1

Possible Duplicate:
How to setup Windows from an external hard drive?

I want to install an OS (Mac OS X, Windows 7 or 8 beta) from my external HDD, since I don't have any USB sticks or DVDs, but I have 5 blank 2.5" external HDD.

Is this possible? I just can't think of any solutions.

Community
  • 1
user45326
  • 2,063

1 Answers1

3

Yes it is possible.

All you need is the external drive and an ISO of the operating system you want.

  1. Open Disk Utility (Utilities folder in the Applications folder)
  2. In the left pane of the window, you will see your USB drive - select it.
  3. In the right pane, select the Partition tab
  4. You will see the partitions of the drive (probably only one), select the plus sign below the partition map.
  5. Once the new partition appears, you can drag the top boundary of the partition in the map until the size of the partition is a little bigger than your source Windows or OS X ISO file.
  6. Select Apply (lower left of screen)
  7. Now under your drive in the left pane, you will see the new partition - select it.
  8. Looking at the right pane again, you will want to select the restore tab.
  9. With the restore tab open, you will have 2 boxes - one that says Source and another that says Destination.
  10. To the left of the Source box, there is a button that says Image... click this button and in the resulting window, navigate to the ISO / Disc image that you would like to use for installation and hit the Open button.
  11. For the Destination box - you can drag the icon for the partition that you want the OS disk on from the left pane into that box.
  12. Once both the Source and Destinations are correct, click the Restore button.
  13. You now have a Hard drive with a bootable partition to start the OS X or Windows installer.
  14. Reboot, and before / during the chime sound, hold down the option key.
  15. Of the bootable devices that appear, you should see your main HDD and now the partition that you use made.

Have Fun!

Dustin G.
  • 2,075