Can't see bootable disk

[bely]

Hi,

My Intel Core 2 Duo Mac is as follows:

2,8 GHz
320 Gb
Mac OS X Leopard 10.5.2
Memory 2Gb

I've tried to make bootable volume onto WD Passport external drive with USB using SuperDuper! 2.5 version. But after procedure completion I can't see this external drive as bootable although I'm able to boot from it. And when I've booted from it I can't see WD disk as bootable as well.

Thank in advance

bely

[dnanian]

It's likely not partitioned properly -- you need to use the "GUID" partition scheme...

[jr32mn5]

I have an original Macbook (2.0 Ghz core duo) and was trying to do a clone of my internal drive to a WD Passport 320 GB 2.5" SATA 2 drive USB 2.0 enclosure.

I physically swapped the drives, and though I can boot from the new one, it won't show up in my Startup Disk preference. When I checked the disk with Disk Utility, the partition map scheme only shows up as Master Boot Record instead of GUID Partition Table.

I know that intel macs need a GPT partition scheme to boot off of, and my original disk was GPT partitioned, so I was quite surprised that Super Duper didn't replicate this. Any help would be appreciated.

I wonder if it is a possible issue with this particular drive case. When I had it open, I could see it uses an Initio USB->SATA bridge chip.

Is there any way to fix the partition scheme after the backup has been done? Do you need more details on the WD enclosure? Unfortunately I closed mine back up, but I could crack it open again to take a look.

[dnanian]

We don't copy the partition scheme. We copy the volume you select (the partition scheme is at a much lower level). It's not a part of the case -- it's how the drive was set up originally.

I don't think any current tools that can change the scheme "live" (e.g. iPartition) support Leopard yet...

[jr32mn5]

Thank you for your quick reply.

I am taking away from your post that I just need to reformat, and then switch partition types of my disk using Apple's Disk Utility.

I believe that Apple should make warnings more explicit that you are creating a non-bootable partition type for Mac OS X inside the Disk Utility program, but I am wondering if Super Duper, since it warned me it was going to erase the disk, could also have warned me that I have an incorrect partition scheme before backing up.

Would it make sense to show a warning scheme within Super Duper before proceeding, or did I miss the warning and proceed blindly earlier?

Kudos to a wonderful program and a fantastic resource.

[dnanian]

It's not something we check for, because it didn't used to be possible to format an HFS+ volume on a disk that wasn't properly partitioned. I've written a post at the blog (http://www.shirt-pocket.com/blog/index.php/comments/small_change_big_impact/) about this change and how it had unintended consequences for many users.