 |
 MULTIPLE FLASH CARD READER PR0 9 USB 20 EXTERNAL INTERNAL 9 IN 1  US $9.99
|
 Gemalto GemPC USB External SmartCard Card Reader New US $8.77
|
 Memory Stick USB External Card Reader Writer US $12.56
|
 Dynex DX CRMN1 5 in 1 USB 20 Mini Memory Card Card reader external Hi Spe US $3.33
|
Is it possible to boot off an external USB drive on the Mac?
I have an external 500Gbyte USB drive that I want to use for back ups. Ideally I'd like to store an ISO image of my desktop and laptop, but you can't create an image from a startup disk. So I'd like to see if there is a way to make the USB drive bootable.
You can create an image using disk utility. In your case, boot off the disk that came with the computer by holding down the C key, have your ext drive connected to the comp, instead of installing the software, go to utilities, in there is disk utility. Click on your HD, click on new image, save it to your ext drive as read only and no encryption.
Takes maybe 15 mins max to make a HD image of your Mac.
Restart the comp, go to sys prefs, click on startup disk, choose your ext drive. Not positive, but you should be able to boot off it. Regardless, you now have a full image of your HD in case it ever dies.
WDBAAU0020HBK 1.5 TB external USB Hard Drive!
By Peter Gardiner
THE GOOD: We have three of these drives now, and have found no problem with any of them. They are VERY quiet, seem to generate very little heat judging from case temperatures (our usual software-captured HD internal temps are not currently available through the USB interface), are compact (barely larger than the HD itself), very stable (horizontal orientation plus high-friction "feet" minimize toppling and slide-offs). The speed was entirely adequate for our usage (we use these external drives to store and access large sequential-access video files and .jpeg collections, usually one entire file at a time). Other uses - state-of-the-art gaming, or multiple-client realtime access, for example - might well find the USB 2.0 480Megabit/sec constraint unacceptably slow.
THE BAD: the mfg. one-year warranty is very disappointing. You could, alternatively, buy a Black edition 1.5 TB WD SATA drive with 5-year warranty and mount it in a USB and/or ESATA-connected docking station. With E-SATA connection the performance would be better but the docking station would be more expensive. With USB connection the performance and cost of the docking-station+HD would currently be roughly the-cost-of-the-docking-station more than the WDBAAU0015HBK-NESN we're reviewing. We decided to go with the WDBAAU0015HBK-NESN external drive (a) for aesthetic reasons (the docking station + HD combo that we liked LOOKS somewhat makeshift) and (b) the reviews for the WDBAAU0015HBK-NESN were excellent, and (c)the fact that no WD drive has ever failed in our low-stress use, made the warranty a minor issue for us. If you have an environment that may severely stress the drive physically or functionally, the USB and/or ESATA docking-station plus Black edition 1.5 TB HD w/ 5 year warranty might be a better choice.
About the Author
WDBAAU0020HBK
