External LaCie external HD good to use as main drive?

K

kyiosus

Registered
Hello,

I just got an external LaCie hard drive with FireWire 400 to use when the HD in my iBook G4 dies (any moment now...). But now I'm wondering if I can use the LaCie as the main drive (boot from it, install Leopard on it) or was it built to handle just occasional back ups?

Thanks!
 
Well once you connect to the external drive that use Disk Utility (/Applications/Utilities/Disk Utility) and reformat it to the same format as your internal disk. Once you do that you have the setup to make a bootable disk that OS can use. Now you HAVE to tell us what the iBook is running for us to point you to the right cloning software.
 
Satcomer said:
Well once you connect to the external drive that use Disk Utility (/Applications/Utilities/Disk Utility) and reformat it to the same format as your internal disk. Once you do that you have the setup to make a bootable disk that OS can use. Now you HAVE to tell us what the iBook is running for us to point you to the right cloning software.
Click to expand...

Actually I got all of that taken care of. I'm just asking if the LaCie can handle being used as the main hard drive (e.g.: was it built for it), and not just for backups or anything like that.
 
I don't think there is any structural differences between an internal drive and an external one.

In fact, I extracted a 500 GB drive from a LaCie Porsche external and "transplanted" it into my iMac G5 about a year ago, and everything has been working without any problem whatsoever.

I suppose the same logic applies for an iBook G4 drive, and I wonder if you shouldn't opt for a transplantation : carrying an external drive with its power supply and cables, together with your iBook, renders it somewhat less portable, doesn't it ?

BimBam
 
BimBam said:
I suppose the same logic applies for an iBook G4 drive, and I wonder if you shouldn't opt for a transplantation : carrying an external drive with its power supply and cables, together with your iBook, renders it somewhat less portable, doesn't it ?
Click to expand...

Yeah it does, but I don't really bring it anywhere. Getting this hard drive is a lot cheaper than getting it replaced at my local Apple repair place ($99 versus $70 for internal drive + $90 "service" fee). I also plan on getting a new MacBook soon. It's time for an upgrade. :D Thanks for the help.
 
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