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Apr 7, 2003, 01:22 PM
 
Originally posted by bradoesch:
Wouldn't loading if full of songs be just as intensive?
AFAICT, with music, the iPod drive spins up, shoots the next 20 minutes of music into RAM, and then spins down. It won't access the drive again until the music is used up from RAM (or you change the playlist).

Originally posted by Icruise:
There are several windows subnotebooks that use the same hard disk as the ipod for their main hard disk
Do these have fans? Better airflow around the drive? (not being snotty, just curious)
     
icruise
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Apr 7, 2003, 04:14 PM
 
Originally posted by subego:

Do these have fans? Better airflow around the drive? (not being snotty, just curious)
I don't know the details -- it's possible. But the reason they use the 1.8" drive is because they are very thin and light, so I can't imagine that they have a lot better airflow, and I don't think they use fans either.

I'm not saying that it would be a good idea to regularly run your system from your ipod (better safe than sorry, I would think) but the iPod certainly shouldn't croak if you did it occasionally, for troubleshooting purposes, or whatever.
     
bradoesch
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Apr 7, 2003, 10:41 PM
 
Originally posted by subego:
AFAICT, with music, the iPod drive spins up, shoots the next 20 minutes of music into RAM, and then spins down. It won't access the drive again until the music is used up from RAM (or you change the playlist).

What I meant was loading songs to the iPod from your Mac, not when it plays the songs aftewards.
     
tooki
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Apr 9, 2003, 04:04 AM
 
You can only boot from FireWire drives (this includes the iPod) if your Mac has AGP graphics (so NOT a blue G3 or Yikes! G4).

Any OS that your AGP Mac can boot, it can boot from FireWire.

tooki
     
brianlaughlin
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Apr 9, 2003, 11:37 AM
 
I installed Mac OS X 10.2 in my fresh reset 5GB ipod with firmware 1.2.6. The installation was fine but when the installer ask to Restart the machine and the machine restart and tryed to boot from the iPod, it hangs up in the Grey apple screen...

I installed 10.1.4 and works fine!!!

Does Jaguar not work in iPods?

FYI: I have a TiBook 667MHz w/512MB RAM and Mac OS X 10.2.4 installed

Thanks,

Brian
     
   
 
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