Graham, I would still double check that a USB only drive can boot. The last thing that you want to find is that your data is on a drive that will not boot. Clone it with super duper or similar then try booting from it.
David On 22 Jan 2010, at 17:26, Graham Street wrote: > Thanks. > I didn't realise Intel Macs could boot from USB. I hadn't tried it and just > assumed it was only FW, as the non-Intel ones are. > Thanks for the recommendation for WD and I now know I don't need FW on the > drive. > Regards, Graham > > > on 22/01/2010 17:03 David Lazarus sent the following: >> Graham, >> >> I have used Lacie in the past. But have been switching to Western Digital >> for the last two years. Only last week bought a 500 Gb Western Digital My >> Passport Essential. It is certainly very small and USB 2 bus powered. Though >> it needs to be run off the machine. I tried a powered hub and that did not >> work. >> >> You will need a intel mac to be able to boot from USB. Firewire will boot on >> all macs. There is a FW version called My Passport Studio which may be the >> best bet for what you need. I hope that has helped. >> >> David >> >> >> >>> For the past 3+ years, I've been buying and using portable/mini drives for >>> my bootable backup drives and for storing backup data too. Now I've >>> switched all my computers to Snow Leopard (from Tiger) I'm using them for >>> TM backups too. For all the time I've been buying them, I've used Formac >>> 'disk mini'. They've been excellent, and they come with both FW and USB >>> connections. I need the portability these mini disks offer (but I use >>> full-size external drives too). >>> >>> Now it seems much more difficult to buy Formac disk mini drives. My >>> original suppliers (DABS, ebuyer, solutions-inc) have all stopped stocking >>> them. And, if I can find them anywhere, it rarely includes the firewire >>> version. If you follow the suppliers link on the Formac website, none of >>> the suppliers listed now appear to keep these drives. Does anyone know >>> what' s up with Formac and why getting these drives is now very difficult? >>> >>> And is there an alternative manufacturer (but not Lacie) that people would >>> recommend using for mini drives? Western Digital seems to be the most >>> prolific. I use their internal drives, but have read many reviews stating >>> their portables are not so good. In addition, many of the alternative >>> manufacturers seem to only have a USB port which is fine for backups but >>> presumably no good to boot from? Am I right that only a FW external drive >>> can be booted from? >>> >>> So what do you do, and what would you recommend? >>> Thanks, Graham >>> >>> -- >>> You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups >>> "Sussex Mac User Group" group. >>> To post to this group, send an email to [email protected]. >>> To unsubscribe from this group, send email to >>> [email protected]. >>> For more options, visit this group at >>> http://groups.google.com/group/smug?hl=en-GB. >>> >>> >> > > -- > You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups > "Sussex Mac User Group" group. > To post to this group, send an email to [email protected]. > To unsubscribe from this group, send email to > [email protected]. > For more options, visit this group at > http://groups.google.com/group/smug?hl=en-GB. > -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "Sussex Mac User Group" group. To post to this group, send an email to [email protected]. To unsubscribe from this group, send email to [email protected]. For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/smug?hl=en-GB.
