Backup drive does not show up as startup option
Well, I have my old G4 iMac and a recycled drive in an enclosure. My wife uses this Mac for a few things, but lately has been creating a large Excel file for her church chorus music, so I thought I'd better be sure she was backing up, because of the vast number of hours he's put in.
I had been doing smart backups and they seemed to go through. I decided I'd test the backup, and, while the external drive shows up fine on the desktop, it does not come up as a boot drive choice. SO, I did a full erase and copy, shut everything down and tried to boot with the option key down, but all I see is the internal drive - no backup (there is a "network drive" with a question mark on it, though). So, the backup drive is still on the desktop, but not as a system preferences option as a startup drive. OK, I have the excel file saved elsewhere now, so no harm, no foul, but why doesn't the drive show as a boot volume? |
Does the drie show up as a boot drive choice in the startup disk preference pane?
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If it matters, the G4 iMac is running 10.5.8. I also reset the PRAM and the Open Firmware, and ran OnyX. I also downloaded a new copy of SD! and replaced the one on the HD. I hadn't previously tried to use the backup as a startup (not for several years, anyway), but this came up when I went to back up the HD and a dialog box came up for a new version. When I said OK to install, the installation crashed, gave me a red dialog box. It wasn't the same after that, if this information helps. |
It wasn't clear whether you meant the Startup Disk preference pane or the Option+Power On menu - that's why I asked.
Check to see how the drive is partitioned. Perhaps it's not using the right partition scheme (see Help > Frequently Asked Questions, top question). |
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One correction: It's a G5 iMac (not a G4). I believe RAM is max'd out at 2G. The external drive is only 60G (as opposed to 250 in the iMac) but only has 32 G on it. Perhaps the disparity of capacity is part of the problem. |
We don't actually care about the size, as long as the data fits with plenty of extra space.
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That's the format, not the partition scheme...
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Comment: Last night, I erased and replaced with no problem, but today I tried to do a smart update and it crashed (could not copy). I probably set the drive up for the first time when it was connected to my Intel iMac. Don't you ever sleep? :) |
It didn't crash. If you have an issue where it fails, please send the log if you can't figure it out (with the send to shirt pocket button).
I'll sleep when I'm dead. (h/t Warren Zevon) |
I guess you hit it on the head. Re-partitioning worked, and external now shows up as a startup choice. Running smart update (again) now, and it's halfway through, so all seems OK.
Thank you for your patience. This is why I recommend SD! whenever I can. HR |
Great! Glad things are working as expected now.
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