I have a 12" powerbook that has run great for years. unfortunately it crashed recently and initially i thought the motherboard was fried. But I started it up in target mode (using another computer) and was able to find the hard drive and erase it (I have all the info backed up so that's not a problem). Unfortunately the cd/dvd drive doesn't work , i just transferred files online or with a flash drive, And oh yeah, I can't find my 10.3 install. I have a copy of the leopard install from my mac book pro, I want to save this computer and get it up and running. I've tried installing from target mode and get the system folder/? icon. I have a flash drive, does anyone know the best way to accomplish this, and what variables I'm dealing with?
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system folder is not backed up. just the data. If I were to track down a copy of Tiger could I install it from a flash drive ( i have a 8gb drive right now)? I have an older version of os x I think its 10.1 though (tried installing that to, and it wouldn't find the system folder. I think I might have to find a 10.3 disk to install the correct os, but is it possible to install it in target mode? Or usb?
-a
Install via USB Flash Drive/External Hard Drive
What you need:
- Disk Utility.
- USB Flash Drive/External Hard Drive with at least 8GB of free space.
1. Mount the "Mac OS X Install DVD.iso"
2. Plug in your USB Flash Drive/External Hard Drive.
3. Open Disk Utility.
4. Select your USB Flash Drive/External Hard Drive from the drive list on the left.
5. You'll see "First Aid, Erase, Partition, RAID, Restore."
6. Click on "Partition."
7. Under "Volume Scheme", Select "1 Partition."
8. Once selected, hit the "Option" button at the bottom of the map.
9. A window will pop-up, select the "GUID Partition Table" option.
10. Once its done, navigate to the "Restore" tab.
11. From the drive list on the left, drag the mounted Snow Leopard .iso to the "Source" field, anddrag your USB Flash Drive/External Hard Drive to the "Destination" field.
12. Click "Restore."
13. Close Disk Utility, Open up System Preferences. Under "System," choose "Startup Disk,"
14. Your USB Flash Drive/External Hard Drive should be listed as the Snow Leopard installationdisk. Select and click "Restart."
15. Follow the instructions to install Snow Leopard.
Oh, by the way...
Max OS X Snow Leopard is an Intel-only operating system.
This means that you will NOT be able to install it on a Macintosh with PowerPC CPU!
In your case, stating you want to install it on a PowerBook, it will NOT be possible because your processor is at most a PowerPC G4, and not an Intel processor.
Sorry, but Apple decided not to support your computer anymore on any future upgrades of the system.
Maybe it's time to upgrade to a new laptop. The old one can go to the kids ;-)
Upgrading your Mac is upgrading your life, so it's worth the money :-D
Don't know if you've made any headway on this yet, but there may be an even easier method of doing this. Since you are already know how to work with machines in Target Disc mode, you can bring the machine you wish to install on into Target Disc mode, connect it to another Mac via a firewire cable, and then use the other Mac as the installer machine. Since target disc mode makes a machine appear as just another hard drive, you should be able to put the install discs into the machine with the working CD/DVD drive, and launch the installer from there. I've used this method to work around a machine not having a DVD drive, when an installer disc was a DVD. As the other folks have stated, as long as your PowerBook meets the hardware requirements, you should be able to install Leopard (10.5.x), but you definitely will not be able to use Snow Leopard as Rhapsody stated above that one will only work on Intel machines. Leopard requirements are:
# Mac computer with an Intel, PowerPC G5, or PowerPC G4 (867MHz or faster) processor
# 512MB of memory
# DVD drive for installation
# 9GB of available disk space
If your machine meets these you should be able to install the Leopard. One other thing about trying to use OEM discs on other computers is that it may balk about it not being the correct machine type. If that happens, then you'll need to get a retail copy of the OS you want on there to be able to get it installed.
Hope this helps.
I was finally able to install leopard both ways. The first way that I accomplished it was via external hd, I installed Leopard and 3 days later the hard drive bit the dust. But when I got a new hard drive I installed it in target mode. Notes from my experience.
1. if you install a new hard drive, format it with mac formatting (bought it from a mac site but formatted for windows, this wasted about an hour before I realized)
2. When formatting the hd, make sure its set to GUID Partition Table
3. Cross your fingers
Basically there are a lot of variable along the way that you may or may not come across. And you are right. If you don't have the retail version of your o.s. then you wont be able to install.
But if you call Apple (and your machine is registered) they will send you the O.E.M version of the operating system for $16. Thanks for the aditional points
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by: eoinosullivanPosted on 2009-09-19 at 06:15:37ID: 25372949
Are you sure your Powerbook meets the minimum Hardware, RAM etc. requirements to install Leopard?
OSX Leopard is largely designed for use on Intel Macs .. a few G5 models will run it .. but most older Macs are not up to the requirements.
If you have all the info from the Powerbook backed up .. did you backup the old System folder etc? If so it might be easier to restore that.