How to boot from USB drive?

External Since: Jul 07, 2003 Posts: 1

Hi, my 333 Mhz iMac's cd-rom drive just died. Hard drive and OS still
works fine but I'm afraid that if something goes wrong I won't be able
to boot up my ancient Mac. I bought an Iomega ZipCD 650 USB CD burner
but can't configure my Mac to use it as a start up drive even if I put
the original system CD in it. I really see no point in fixing my
internal cd-rom as I plan to upgrade my computer soon and the cost is
simply not worth it considering the age of my Mac. Is there any USB
option of booting up my Mac externally( hard drive or cd drive). Thanks.

External Since: Jul 09, 2003 Posts: 9

In article <3F09928A.B4842F59 DeleteThis @netvigator.com>, Chung
<clompy DeleteThis @netvigator.com> wrote:

> Hi, my 333 Mhz iMac's cd-rom drive just died. Hard drive and OS still
> works fine but I'm afraid that if something goes wrong I won't be able
> to boot up my ancient Mac. I bought an Iomega ZipCD 650 USB CD burner
> but can't configure my Mac to use it as a start up drive even if I put
> the original system CD in it. I really see no point in fixing my
> internal cd-rom as I plan to upgrade my computer soon and the cost is
> simply not worth it considering the age of my Mac. Is there any USB
> option of booting up my Mac externally( hard drive or cd drive). Thanks.
>

try restarting holding down cmd-opt-sft-del. this should force the Mac
to check the bus for a valid OS (other than the normal internal startup
drive).

As for "...no point in fixing my internal cd-rom...", a replacement
drive can be had for $29 and takes 15 minutes to replace. Not replacing
the drive whacks $50-$100 off the price at eBay. Think about it, who
will want the iMac without a working Cd-Rom drive?

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