Booting a mac from an external cd drive

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jgordnerjgordner
Posted:
in Current Mac Hardware edited January 2014
My Powerbook's SuperDrive is busted, and I wanted to format my drive and reinstall OS X -- is that possible to do from an external (USB) CD drive? or do I have to replace my superdrive?



Thanks,



Jon

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  • Reply 1 of 3
    Marvinmarvin Posts: 15,585moderator
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by jgordner View Post


    My Powerbook's SuperDrive is busted, and I wanted to format my drive and reinstall OS X -- is that possible to do from an external (USB) CD drive? or do I have to replace my superdrive?



    If it's a firewire one you would be able to but because you are on PPC, a USB one likely won't work. Some people have managed to boot from USB devices before but the support isn't great. On the Intel Macs, both USB and firewire are supported for booting.



    I'd recommend replacing the internal anyway as that will improve the resale value.
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  • Reply 2 of 3
    jgordnerjgordner Posts: 15member
    So Firewire is supported?
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  • Reply 3 of 3
    sherman homansherman homan Posts: 167member
    Firewire yes. On your model, USB either won't work at all or will be very cranky.
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