Most Western Digital External Drives Won't Boot
Macs
From Chris:
Charles,
Re: Rich
I have a WD My Book Essentials external drive. The hardware used by
WD in some of their drives makes them incompatible with booting of
PowerPC Macs . . . see
here.
As I recall, it apparently has to do with the first device ID (or
similar issue) that PPC Macs use to find the bootable drive being used
by the front button for one-button backup software (for PCs). They used
to have an explanation in the FAQ; now they just list
compatibility/incompatibility.
Chris
Thanks for the info. Chris.
Charles
Unbootable Western Digital FireWire Drives
From DG:
Rich wrote:
"Lee's not the only one to have problems with Western
Digital external drives. I've got two that have FireWire but can't be
used as startup disks because my machines can't see them at power up,
even when the drives are turned on first using external power. Since
I've been able to replicate this problem with several Macs, I'm
assuming it's something about the WD drives. For what it's worth, I
have not tried to use any of the software that they came with: I
reformatted and partitioned them right out of the box."
Hi Charles:
For Rich and anyone else that's trying to boot from a recent WD
external hard drive, it's not possible. More information on the subject
can be found here:
Bombich
Software Forums - View Topic - Western Digital drives !!!!! AVOID
!!!!
Hope this helps.
Hi DG,
Thanks for the link.
Charles
Editor's note: Quotes from the Bombich forum:
"We have had reports of problems with some
Western Digital 'My Book' drives due to their automatic spindown
(sleep) 'feature'. We understand that WD are unable to offer a
solution, i.e. that 'feature' cannot be disabled. The only answer for
some users has been to purchase an uncrippled FW drive. 'My book'
drives do not respond to Energy Saver settings. LaCie drives, in
contrast, have optional auto sleep by a switch; in that 'sleep' they
respond to Energy Saver settings and, for example, will spin up when a
schedule starts, which the 'My Book' will not do."
And later on, "WD say that none of their external
drives should be used to boot any computer." dk
Unbootable Drives Could Be Misformatted
A friend and I were given identical LaCie FireWire drives, new in
the box, for use at work. We opened and installed OS X at the same
time following the same steps. Mine was bootable, his was not. His
would even show under 'Startup Disk' preferences but not at bootup.
After multiple attempts at formatting and reinstalling Mac OS X, I
noticed the 'Options' button in Disk Utility under Partition. His had a
DOS partition map instead of Apple. I changed the partition map and
reinstalled Mac OS X. It booted fine. I checked a drive at home
that I was never able to use to boot and found the same DOS partition
map. After changing to Apple, it now boots fine.
Dennis
Hi Dennis,
Ah yes. The partition map is absolutely crucial to
bootability.
There are several options available for initializing
hard drives in Disk Utility. The Apple Partition Map (APM) format is
bootable for PowerPC Macs and for Intel machines (while GUID formatted
drives will only boot Intel Macs).* That means you have to choose, and
switching from PowerPC to Intel can be a pain. I recently had to
reinitialize and restore my two main external hard drives, which had
been formatted with the Apple Partition Map, to make them bootable with
my new Unibody
MacBook.
As you discovered, you can specify your chosen
partition map option in the Options sheet of the OS X Disk Utility
formatting pane.
Charles
* Editor's note: You can boot Intel Macs from APM
drives, you cannot install Mac OS X to an APM partition from an
Intel Mac. You can, however, clone an OS X installation from a
GUID drive or partition to an APM one using Carbon Copy Cloner,
SuperDuper, or
something similar. This can give you a universal Leopard boot drive for
both PowerPC and Intel Macs - it worked for me. dk
WiFi Range Reduction with AirPort Base Station
Hi Charles,
There is a way to reduce the range of wireless as Scott asked (Miscellaneous Ramblings
Mailbag 2009.04.22). The Apple AirPort Utility has a section called
"Wireless Options" which allows one to adjust the transmit power in
increments from 100% down to 10%. This could conceivably accomplish his
goal of making it more difficult and less attractive for the neighbors
to steal your wireless.
In a nod to Earth Day, I will also point out that lower transmit
power should equal less energy used.
Dave
Hi Dave,
Thanks for the information. That might be all that's
needed in many instances.
Charles
AirPort Range Reduction
From Russell
You can use the AirPort Utility (Applications > Utilities >
AirPort Utility.app) to limit the transmitting power of an AirPort. I
have mine reduced to 50% for the same reason as Scott mentioned. There
is a small convenience store at the end of our driveway, and someone
could sit out there for hours without being noticed.
Russell
Hi Russell,
Thanks for the tip.
Charles
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