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sarath

macrumors newbie
Original poster
Aug 6, 2009
3
0
I have a problem using MAC snow leopard OSX Install DVD since my MAC mini does not contain DVD drive. And I assume external dvd drives do not get mounted properly in MAC unless it is a firewire drive which I do not have.
I am a newbie to MAC
Can we burn the OS onto CDs and use CDs to install? Did anyone ever use CDs to install MAC OS?

I have the .dmg file available too!!

Can anyone guide me please!!!
 
Legally, I'm not sure of the ramifications. Theoretically you could reconstruct the .dmg I suppose? The Apple Store used to use external hard drives to restore computers, I'm not sure if that is still the protocol.
 
I wish thats true.The MAC I am using is an old one and has CD-RW only.It is MAC Mini 1.83 A1176 model.It is Intel MAC.It is Intel MAC.
Can I directly use the .dmg file to upgrade from leopard to Snow Leopard.I am currently in Leopard.

Can I partition the hard disk and use the second partition as target to upgrade the first partition or something?



Hi sarath

Snow leopard requires an intel mac to run, and correct me if I am wrong but I'm sure all intel macs are capable of reading a dvd.
 
Hi sarath
Snow leopard requires an intel mac to run, and correct me if I am wrong but I'm sure all intel macs are capable of reading a dvd.

I think the problem here is not being able to read a DVD, but being able to burn one (i.e. Mini has a combo drive). Seems SL was acquired through downloading a dmg image file from a source other than Apple. As for putting it on CDs I doubt it would work since the installer will not know it has been spanned across multiple disks and encounter file-not-found errors.
 
Hiya,

This is how I installed Leopard on a Powerbook that couldn't read DVDs:

Partition the HD into two partitions, one small, about 10 GB, and the other taking the rest of the space.

Use Disk Utility to restore the DMG image from your file onto the small partition. (you could do this by putting the Mac Mini into Target Mode (restart holding down option-T. It becomes a firewire external drive) and transferrring via Firewire or some other way.)

The small partition is now bootable. Boot holding down the option key for a choice of which partition to boot from. Boot into the small partition, and install OSX from there.

Hope that helps.

Best wishes/

EDIT:

I read your post again. If you're new to macs, why are you fiddling about with Snow Leopard? It's not yet ready for release. Stick to Leopard - it's got the bugs worked out.

And it's Mac not MAC. MACS are very different - they're network addresses. All computers, PCs and Macs both, have MAC addresses.

And finally, intel macs can boot from a USB external drive. I've booted my macbook from an external HD many times. Not sure about USB DVD drives, but give it a go. Some models work, but installing osx from a USB DVD drive is very slow apparently.
 
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