Booting 2012 Mac-mini off a CD/DVD?

I have a 2012 (May) Mac-mini. I also have an external optical drive (USB DVD drive - powered). I would like to install Tails, but when I boot, the Tails DVD doesn't show up in the Startup Manager.

Any suggestions or ideas? Thanks!

Are you sure it's bootable?

How did you create the disc?

Thanks for the reply.

I followed the instructions. I downloaded Tails and verified the size of the download. Then I burned Tails to DVD.

What exactly makes a disc bootable?

What exactly makes a disc bootable?

Click to expand...

There's a boot sector on the disc so whether it boots depends on the content and how you created/burned it.

So how, exactly, did you burn the disc?

For an ISO image you should be using burn image from Disk Utility. This burns a byte for byte copy of the disc image.

Copying and burning the ISO file onto the disc won't create a bootable disc

Thanks, I didn't know that.

I didn't burn the ISO image with the DU. I used Burn.

I'll burn agaim this time with the DU.

The tool you use isn't too important. So long as you're burning the image to a disc not the file

I realize I know nothing. How do I burn the Disk Image instead of just the file?

Open Disk Utility
Click File - Open Disk Image
Browse to the ISO file for Tails
You should now see the Tails disk image in the Left Sidebar
Click once to select it
Click the Burn button on the Toolbar along the top

Thanks, I did folllow your instructions, but it seems I made a mistake: On the burned discs are two folders: "isolinux" and "live." That's the same thing I see when I open the tails-i386-015.iso disk image that I downloaded. I suppose, I should see literally the disc image tails-i386-015.iso when I open the burned disk, right?

No that's exactly right.
The ISO file is the digital equivalent of a real disc.

When the ISO is mounted it should look identical to the disc when mounted and vice versa

Okay, I misunderstood. I'll post once I know if I can now boot Tails. Thanks again for all the help!

You can also hold down the C key to force cd boot while turning on the Mac

Alright, I can now boot Tails.

Thanks for the tip holding the C key as another option!