eMac Upgrade questions

[LeoTheLion89]

i just bought a eMac 1.0GHz ATI model and i am waiting for delivery. I was informed after i won the bid that this model only has a CD-ROM Drive installed i read ANY Drive will work in the system i have several IDE Drives on hand and i was wondering if i need a APPLE drive in order to boot from a Disc? i will use this eMac to install OS X on and restore my original iMac with a broken CD Drive however i DO NOT have any Mac OS CDs at all what is the best way to install mac on a external drive via USB that in return i can put in the iMac i know that i have to have it all on the 1st 8GB and i want to know the best way to do this task.

[DeltaMac]

I have upgraded many eMacs, so your query is easy...
I have a generic DVD burner in my eMac, that I bought locally, and is very bootable.
I have also used a variety of non-Apple drives to upgrade eMacs (4 or 5 different brands, I think), and no problems with any.
The only thing you must know is that the eMac needs a drive with an ATA connection (not SATA)

There's 3 different eMac models with 1GHz processors, so hopefully you got the newest model, which gives you the possibility of upgrading to 2GB of RAM (very nice to have). All older models will only upgrade to 1GB maximum.

If you do have one of the older ones, then you also will have a USB 1.1 bus, so really slow to install a system.
MUCH faster to install that OS X system through Firewire. How much faster, you ask? Firewire=400 Mbits/sec, and USB 1 is 12 MBits/sec - so ~33 times faster to copy/install the same files. So, definitely worth your time to acquire a Firewire external case.
I see that you noted the need to have the 8GB partition for the OS X install, so that's great...
What OS X version will you install? An original iMac CAN go up to OS X 10.4.11, especially with the method that you want to use to install. It's hard to install Tiger, as the installer usually is on a DVD, so your external method is also one that I have used. You would also want to have maximum RAM memory for that, if you go to Tiger for the old iMac. A bondi-blue model can upgrade to 384 GB, most can go to 512MB
Just thought I'd throw that in, I don't know what OS X version that you are wanting to install on the old iMac.

[LeoTheLion89]

Originally Posted by DeltaMac

I have upgraded many eMacs, so your query is easy...
I have a generic DVD burner in my eMac, that I bought locally, and is very bootable.
I have also used a variety of non-Apple drives to upgrade eMacs (4 or 5 different brands, I think), and no problems with any.
The only thing you must know is that the eMac needs a drive with an ATA connection (not SATA)

There's 3 different eMac models with 1GHz processors, so hopefully you got the newest model, which gives you the possibility of upgrading to 2GB of RAM (very nice to have). All older models will only upgrade to 1GB maximum.

If you do have one of the older ones, then you also will have a USB 1.1 bus, so really slow to install a system.
MUCH faster to install that OS X system through Firewire. How much faster, you ask? Firewire=400 Mbits/sec, and USB 1 is 12 MBits/sec - so ~33 times faster to copy/install the same files. So, definitely worth your time to acquire a Firewire external case.
I see that you noted the need to have the 8GB partition for the OS X install, so that's great...
What OS X version will you install? An original iMac CAN go up to OS X 10.4.11, especially with the method that you want to use to install. It's hard to install Tiger, as the installer usually is on a DVD, so your external method is also one that I have used. You would also want to have maximum RAM memory for that, if you go to Tiger for the old iMac. A bondi-blue model can upgrade to 384 GB, most can go to 512MB
Just thought I'd throw that in, I don't know what OS X version that you are wanting to install on the old iMac.

i Have a iMac Tray load so i can only install up to 10.3.9 i have 256MB PC100 SDRAM in it and i will be installing the system on a 20GB IDE Drive however i do not have OS X 10.3 CD only dmg so i will 1st install OS 9.2.2 to have the Classic feature in OS X then i will install 10.2 and then upgrade to 10.3 inside of 10.2 i learned all my Mac skill on Panther and i dont have much experience with anything newer

[LeoTheLion89]

based on Wikipedia Specs i think its the Latest (2005) edition eMac as the seller told me it does have bluetooth and the only model with optional bluetooth AND a CD-ROM Drive is the 2005 eMac

[LeoTheLion89]

i Will be installing in this order on my iMac: OS 9.2.2, OS X 10.2, OS X 10.3 i have the Tray Load Rev D 333 so 10.3.9 is the higest i can use i learned how to use Mac OS X on 1.3.9 so i dont know much about anything newer

[DeltaMac]

Your impression about that eMac information is not accurate.
All models have had CD-ROMs as options (although that's generally for the education market, where I have the most experience with eMacs) and most have been available without a CD drive installed. If the CD drive was installed, or replaced at some point, then you could have anything.
Anyway, fairly easy to replace that CD drive, if you have the right tools to get inside.
I would suggest, that for less than $30, you can get a brand-new dual layer DVD burner - rather than put a used one in your eMac.
And - you should be getting a nice one, as bluetooth also means USB 2.0 (much faster USB)
The model previous to the 2005 eMac (the one called "USB 2.0") also has optional bluetooth.

On to the iMac:
There's no reason to install 10.2, if you are then installing 10.3
Unless you want to have 2 independent OS X partitions?
If not, just install 10.3

[LeoTheLion89]

i do not have a osx 10.3 cd only a dmg image so i need osx 10.2 installed so i can upgrade to 10.3

[LeoTheLion89]

can eMac native boot from usb?