#MAC PRO DESKTOP BOOT TO USB DRIVE HOW TO#

That is a bit more involved, and there are several methods. It is also possible to boot an Intel Mac from a USB flash drive. It's a good thing to know as Apple seems to be determined to bury Firewire on the lower priced laptops it sells. So have at it - either install a clean version of Leopard or Tiger on the drive, or use your favorite bootable-backup utility to clone your existing install to the USB volume. Check the support document linked above for more details. In my case, I booted up just fine from a portable with no external power supply. USB booting generally works fine from a bus-powered portable drive as well as a powered USB desktop drive. A little online research revealed the obscure truth. I didn't think it was possible either, and when I bought my MacBook Pro last year, I was wishing I could boot from a USB drive because of the easy availability of inexpensive storage.

#MAC PRO DESKTOP BOOT TO USB DRIVE HOW TO#

Here's the Apple support document that tells you how to do it. Since the release of the Intel Mac computers, and with Mac OS X 10.4.5 or later, you can start up from an installed system on a USB hard disk. While older machines did indeed need Firewire for bootable external media, that is no longer true. When I wrote my post Tuesday about booting a Mac off an external USB hard drive, I was surprised how many people followed up to tell me that it wouldn't work, and that I needed a Firewire drive to externally boot a Mac. Update: As the comments point out and Low-End Mac confirms, support for USB booting was present in the Mac OS 9 era with the introduction of dual-channel USB in 1999, available first on the slot-loading iMac and one model of the AGP PowerMac G4 however, your mileage and performance may vary when trying to get these machines to boot Mac OS X from USB devices (as has been previously reported on TUAW). More Mac 101, our ongoing series of tips and tidbits for new Mac users.

Mac pro desktop boot to usb drive