WD My Passport Studio Drive won't boot

[manfredell]

Originally Posted by 2stepbay

Hi

I recently purchased a portable Western Digital My Passport Studio Drive - 500 GB, 800/400 fw. I have partitioned the drive into two partitions - one for SuperDuper, the other for storing images. The drive itself is GUID partitioned, per Disk Utility, and each partition is Mac Os Extended (Journaled).

No problem creating the SuperDuper clone, or backing up. However, today, I attempted to boot from it. While it is recognized in System Preferences>Startup Disk, and I can select it, the partition will not boot. As an alternative I started up holding down the option key. Only the main HD appears.

Appreciate any guidance to get this to work correctly.

I have the same problem but have found a workaround on the net:

start with the drive disconnected then hold alt key. when the drive list appears PLUGIN the wd drive. Now it appears and you can boot from it.
There must be a problem with the fw implementation on the wd. But this workaround works.

[chriswaco]

Originally Posted by 2stepbay

Hi

I recently purchased a portable Western Digital My Passport Studio Drive - 500 GB, 800/400 fw. I have partitioned the drive into two partitions - one for SuperDuper, the other for storing images. The drive itself is GUID partitioned, per Disk Utility, and each partition is Mac Os Extended (Journaled).

No problem creating the SuperDuper clone, or backing up. However, today, I attempted to boot from it. While it is recognized in System Preferences>Startup Disk, and I can select it, the partition will not boot. As an alternative I started up holding down the option key. Only the main HD appears.

Appreciate any guidance to get this to work correctly.

Try booting from USB instead of Firewire. I can't get the Passport Studio to boot from Firewire either, which is very annoying. Works fine from USB, but I paid nearly double for a faster Firewire 800 drive.

Someone posted that it might be a "LUN" ("Logical Unit Number") problem with the drive. Someone else I know with a different firmware version can boot his Mac via firewire, so it could be that there's an upgrade or downgrade available.

[TMay]

chriswaco

I assume you tried the firewire boot workaround suggested above by flick and seconded by manfredell? I am kind of curious if it works.

[Robear423]

Thank you FLICK!!! On Black friday I went ahead and purchased two WD Passport Studio Fire HD's (GREAT Deal). I easily backed up using SD. Could not, for the life of me why the "bootable" backup would not boot. NEVER would have given this a thought. WORKS PERFECTLY!!! Thanks for the post...

Ps.. Yes "chriswaco", it really does work!!

[Robear423]

Thank you FLICK!!! On Black friday I went ahead and purchased two WD Passport Studio Fire HD's (GREAT Deal). I easily backed up using SD. Could not, for the life of me why the "bootable" backup would not boot. NEVER would have given this a thought. WORKS PERFECTLY!!! Thanks for the post...

To Sum It Up: DISCONNECT WD Passport Firewire Drive. Boot, holding "option" key. When system pauses and list appears, plug in HD Firewire Drive. TaDa!! It now appears as a BOOTABLE option!!

[dnanian]

You shouldn't have to do this kind of thing, though, great deal or not...

[Robear423]

Right you are! You certainly shouldn't have to spend the hours it took me to finally find your post for a solution. They ought to at least inform you of this kind of thing!