start from SD b/u cloned drive without copy

[tuni]

Yesterday, installed some WinXP updates to my VmWare portion of my iMac.

Ran Sandbox this a.m. and encountered problems (maybe?) due to the XP updates.

I don't want to recopy my files however I'd like to just START my computer from my iMac SD backup clone without copying anything to it.

That way I can check to see if my main SD backup (not Sandbox) is still pristine without messing up everything on that too.

Basically, I want to Start my iMac from my main SD backup to see if I can get to my previous (before the updates) files . How do I start from my main SD clone (LaCie FW) without copying anything?

I looked in the manual & help files but don't see this addressed.

thx
tuni

[chris_johnsen]

Originally Posted by tuni

How do I start from my main SD clone (LaCie FW) without copying anything?

The usual ways are to either hold down Option while the Mac restarts with the bootable, backup drive attached, or use the Startup Disk preference pane of System Preferences.

When you pick a new startup volume with System Preferences/Startup Disk, the selection will be "sticky". This means that until you change the setting, the machine will always boot from that volume if it is available (it will boot from a volume on the internal disk if the specified volume is not attached and available).

Option-while-booting will provide you with a list of the bootable volumes attached to the system. Pick the volume you want to boot and click the boot button. The next (non-Option) reboot will revert to the normal startup disk (the one set in System Preferences/Startup Disk).

You might prefer the Option-boot method if you know you are only going to boot into the other volume once. You might prefer the preference pane method if you expect to need to boot into the volume multiple times and do not want to have to remember to hold down Option each time.

If the volume you want does not appear in the lists generated by the Option-boot menu and the preference pane, then the system does not consider the volume to be not bootable (usually a disk/Firewire/USB/connection problem or because the disk has the wrong partitioning scheme for the machine).

If you are unsure of the volume from which a machine is currently booted, you can check it with  (Apple Menu) > About This Mac.

[tuni]

thanks, chris

followed your advice with no problems. However there is a glitch somewhere when I boot up from either my SD clone and Sandbox, having to do with VmWare. On the reboot, everything is fine onthe imac. However when I click on the VmWare fusion launcher for Widows XP I get a notification from VmWare re. a "kernal" problems and then Win XP comes up frozen in a small box. Can not make mouse move in Windoz - first time this has ever happened.

I don't know if the problem is in the SD bootup or in VmWare. Hard to figure out where and who is the culprit. Am going to try some more and see if I can figure it out.

many thx,

t