Can't boot from another startup disk since OSX Lion install

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I hold c, or option when it starts up, or try to startup from another disk through system preferences.

I am no longer given the option to startup from any other disk other than my main internal hard drive, and the recovery drive.

I have a clone drive and a diskwarrior drive I would like to access. Does anyone know why this might be?

thanks in advance!!
 

chscag

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The installation of Lion should not have changed being able to boot from an external hard drive. Are you able to boot from a DVD? Also, what kind of Mac are you trying to boot, year and model?
 
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The installation of Lion should not have changed being able to boot from an external hard drive. Are you able to boot from a DVD? Also, what kind of Mac are you trying to boot, year and model?

Yes, I can boot from the OSX Leopard DVD. When I go to System Preferences>Startup Disk, there is the option to startup from the disk which I am trying to use, although it continues only to start up from my main internal HD reguardless.

However, during startup when I hold down the Option key, the disks that come up are only the main internal and the recovery drive. The other ones I have connected, which appear in system preferences, do not even show up.
 

chscag

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However, during startup when I hold down the Option key, the disks that come up are only the main internal and the recovery drive. The other ones I have connected, which appear in system preferences, do not even show up.

Are you sure the external hard drives are in fact bootable? The clone external hard drive is a clone of which operating system? Not sure about the Disk Warrior boot disk - it may no longer work correctly since you upgraded to Lion. I know that my Data Rescue 3 boot disk likewise no longer works for the same reason.
 
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Are you sure the external hard drives are in fact bootable? The clone external hard drive is a clone of which operating system? Not sure about the Disk Warrior boot disk - it may no longer work correctly since you upgraded to Lion. I know that my Data Rescue 3 boot disk likewise no longer works for the same reason.

yes, it worked before I installed OSX Lion. I am posting this because for some reason, when i restarted my computer just a second ago, it booted from the cloned drive because of how I had previously selected the startup disk in system preferences to be the clone drive.

I don't know why it's working now and wasn't working before. I will post again if the problem comes back up.

thank you for your help anyway!! :Oops:
 
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Me, too!

The exact same thing has happened to me, but it hasn't resolved itself. Help!
 

Slydude

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I think I had this happen on my Mac Pro which has one drive with Lion and one drive with Snow Leopard. That drive was a clone of my MacBook Pro. The first time I went to the startup preference pane and tried to boot SL it did not work. Went back and re-selected SL and it worked.
 
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I use SuperDuper! and have a number of bootable copies of both Lion and SL on external USB drives. All of these show up in the list when I boot with the Option key pressed, plus the Recovery partition and the DVD if it is in the drive. This has not changed since I installed Lion. Also applies both on my iMac and the MacMini.
 
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I am having exactly the same problem, and I've put days into making sure it's really happening.

Yes it is.

Since installing lion, the "hold C at startup to boot from CD" no longer works on my macbook pro mid 2009. I can not boot from my original install disks, I can not boot from the Leopard DVD, I can not boot from a bootable USB of Leopard, or a bootable USB copy for my Original Install disks. I can't even install Leopard from clicking in OSX Lion on the DVD drive, and then going through the installation instructions for Leopard. After it says it will restart the computer, it hangs and never installs.

Then when pressing the Option key at startup (which brings you into the choose the boot drive- where you can see the lion recovery partition), the DVD drive is not visible. HOWEVER, if I start up the machine with the lion disk on an external disk and hold the Option key at startup, then I see the external disk- and after a moment I see the DVD drive with the leopard install DVD. However if I click on it to instal, the system freezes.


I think that Lion does indeed change your computers basic firmware in someway that prevents you from booting from CD.

So anyone have any ideas about that?
 

chscag

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I think that Lion does indeed change your computers basic firmware in someway that prevents you from booting from CD.

Lion can not change the firmware. Apple does not include firmware updates along with an operating system update. Besides, each machine model has different firmware.

Try resetting your NVRAM and then see if you can boot from the optical drive. I have no problem booting from DVD on both of my Macs regardless of whether it's Snow Leopard or Lion.
 
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And using Lion has had no effect on DiskWarrior, booting from the DVD holding down 'C' or selecting from within Startup Disk.

Both ways of booting are just fine. Wonder is this is a problem within the optical drive? Also if you use an OWC Mercury Extreme SSD, do not use the TRIM patch to activate TRIM as this can cause this very problem.
 

