Backup drive does not show up as startup option
 

Well, I have my old G4 iMac and a recycled drive in an enclosure. My wife uses this Mac for a few things, but lately has been creating a large Excel file for her church chorus music, so I thought I'd better be sure she was backing up, because of the vast number of hours he's put in.

I had been doing smart backups and they seemed to go through. I decided I'd test the backup, and, while the external drive shows up fine on the desktop, it does not come up as a boot drive choice. SO, I did a full erase and copy, shut everything down and tried to boot with the option key down, but all I see is the internal drive - no backup (there is a "network drive" with a question mark on it, though). So, the backup drive is still on the desktop, but not as a system preferences option as a startup drive.

OK, I have the excel file saved elsewhere now, so no harm, no foul, but why doesn't the drive show as a boot volume?

Does the drie show up as a boot drive choice in the startup disk preference pane?

No (I noted that in my OP). Just the internal and a "network drive (with a question mark)"

If it matters, the G4 iMac is running 10.5.8. I also reset the PRAM and the Open Firmware, and ran OnyX.

I also downloaded a new copy of SD! and replaced the one on the HD.

I hadn't previously tried to use the backup as a startup (not for several years, anyway), but this came up when I went to back up the HD and a dialog box came up for a new version. When I said OK to install, the installation crashed, gave me a red dialog box. It wasn't the same after that, if this information helps.

It wasn't clear whether you meant the Startup Disk preference pane or the Option+Power On menu - that's why I asked.

Check to see how the drive is partitioned. Perhaps it's not using the right partition scheme (see Help > Frequently Asked Questions, top question).

It should be right. This drive was in my old G4 tower and I put it in the external case when I got rid of the tower. It has not been reformatted. But tomorrow, I'll go upstairs and check it out.

One correction: It's a G5 iMac (not a G4). I believe RAM is max'd out at 2G. The external drive is only 60G (as opposed to 250 in the iMac) but only has 32 G on it. Perhaps the disparity of capacity is part of the problem.

We don't actually care about the size, as long as the data fits with plenty of extra space.

It is as expected - Mac OS Extended (Journaled)

That's the format, not the partition scheme...

Yep. I just re-partitioned it and am now running SD. I'll report when the backup is done.

Comment: Last night, I erased and replaced with no problem, but today I tried to do a smart update and it crashed (could not copy).

I probably set the drive up for the first time when it was connected to my Intel iMac.

Don't you ever sleep? :)

It didn't crash. If you have an issue where it fails, please send the log if you can't figure it out (with the send to shirt pocket button).

I'll sleep when I'm dead. (h/t Warren Zevon)

I guess you hit it on the head. Re-partitioning worked, and external now shows up as a startup choice. Running smart update (again) now, and it's halfway through, so all seems OK.

Thank you for your patience.

This is why I recommend SD! whenever I can.

HR

Great! Glad things are working as expected now.