01-02-2009, 04:13 AM

Hi,

My new macbook (aluminum) has problems booting a system from an external hard drive. I restart the computer with option held down and I can see the external volume there. As soon as I press it, the screen goes black and the computer restarts itself back into my normal computer.

I have tried a firewire connection and usb 2.0 connection with my other older macbooks and they work fine with both connections. They run the system perfectly and more importantly can reboot using the external hard drive with an apple system installed.

Any help would be appreciated...

dr_doof

01-02-2009, 07:28 AM

Most probably you installed a working system for the older macbooks, and that system will not boot the new macbook

01-02-2009, 09:27 AM

Agreed, that would be my guess as well.

Keep in mind that the newest MacBooks and MacBook Pros use a completely different, nVidia-based platform. If that external has an install for a different model, it's not going to have appropriate drivers to actually boot on that hardware.

If you're trying to import documents/settings/applications, etc. you can always hook that drive up externally and use the Migration Assistant to bring that stuff over.