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Bootable USB Tools - Apple Mac

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(@markl1975)
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Joined: 16 years ago
Posts: 63
Topic starter  

Hello,

I have a few bootable USB sticks that I use for collection on PC's. I recently tried these on a MacBook Pro and couldn't get any of them to load.

I have put the Raptor Intel iso on a FAT32 partitioned USB stick using unetbootin. My windows laptop boots from this fine but my Mac won't recognise the boot device. The startup disk options won't recognise the USB stick.

The Mac will boot from a raptor CD if you hold down 'option' at bootup to get to the startup disk options.

Has anyone got a suggestion for a USB Bootable tool for the Mac, or just a way of getting the Mac to recognise a USB stick when it's inserted.

Many thanks,

Mark


   
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CdtDelta
(@cdtdelta)
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Joined: 17 years ago
Posts: 134
 

Mark,
Mac's don't boot off of USB drives (unless someone knows otherwise). If you set it up on a Firewire drive it should boot off it it. Otherwise you'll have to boot off of CD's.

Tom


   
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(@markl1975)
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Joined: 16 years ago
Posts: 63
Topic starter  

CdtDelta,

Thanks for the tip. I did some Googling and answered my own question.

http//support.apple.com/kb/HT1948

They will boot from an external USB drive, however they have to be formatted with an Apple partition, and include a version of Mac OSX.

Many thanks,

Mark


   
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CdtDelta
(@cdtdelta)
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Thanks for that link. I didn't realize that they changed that. Most of what I had seen (even with 10.5) led me to believe FW was still the only external connection you could boot off of.

Tom


   
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 96hz
(@96hz)
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Thanks for that link. I didn't realize that they changed that. Most of what I had seen (even with 10.5) led me to believe FW was still the only external connection you could boot off of.

I know it was certainly documented that you could nt boot a Mac from a USB device, but I managed to achieve it for use with a tool I ve been using over the last year or so.

I ll try this with Raptor and see how I get on.


   
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Beetle
(@beetle)
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Joined: 17 years ago
Posts: 318
 

Thanks for that link. I didn't realize that they changed that. Most of what I had seen (even with 10.5) led me to believe FW was still the only external connection you could boot off of.

I know it was certainly documented that you could nt boot a Mac from a USB device, but I managed to achieve it for use with a tool I ve been using over the last year or so.

I ll try this with Raptor and see how I get on.

The device you are booting from needs to be formatted as HFS+ and partitioned for EFI.


   
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 96hz
(@96hz)
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Joined: 17 years ago
Posts: 143
 

Looks like the raptor iso is currently unavailable from Forward Discovery


   
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(@markl1975)
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Joined: 16 years ago
Posts: 63
Topic starter  

96hz - can you pass me the details of your bootable USB tool for the Mac? Keep trying with the Raptor download. I had to try a couple of times before I got it. It kept failing halfway through the download.

A Mac USB bootable toolset would be useful to avoid putting a CD in a Mac when there's no easy way of getting it out if the drive fails. A couple of weeks ago we were looking at a suspects Mac. I put the Raptor disc in and managed to image the Mac. However the disc drive failed and wouldn't eject the disc! This was on a MacBook Pro.

We got it out eventually with a very small pair of tweezers! Give me a PC anyway and a straightened out paperclip!

Mark


   
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thelama
(@thelama)
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Joined: 17 years ago
Posts: 3
 

I've used Macquistion CF by Blackbag Forensics with great results. It is essentially a compact flash card that can be booted through a card reader conencted through firewire or a USB stick card reader, both of which are included.

http//www.blackbagtech.com/store/software/blackbag_macquisition_cf.html

The imaging time wasn't terribly fast, but it worked when for some reason the Helix 3 CD did not.

Brian


   
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Beetle
(@beetle)
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Joined: 17 years ago
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We got it out eventually with a very small pair of tweezers! Give me a PC anyway and a straightened out paperclip!

Mark

You can try this method next time

Restart the computer.
When you hear the startup chimes, press and hold the Command-Option-O-F keys to enter the openfirmware.
Release the keys when you see a white welcome screen.
At the prompt, type
eject cd

Press Return, then wait a few seconds. The disc drive should eject the disc, and "ok" appears on the screen when the action is complete.
Type
shut-down

Press Return.


   
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