Can a USB hard drive be used to install Leopard?

Yes, any USB storage device that is big enough will work.

Intell said:

Yes, any USB storage device that is big enough will work.

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rgarjr said:

Want to install Leopard on a iMac G5, don't have a large USB flash stick and don't really have an Dual Layer DVD blanks.

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The OP will need to boot from open firmware.

Simple to boot USB on PPC

This method works for me and I am sure it will work for you.

Once your Leopard has been copied to the USB stick.. go into Open Firmware and type the following:

devalias - search for anything with "ud'

Once you found the device with ud, assuming there is only ONE USB device connected, type:

boot ud:,\\:tbxi - This will boot Leopard via USB. I have tested this on my G4 PB, G5 Quad, and also G4 Pismo(was G3 500).

Hope this helps

PPCMM

rgarjr said:

Cool, I will give that a try. How big of a Flash stick do I need to install Leopard?

Click to expand...

8GB or bigger.

Intell said:

8GB or bigger.

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I tried this last night on a PBG4 final version with a 16gb USB flash drive. No go. It would allow Tiger to be installed but not boot from it. Leopard would not install on the flash drive.

Glad it worked out!! I knew that single command worked as it works on all my PPC macs. To the naysayers: USB booting IS supported on PowerPC Macs.

boot ud:,\\:tbxi is all it takes to boot it.. again, assuming you have one USB device hooked up at the time, otherwise it would be boot ud1:,\\:tbxi

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i find that hard to believe. I have a PB G4 1.67 DLSD and made a Leopard USB install flash drive and by typing in Open Firmware: devalias and searching for 'ud'.. I knew all I had to do was type: boot ud:,\\:tbxi and Leopard booted right up.

I am not sure why its not working on your end.. but I would advise going back into OF and typing devalias and searching for "ud".

California said:

I tried this last night on a PBG4 final version with a 16gb USB flash drive. No go. It would allow Tiger to be installed but not boot from it. Leopard would not install on the flash drive.

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PowerPCMacMan said:

Glad it worked out!! I knew that single command worked as it works on all my PPC macs. To the naysayers: USB booting IS supported on PowerPC Macs.

boot ud:,\\:tbxi is all it takes to boot it.. again, assuming you have one USB device hooked up at the time, otherwise it would be boot ud1:,\\:tbxi

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i find that hard to believe. I have a PB G4 1.67 DLSD and made a Leopard USB install flash drive and by typing in Open Firmware: devalias and searching for 'ud'.. I knew all I had to do was type: boot ud:,\\:tbxi and Leopard booted right up.

I am not sure why its not working on your end.. but I would advise going back into OF and typing devalias and searching for "ud".

Click to expand...

I can't get it to install on the flash drive. Yes it's Apple Partitioned, not sure what is wrong. From what you guys are saying, OF doesn't help me until after I get it on the flash drive..., right?

Yes, you must get Leopard cloned over to the USB flash drive. Then go into Open Firmware and type: devalias - You should see "ud" somewhere. Thats what you need. Then type: boot ud:,\\:tbxi and away Leopard goes!

Please note: Its been brought to my attention that those with USB 1,1 based PowerPC machines don't need to go into open firmware. All you have to do to get a USB 1,1 PPC to boot USB Leopard is hold down OPTION key, then select it there. There is no "ud" when typing devalias under open firmware on pre-USB 2.0 PowerPC machines.

It appears Apple restricted USB 2.0 booting through normal means on those PowerPC machines and only through Open Firmware is this possible. USB 1,1 machines don't have this problem.

California said:

I can't get it to install on the flash drive. Yes it's Apple Partitioned, not sure what is wrong. From what you guys are saying, OF doesn't help me until after I get it on the flash drive..., right?

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My apologies for reviving this old thread, but it seems the only relevant on the whole internet for me.

I have a PowerBook G4 (A1052), with the Folder Question mark issue. I do not own a DVD drive for a decade so my only option is to boot through the usb.

