Can I use an external CD/DVD unit ?

[pedropeter]

Hi - one of my iMacs won't play Dvd's or Install disks and I need to repair the volume according to Onyx and Maintenance.It reads and plays audio cd's fine but won't load Dvd's and Install disks and in fact physically marks them-I can live without Dvd's but obv. need access to Install data etc
Any suggestions as to whether a basic usb disc drive would successfully load Apple software disks ?

 

[simsaladimbamba]

Any external optical disk drive (ODD) will work fine, but you can only boot from external USB devices (such as a USB ODD) on an Intel Mac, which you probably have.

 

[pedropeter]

Any external optical disk drive (ODD) will work fine, but you can only boot from external USB devices (such as a USB ODD) on an Intel Mac, which you probably have.

Thanks - so how can I get round this, or are you saying I must get the Intel iMac's slot loader replaced ?
Would loading the install files from the Install disk on another Mac to a usb stick get round this ?

 

[simsaladimbamba]

Thanks - so how can I get round this, or are you saying I must get the Intel iMac's slot loader replaced ?
Would loading the install files from the Install disk on another Mac to a usb stick get round this ?

What iMac do you have? Any new Mac since 2006 is an Intel Mac, which can boot from USB connected devices.
If you have an Intel Mac, you can just use any ODD available, it does not need to be slot-loading, that is connected via USB.

Was that understandable?

 

[pedropeter]

Thanks for the replies - yes, my iMac 24 has 3.06 Intel core duo, bought in 2009/10 - so if I can't locate the original Install disks, can I boot from a recently purchased Mac Snow Leopard Retail disk Version 10.6.3 to a system that is now running 10.6.8 ?

 

[simsaladimbamba]

Thanks for the replies - yes, my iMac 24 has 3.06 Intel core duo, bought in 2009/10 - so if I can't locate the original Install disks, can I boot from a recently purchased Mac Snow Leopard Retail disk Version 10.6.3 to a system that is now running 10.6.8 ?

Yes, since the 2009 24" iMac came with 10.5.x, which is lower than 10.6.

 

[pedropeter]

Simsaladimbamba - sorry but I got mixed up with my 2 iMacs - the iMac 24 with Intel core duo was bought in June.2009 and my Imac 27,also with Intel core duo was bought in Jan.2010 - I'm having messages that both need the volume repaired, so can I use this just bought Mac Snow Leopard retail disk 10.6.3 to repair both ?
Sorry for confusion!

 

[simsaladimbamba]

Simsaladimbamba - sorry but I got mixed up with my 2 iMacs - the iMac 24 with Intel core duo was bought in June.2009 and my Imac 27,also with Intel core duo was bought in Jan.2010 - I'm having messages that both need the volume repaired, so can I use this just bought Mac Snow Leopard retail disk 10.6.3 to repair both ?
Sorry for confusion!

Yes, you can, though the 2010 iMac probably came with a Mac OS X version higher than 10.6.3 (you can check EveryMac for that), though you may not be able to use the 10.6.3 install DVD to install Mac OS X on that 2010 iMac, but repairing it should work.