Best way (if any) to install Tiger w/o an optical drive?

[sandman42]

I want to buy a Tiger family pack (for $149 from Amazon!) so I can install it on my iBook and my Mini. My problem is that the optical drive on my iBook is dead. Is there a way, via firewire, ethernet cable, disk image, etc, to install Tiger on my iBook?

I also have an external FW HD that I can connect to the iBook, but if I made a disk image of the install disk on my ext HD I don't think the iBook would recognize it as bootable.

 

[emw]

1) You should be able to boot up with your iBook as a firewire drive for your Mini, and install off of that.

2) Otherwise, you could create a disk image of the DVD on your Mini, then use the mini as a target drive for your iBook.

3) I guess you could also enable sharing on the mini and install off the shared DVD, but not sure how fast that might be.

Edit: Just realized you may need to be able to boot off of the DVD, so #1 may be your best bet. I've never tried it, though.

 

[grapes911]

You should be able to boot up with your iBook as a firewire drive for your Mini, and install off of that.

You may be able to do it the other way too. Boot the Mini in target mode with the DVD in its drive. The DVD may mount on the iBook. Can anyone confirm if this works?

 

[emw]

You may be able to do it the other way too. Boot the Mini in target mode with the DVD in its drive. The DVD may mount on the iBook. Can anyone confirm if this works?

You can't use the DVD drive of a Mac connected in firewire mode. I've tried before with my PB. It makes sense if you think about it, since you're really only using the HD, not any of the other system stuff (airport, modem, PC card slot, etc.).

 

[grapes911]

You can't use the DVD drive of a Mac connected in firewire mode. I've tried before with my PB. It makes sense if you think about it, since you're really only using the HD, not any of the other system stuff (airport, modem, PC card slot, etc.).

That sucks it doesn't work, but it doesn't make sense. You do use firmware in target mode and firmware can also control the DVD drive. I think apple could enable it without too much trouble.