Firewire drive startup problem: OSX 10.4.7

[edoates]

Too late. I did check when I "repartitioned" that the option was set to Apple Partition Map; I didn't look at what it was set at before I hit the "partition" button.

So I'll let you know if all is OK again after the backup.

If it doesn't work again, is there anything else you can think of that I should check?

Ed

[dnanian]

Yes. What I'd do is power everything off, including the FW drive. Then -- with the FW drive unplugged -- get to the Option boot screen and wait for the watch to change to an arrow.

Once there, plug in the FW drive and listen for it spinning up. Once up, plug in FW and refresh Option-boot: let's see if the drive shows up.

[edoates]

Well, I tried that; same deal: the drive does not show up on the "option startup" list, nor will it start up when selected in preferences. The "partition" type is Apple Partition Map according to Disk utility.

Anything else to check before I erase the drive, install OS X from CD to verify that it can be booted that way, and then doing the SuperDuper! backup?

Ed

[dnanian]

Nothing else offhand I can think of, Ed -- you can try an "archive-and-install" of OSX to it, though, to see if that makes a difference.

[edoates]

I think I'll do an "erase and install," make sure it boots, then do a "smart update" which should completely replace everything, but keep the ability to boot from the cloned drive.

I'll let you know what happens.

[dnanian]

Well, the "bootability" is simply setting things up with the right partition type and blessing, which is why this is a weird error. If the device is supported by the OS, it should just work...

[edoates]

I just want to close the loop here. I must have been mistaken about ever booting from the drive in question (Wiebetech Duo-800/500GB); when I did a full "erase and install" on the drive in question from the Tiger CD, at the point at which the installation reboots from the target drive, it failed to boot with exactly the same indication: the folder with a question mark in it.

So, I can only assume that this drive cannot be used as a boot drive. There are two drives inside the box, and it is possible that the other drive will boot up, but I've spent enough time on it. I have a safety backup off site (well, in my office instead of the main house), and it does boot successfully, so I can use that as a quick boot / SuperDuper restore drive.

Ed