Installing OS without discs

pastora99 · #1 July 4th, 2009, 08:19 PM

Hi all,
The superdrive in my iBook G4 died a quiet death a while back. It spits out any discs I insert. Is there any way I can run my original install discs, if the need arises? I understand that my usb DVD/CD reader won't work. I'm probably out of luck, but thought I'd check here. New superdrives are pricey.

Thanks

SGilbert · #2 July 4th, 2009, 08:46 PM

Are you saying that you ALSO have an external DVD drive, and that also doesn't work?

Buy another one or replace the internal Superdrive. No other choice unless you have another Mac and connect w/ target disk mode via firewire.

DeltaMac · #3 July 4th, 2009, 09:13 PM

pastora99 says that he has a USB burner.
You can't boot to any USB device on a PPC Mac, such as this iBook G4
You CAN boot to a Firewire external burner.

Jesse714 · #4 July 4th, 2009, 09:16 PM

That's not true, if you look back in the forums, my buddy SLO4SHO posted a question about his powerbook cd drive not wanting to accept my leopard disc, We read that it wasnt possible to use USB to install, and that was wrong, Put your copy of os x into the external connect it, and then power on your ibook, right after you hear the startup chime, press and hold the option key, this is your start up disk selection, wait a minute or so for it to load, it should show your hard drive and whatever OS is currently on it like Macintosh HD 10.4.11, and then it will show your copy of os x Mac OS X Install DVD 10.5.6 Leopard, and select that and then click the ----> Arrow, and continue to boot that way.

Jesse714 · #5 July 4th, 2009, 09:19 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by DeltaMac

pastora99
You can't boot to any USB device on a PPC Mac, such as this iBook G4

Deltamac- This isnt true, at least in my case it wasnt, about 45 minutes ago, I used my HP dvd840 external, which isnt even for mac, to boot up my old PowerBook G4 12in, 1.33 PPC, So for whatever reason it worked for me, but it doesnt work if you try to restart the disc from the desktop, you have to do it holding the option key on startup, maybe i just got luck, but in fact i did install using a USB External DVD drive.

DeltaMac · #6 July 4th, 2009, 09:50 PM

Ah, OK - Thanks for reminding me...
Leopard changed the way USB loads. Prior to Leopard, the boot process would reset the USB bus, precluding any boot to a USB drive - although there are Open Firmware kludges that provide USB boots, but those are not easy to keep working.
So, yes you are accurate about booting to Leopard OS through USB.
Won't work on older OS X versions, though.