Confused about external HD and booting

[ninjamini]

I have read a few things about external harddrives and their ability to boot to OSX. Why wont they all do this. I want to run on os off a faster drive and I think this would be the ticket. Maxtor, Lacee...arent they all the same?

[kritoke]

I really would like to know more about this as well. I have heard that some chipsets allow booting and only firewire? ones can boot. Clarification on this issue would be nice.

Kritoke

[slickrick]

It has to be a FireWire drive. Make a copy of your hard drive on the external drive with http://www.bombich.com/software/ccc.html

Change your startup disk

1. From the Finder, select: Apple Menu > System Preferences...

2. Click on the Show All icon to ensure all preferences are visible.

3. Click on the Startup Disk icon.

4. Note that you need administrative access to make changes.

If you are not logged in with an administrative account,

first click the lock icon at the bottom of the window and enter an administrator name and password to make changes.

5. Single click on your preferred System Folder.

6. Click on the Restart button to start up with the new System Folder.

7. If prompted, select Save and Restart in the "Are you sure you want to set the startup disk and restart the computer?" dialog.


http://www.pcps.com/mac_osx.htm

[ninjamini]

So any Firewire drive works? what is all this I hear about some chipsets work and some dont?