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TICKET ARCHIVE -> Istalling Mac OS X 10.4 on a external HD

shahin - Feb 17, 2008 - 2:16 am

hi

I have a 160GB Lacie External Hard Drive on which i would like to install Mac OS X 10.4. My iMac came pre-installed with Leopard but not all my software is compatible with leopard.

Now i want to install OS X v10.4 on my external hard drive and i want to be able to choose which hard drive i want to boot up from (ie. imac built in hard drive or the Lacie external hard drive).

Could you please tell me how do i go about installing mac os x 10.4 on my external hard drive.

Please note that my imac already has a working version of Leopard installed of which i do not want to interfere.

Thank you

DeltaMac - Feb 17, 2008 - 4:40 pm

Here's how to do that -
Find an installer set that will install Tiger. Boot to that installer. Choose the external drive as the installation destination.
You have to do that install from a PPC Mac if you have one, or find a 10.4.10 restore disk for that same model of iMac that you have.
The partition must be GUID to boot your Intel iMac. The external disks don't come partitioned like that, so you will have to erase the disk and repartition to a GUID format.

shahin - Feb 19, 2008 - 10:13 am

hi

thank you for your reply.
But before we get too technical, let me remind you that even though i'm very familiar to PCs and windows, i'm very very new to mac and didnt quite understand some of the stuff you just said.

How do i find an installer set?
How will i boot to that installer?
What is a PPc Mac?

All i have is my imac Intel 2.4GHz, my Mac OS X 10.4.10 Install Disc 1 and 2 and my Leopard upgrade disc. oh, and obviously my Lacie Firewire Hard Drive.

DeltaMac - Feb 19, 2008 - 5:26 pm

If you are brand new to the Mac and OS X, what software do you already have that is not compatible with Leopard? Have you checked for updates that would help with compatibility?
If your Mac came with Leopard installed, it might not boot to Tiger, so even if you found the older system somwhere, the only install that will get you Tiger, is one that can restore Tiger on an Intel Mac. That restore software (the 'set' that I mentioned) is not available to purchase. It only comes with a Mac. So, if you know someone with a Mac (and it's the same model that you have), then you could borrow that set to install on your external hard drive. You may have to erase that hard drive, as the drive must be formatted as a Mac volume, otherwise it is not bootable from your Mac.
What I am trying to say here - moving back to an older system with a brand new Mac may not be possible (because the Mac may not boot to a system that's older than the one that it originally shipped with), or finding the right software to install can be a big challenge.
Update your software for Leopard - that will be much simpler...
Your iMac came with a set of two DVDs, which can be used to restore your system to the original set of software. There's also a diagnostic for your Mac on disk #1. You can boot to that set by inserting disk #1, and restarting, holding the letter C on your keyboard. There's several system utilities available from the menus when you get to the first couple of screens. It's important that you keep track of that set of disks.

PPC refers to the older processors used by Apple, The G5/G4/G3 types of processors. They have commercial sets of software that you can purchase, or is much easier to find. I have a PowerMac G5 that will easily boot to several generations of OS X. The newer Intel Macs are much more limited in some ways, and it's not possible to go back very far with those.
Do you have any other questions?
- Dale