My Book Studio (+Smartware) can't firewire boot

I was disappointed to discover (see KB 1787) that My Book Studio 2 TB cannot boot my 1st gen Intel MacPro on its firewire port.  It will boot it using USB 2.0.  That’s OK, but I’d clearly like to use the faster interface to boot my Mac.  That’s why I hunted down a firewire external HD.

According to KB1787, my version of My Book (WDBC3G0020HAL) should boot using it’s firewire port … unless the My Book is equipped with Smartware … which the box says it is.

After some research, I’ve discovered that the smartware runs from a VDC that is non-removable … although it can be disabled.

Research reveals that there is a tedious procedure that will disable the VDC … but before I go through all of that …  can anyone tell me for certain whether or not disabling the VDC will enable My Book to boot on it’s firewire port?

Hello,

I havent try that. Perhaps, any of the users of the forum has a different opinion.

You can’t really disable the vcd.  You can only hide it.  Unfortunately, there is no way around the compatibility list.