Broken DVD Drive and not possible to boot from external HD - SL Upgrade Problems

[jive]

I have a copy of Snow Leopard but the DVD drive on my iMac (3 years old, Intel) is kaput. I have a MBP which is fully working.

Remote Install doesn't work as DVD sharing doesn't work for the installation although does for watching DVDs etc.

I read about restoring the disc to an external HD and booting from that but on start up pressing and holding Option doesn't seem to work. I've tried with my keyboard (Apple) in different USB ports to no avail.


How do I go about sorting all this out?

 

[GoCubsGo]

Any way you can make a disc image of SL on a flash drive? I bet you could even do this at an Apple store. I know someone around these boards tried that and it worked.

 

[iShater]

When you say the booting from an external doesn't work, does it not show up as an option in the boot list?

 

[jive]

Nothing shows up in the bootlist. I have 2 external HDs and it just does the normal start-up - no options, just the grey apple and the loading symbol...

 

[Consultant]

Target disk mode

 

[iShater]

Nothing shows up in the bootlist. I have 2 external HDs and it just does the normal start-up - no options, just the grey apple and the loading symbol...

Hmm ... that is odd, because even if you don't have options, I believe the boot list should still show up.

Target disk mode

Use the MBP drive as the installation disk image, right?

 

[jive]

The two computers have different FireWire ports.

Why does Remote Install not work? That would be the easiest option.

 

[meteor45]

i'm having the exact same problem. remote install doesn't seem to work because upon restart 10.4.11 loses network connection and is unable to boot to another source via airport, unlike 10.5.x and 10.6.

any idea if the boot to disk image idea would work? if not, is there a way to use target disk mode to boot to my mbp's dvd drive?