# Can intel macs boot from USB?



## milhaus (Jun 1, 2004)

USB drives and cases are so much cheaper than those with FW . . . Anybody done this yet?


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## audiodan (Sep 26, 2005)

I know that on PPC Macs will, if that helps.

http://www.ehmac.ca/showpost.php?p=390989&postcount=10


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## JPL (Jan 21, 2005)

Well I couldn't get PPC Macs or Intel Mac to boot from USB externals.


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## Atroz (Aug 7, 2005)

milhaus said:


> USB drives and cases are so much cheaper than those with FW . . . Anybody done this yet?


I'm waiting for my Intel iMac to arrive, so I haven't tried this yet. But, according to others, it does work. http://rentzsch.com/tidbits/intelbasedMacBootIncompatibility


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## mikef (Jun 24, 2003)

JPL said:


> Well I couldn't get PPC Macs or Intel Mac to boot from USB externals.


Me neither... my iBook G4 will not recognize a USB drive as a bootable device.


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## Atroz (Aug 7, 2005)

mikef said:


> Me neither... my iBook G4 will not recognize a USB drive as a bootable device.


No, PPC systems won't boot from USB. You need Firewire (with a controller that supports booting).

Edit: Sounds perhaps that I should have said "Recent PPC systems".


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## MACSPECTRUM (Oct 31, 2002)

Atroz said:


> No, PPC systems won't boot from USB. You need Firewire (with a controller that supports booting).


not so fast
i used to boot non FW g3 imacs from a USB external hard drive which came in very handy when their cd-rom drives were cooked as i had no other way to run repair utilities

quick list of iMacs to find non FW versions

http://www.theimac.com/


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## JPL (Jan 21, 2005)

MACSPECTRUM said:


> not so fast
> i used to boot non FW g3 imacs from a USB external hard drive which came in very handy when their cd-rom drives were cooked as i had no other way to run repair utilities
> 
> quick list of iMacs to find non FW versions
> ...


Oh thats cheating NON firewire well DUH


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## milhaus (Jun 1, 2004)

Well, this has been useful . . . ;-)


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## adam1185 (Feb 16, 2005)

I've booted my intel iMac from a USB drive after using SuperDuper to clone my main drive.

It works.


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