[Guide] Boot OS X from External USB drive - Complete HOWTO

Does any know if you need to use an powered external drive?

I just use a Maxtor 2.5 Onetouch. Was on sale, not powered.
I use a powered hub and it boots.

My problems is a blue tint.
Seems atv is now stuck in this mode.
http://img182.imageshack.us/img182/9485/atvbluelu9.jpg

Is there a limit in the size of HDD you can use inside the ATV ?
I see that quiet a few people are using a 80gig.
I guess once the core partitions are created the media partition could be any size?

I am guessing that apple could do storage checks remotely to see what drive is installed, the question is would they?

Check this link for the most official word on Apple's stand about AppleTV hacks:

http://www.engadget.com/2007/04/05/a...apple-tv-hacks

To summarize: Apple's stance, it claims, is more along the lines of: it's your box, do with it what you please -- but be mindful of voiding that warranty.

May anyone help me, I have tried a lot of time, also changing hard disk, but the best result is apple osx logo for about 10/15 sec and then atv reboot. I have followed exactly all the step. Thanks.

Excellent write-up Peter. Picked up my atv this afternoon, and was booting into OSX by tea-time :). Looking forward to seeing some awesome development on this little device.

Hmm - one quirk I've just found. The apple remote (previously paired) stopped working when booting into normal atv. My quick fix is to unpair it as described here: http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=304991

Ok I am trying to boot to my external USB sata drive. I've followed the directions frankly word for word (or so I think). The ATV will go to access the HDD a few times in the begining for a few seconds but once it gets to the normal ATV boot screen all USB HDD activity stops. I've reversed the partition change to mess with the Info.plist file a few times and have even resorted to going from editing in nano and trying textwrangler (never touched the file with TextEdit).
1) I did copy the patched mach_kernel in.
2) I did install the boot.efi file off an ATV image file.

Here is what my info.plist looks like:

Code:

---

<dict>
                                <key>IOPropertyMatch</key>
                                <array>
                                        <dict>
                                                <key>Content Hint</key>
                                                <string>5265636F-7665-11AA-AA11-00306543ECAC</string>
                                                <key>Leaf</key>
                                                <true/>
                                        </dict>
                                        <dict>
                                                <key>Content Hint</key>
                                                <string>Apple_Recovery</string>
                                                <key>Leaf</key>
                                                <true/>
                                        </dict>
                                        <dict>
                                                <key>Content Hint</key>
                                                <string>48465300-0000-11AA-AA11-00306543ECAC</string>
                                                <key>Leaf</key>
                                                <true/>
                                        </dict>
                                        <dict>
                                                <key>Content Hint</key>
                                                <string>426F6F74-0000-11AA-AA11-00306543ECAC</string>
                                                <key>Leaf</key>
                                                <true/>
                                        </dict>
                                        <dict>
                                                <key>Content Hint</key>
                                                <string></string>
                                                <key>RAID</key>
                                                <true/>
                                        </dict>
                                        <dict>
                                                <key>Content Hint</key>
                                                <string>Apple_HFS</string>
                                                <key>Leaf</key>
                                                <true/>
                                        </dict>
                                        <dict>
                                                <key>Content Hint</key>
                                                <string>Apple_HFSX</string>
                                                <key>Leaf</key>
                                                <true/>
                                        </dict>
                                        <dict>
                                                <key>Content Hint</key>
                                                <string>Apple_UFS</string>
                                                <key>Leaf</key>
                                                <true/>
                                        </dict>
                                        <dict>
                                                <key>Content Hint</key>
                                                <string>Apple_Boot</string>
                                                <key>Leaf</key>
                                                <true/>
                                        </dict>
                                </array>

---

Any ideas here? I'm not really a hacking nor terminal noob so I'm baffled.

I've tried again following all the steps, but nothing... Again the same, after 10/15 sec that the apple logo of osx comes out, atv reboot. Perhaps I have the wrong boot.efi, may someone send me a invitation in pm for demonoid or oink?

thanks

I fixed my issue by using an install script I located on TPB. ATV now boots OS X.

A big thank you to everyone on this forum, I Just managed to open up my atv.

I installed everything all the extras I wanted... including installing ssh and activating the afp server.

Just one major thought though... now my atv is open to anyone with wireless around where live and knows what an Apple TV is. For instance there is an internet cafe opposite me... anyone scanning around to see what's available on wireless networks may find it and it's not hard to find out that the default login and password for any atv is frontrow. What I'm worried about is someone having free reign to hack into my atv and do anything they want!!!

Sooo ... in my paranoia does anyone know how to change the default password from frontrow to anything I want; and know what implications that has for the health of atv when it does any of admin stuff...???

Much appreciated if someone has any experience doing this...