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I have to option to boot from my SL drive, but it stops on the blue apple screen

Similar problem:

after holding opt on startup, I have to option to boot from my SL drive, but it stops on the blue apple screen and doesn't load any farther. It has only started since installing Lion though... any Ideas??
 
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Same problem here.

My Mac really started bogging down after installing Lion. Mail rarely works. Tried starting up from my snow leopard DVD, but it would only get to the starry screen and then stop. Tried starting up from a thumb drive with Lion on it, and it will get to the gray screen and stop.

Im now in the process of trying a clean install...
 
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Same problem for me too. The Macbook won't on any of my SL install disks, which are working on other Macbooks, but only on the Lion install disk.

It does nothing to erase the hd where Lion is installed...

I really don't know what I can do now...
 
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Lion won't read Snow Leopard Install DVD

I've been reading around and it really seems as though the Late 09 iMacs can have this issue as well. My issue is that the iMac won't even acknowledge there's a disk in the superdrive. I was at the Genius Bar recently for another repair and asked about it. My computer would not read my 10.6.2 Leopard disk. The Genius took the disk to other machines around the store and they read it fine. He then put in a blank disk in my machine, it read it fine. He then put in a 10.6.4 leopard disk, my machine read it. So here I am with every imaginable issue with Lion, bad wifi disconnects, slow internet when connected, sound issues with Logic / Garageband. And I cannot restore anything to Leopard. So I'm going to do it my way. I'm going to get a 10.6.8 ISO and burn it to a DVD and install from that. Lion has been the worst experience I've ever had with an OS.
 
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iMac (late 2010) not booting SL Install DVD

hi, i'm having similar problems with my iMac (i7, late 2010). Occasionally, I need to run Snow Leopard or Leopard. Have lots of external drives, two opticals.
SL Install DVD does NOT boot in any optical drive. No way: press C, press Alt, NVRAM, PRAM.

Found an old 40 GB drive out of my PowerMac, containing 10.5.8.
Connect, select as start volume, boot => Halfway (system hangs after half a boot).
Re-try => system boots.

Now (3 days later) again no boot.

Currently cloning said 10.5.8 drive, to have a backup.

Will post results, if any.

Best, Felix
 
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Guys, has there been any success with this?

I have a Mini, couple years old, and recently installed Liar...sorry, Lion. It totally sucks and im starting to hate wild cats.

Other forum suggested to wipe the drive clean and reinstall SL. But, like everyone else here, I cant seem to boot from the SL disc either with hold C or holding Option.

I get the message "you need to restart your computer...blablabla." grey screen of death.

Any help would be GREATLY appreciated, i've been preping for this downgrade for over a week.

BTW, I called Apple and asked for a refund because Lion sucks so much and it took away Front Row which is a deal breaker for my media center setup. Anyways, I got the refund and you should too!
 

chscag

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You should be able to boot from your Snow Leopard DVD provided it's the correct one for the Mini. Try doing a PRAM reset first, then see if it will boot.

To reset your computer’s PRAM:
Shut down the computer.

Locate the following keys on the keyboard: Command, Option, P, and R. You will need to hold these keys down simultaneously in step 4.

Turn on the computer.

Immediately press and hold the Command-Option-P-R keys. You must press this key combination before the gray screen appears.

Continue holding the keys down until the computer restarts, and you hear the startup sound for the second time.

Release the keys.


Let us know if that works.
 

Slydude

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Sorry to hear that your Lion experience has been less than stellar. While Lion did break Front Row there was a fix posted quickly Get Front Row for Mac OS X 10.7 Lion. That discussion includes a link to a discussion of Plex as an alternative.

I know this may not help you / change your mind but perhaps it will be useful for those whose only gripe is loss of Front Row.
 
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Ok, I had success. I was trying to reinstall SL with a copy I purchased but it never worked. I then found a set of discs that came with my Mini, which was SL but the disks looked different.

Anyways, I used the discs that came with my machine and everything went well, I was able to boot to the disc, format the drive and reinstall SL!

Im so happy to have SL back, Lion was a train wreck for me.




ps. now that I know only the discs that came with our computers will work for a recovery I highly recommend making duplicates since they will be impossible to find replacements incase of damage.
 

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