G4 won't boot from SD firewire backup

[Duke]

Hi, a new user here...

I have a PowerMac G4 mirror-door, dual-1Gb, OS 10.3.8 and am having no success in booting from the SD backup I've just made on a new LaCie FW400 Porsche drive. I've selected it as the startup drive in Sytem Prefs but the machine still boots from the internal drive, and when I restart with option held down the drive's icon does not appear.

Any advice greatly appreciated.

Thanks

Duke

[dnanian]

Assuming you did a "Backup - all files" with "Erase, then copy" or "Smart Update", I'd suggest booting to Option-boot with the drive disconnected. Once you're at the drive selection screen, and the watch has turned to an arrow, plug in the LaCie.

Wait for it to spin up, then press the Refresh button. The drive should show -- select it and press the "-->" button to boot.

Let me know if that works.

[Duke]

hi Dave, thanks for the fast response.

Yes, when I made the backup I did a "Backup - all files" with "Erase, then copy" to the LaCie.

I've tried the startup procedure you described, but still no sign of the backup drive.

The LaCie I have has its own power supply, it's not bus-powered.

[dnanian]

Hm. Does the drive show up as a possible startup option in the Startup Disk Preference Pane?

To help me figure this out, please send the log for the run (just start SD!, open the log window and copy/paste) into the support email address: I'd like to take a look. Include a System Profiler report at the same time -- to do so, run System Profiler, choose File > Save and save to the default (XML) format. Archive (ZIP) the result and attach it to the email.

Make sure the drive is attached when you do that, too.

Thanks.

[Duke]

Does the drive show up as a possible startup option in the Startup Disk Preference Pane? - Yes, from the LaCie both the system folders for 10.3.8 and 9.2 appear!

[dnanian]

OK -- so the system is there as it should be*(as your log indicated as well). What happens if you then select the folder as a startup drive?

If that doesn't work, I'd suggest heading to LaCie's site and checking for a Firmware update for the drive...