[iMac] cannot boot new 500 GB SATA II HD installed into G5 20" iMac

[Steve Goldstein]

You are correct that a G5 cannot boot from an external USB enclosure, though an Intel Mac can, as long as the hard drive in it is properly formatted--which is another story.  However, I used the external enclosure only for cloning the drive, and then I installed it into the G5 iMac (this was one that users can open up, not the daylight sensing model which I believe is sealed to the explorations of mere mortals).  So, my guess is that somehow cloning it in the external USB enclosure prior to installing it into the iMac itself left something wanting.  I will have to wait until the new Firewire SATA enclosure that I ordered from cooldrives.com (these babies cost $107 each!) arrive and then re-clone to test.

Thanks for the replies,

--Steve

At 9:18 AM +0200 1/26/07, MacExperts wrote:
>You wrote: "The 500 GB Samsung was in an external USB 2.0 SATA enclosure."
>
>If I recall correctly you can boot from an external disk only if it is Firewire. You can't boot from USB external hard disks. Does your enclosure has a firewire port?
>
>Nick