I have successfully copied Leopard in to my USB through disk utility, partitioned it with Apple Partition Table. Open Firmware does now show any "ud", any command to attempt to boot results in cant open hd:...

dev / ls does not detect a disk in the usb section, and devalias shows no "ud" at all.

The holding Option key does not work either, and it doesnt even detect the internal disk.

I am assuming my disk died, but there is no way i will find out before having any success on this.

Any tips guys, really am having a bad situation on this one.

thanks in advance.

Try the boot:,//tbxi command listed above. I've had no issues using it on desktop G5s and PowerBooks. The only place I had trouble was on my
Xserve, wher it would start loading but refused to boot to the installer. I did it this way because the Xserve only had a CD-ROM drive (why Apple did it this way when the version of Tiger Server that shipped in the box was on DVD I will never understand). I ultimately fixed the problem there by installing a SuperDrive from a PowerBook.

PlutoDelic said:

I have successfully copied Leopard in to my USB through disk utility, partitioned it with Apple Partition Table. Open Firmware does now show any "ud", any command to attempt to boot results in cant open hd:...

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You say you have no optical drive but you copied Leopard to a USB drive. I assume you cloned an existing Leopard installation from another Mac with no optical drive. If you can boot your other Mac from the USB drive then the fault is not with the USB drive. This should be easy to test.

Yes. Yes you can.... Assuming you have a G4 or a PPC Mac able to boot from USB (G3s cant). I installed Leopard usings a 17GB HDD with the installer DMG copied to it until i could find a DVD DL to burn the image too, I even have it on a USB stick now as well. Much faster than optical too.

G3 iBooks and slot loading G3 iMacs can boot from a USB drive. Not a Leopard, but other supported operating systems.

Intell said:

G3 iBooks and slot loading G3 iMacs can boot from a USB drive. Not a Leopard, but other supported operating systems.

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Can all iBook G3s boot by USB? I would think that the earliest Clamshells would not be able to, although I've never owned one. I also haven't tried with my last generation Clamshell.

I've been able to boot via USB on a clamshell iBook before. Not the fastest, but possible.

I have a 15' PBG4 and i didnt have to do the open firmware thing to install leo. the flash drive was just seen from the option menu. ive never seen anyone report that before

That's normal behavior for USB 1.1 PowerPC Macs.

cammykool said:

I have a 15' PBG4 and i didnt have to do the open firmware thing to install leo. the flash drive was just seen from the option menu. ive never seen anyone report that before

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the option (boot) menu is what i am referring to, all these people across the internet telling you u need to use OF just to boot USB i find it tat to be just a long way to do the same thing as holding the option key on boot which is much faster...

MatthewLTL said:

the option (boot) menu is what i am referring to, all these people across the internet telling you u need to use OF just to boot USB i find it tat to be just a long way to do the same thing as holding the option key on boot which is much faster...

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You keep repeating this, but it's not universally true.

The Option key does not work for USB booting on the majority of USB 2.0 PPC Macs. This includes iBook G4s, Aluminum Powerbooks, and G5s. It's a bad idea to make broad, sweeping generalizations when you're basing them on your experience with two computers with designs from the USB 1.1 era.

Believe it or not, I have my fair share of G5s, iBook G4s, and Albooks. I wouldn't mess with USB booting through open firmware if I didn't have to. I do it, though, because it's the only way.

bunnspecial said:

You keep repeating this, but it's not universally true.

The Option key does not work for USB booting on the majority of USB 2.0 PPC Macs. This includes iBook G4s, Aluminum Powerbooks, and G5s. It's a bad idea to make broad, sweeping generalizations when you're basing them on your experience with two computers with designs from the USB 1.1 era.

Believe it or not, I have my fair share of G5s, iBook G4s, and Albooks. I wouldn't mess with USB booting through open firmware if I didn't have to. I do it, though, because it's the only way.

Click to expand...

my eMac is USB2 and it boots USB via option key.... my MDD will boot OFF THE USB2 card using the option as well. Makes me wonder why it would work on a USB2 eMac and not a iBook G4.

Anybody else ever notice that Carbon Copy Cloner pops up a warning about "Not being bootable" when you start to clone a PPC system over USB?