Boot G5 from an external drive

[Steve_on_Seeley]

I have an IDE drive in an enclosure that connects to my G5 using USB2. It was the boot drive from my (dead) G4. How do I boot from it, instead of the internal sata drive?

TIA,
Steve

 

[Kaveman]

Go to System Preferences > Startup choose the disk and do a restart.

 

[Steve_on_Seeley]

Thank you.

That's what I tried first. The Mac doesn't show the external drive in that window. Is it possible it needs to be connected by FireWire instead of USB? Is it possible it needs a particular setting of the jumpers (master / slave)? It is set to cable select.

Steve

 

[Kaveman]

Yes some early models only boots off FireWire, but it could also mean that the Mac does not see that Drive as having a bootable System on it.

 

[Steve_on_Seeley]

It IS a power Mac PC not an Intel, although I don't know how old it is. The person I bought it from said it would only support OS 10.5.8.

The drive I want to boot from was the boot drive in the G4. So you think I need to find a FireWire connector? Is there such a thing as a USB to FireWire converter or do I need to find a FireWire enclosure for an IDE drive?

Thanks, again,
Steve

 

[Cory Cooper]

Sorry,

G5 and earlier will only boot from external FireWire, not USB. You would need to find a FireWire enclosure, there are no USB to FireWire adapters.

C

 

[Steve_on_Seeley]

Thank you, Cory