Installing OS X from alternate media

[Shintsu]

Hello everyone,

I recently purchased a mint condition iBook G3 for an absolute steal, but the only problem is it has OS X 10.2.8 on it. I have Tiger but it's on a DVD and this iBook doesn't happen to have a DVD drive on it - just the CD-ROM. I can't really install much of any updated apps (Adobe Reader, Flash player, newer web browsers, etc etc) with 10.2.8 so it's crucial I get it on there. I tried using an external DVD drive I have but no go - the disc never popped up.

My only thoughts on how I could get this on there would be to install it from a .iso image somehow or to use a flashdrive. How would I go about doing this? I'm only vaguely experienced in using OS X so I don't know the programs well enough to know what to download or use - something that's just a trial would be fine if I can use something to mount a .iso image of my Tiger disc that I can put on the machine from a flash drive and install it that way. This is my only Mac so the other computers in my house which I could manipulate the Tiger disc on are Windows 7 based.

I really want to update this iBook so I can see webpages properly (Safari 1.0 is the newest I'm allowed to install and I can't update flash!). I saw someone being able to install it from an iPod but they used the firewire - I have an iPhone 3G if it's easier to somehow install it from that. If this were a PC laptop I already know of Windows based ISO mounting programs, I just need to know of something I can install on an old 10.2.8 install (Something that I cannot seem to find anywhere!!) so either that or the ability to turn a flash drive into what would allow the computer to install Tiger straight off the drive as if it were the disc.

Would appreciate your wisdom on this matter, you all know much more than I!! I don't want to mess with all the trouble of buying a Combo drive and installing it!

 

[MisterMe]

Hello everyone,

I recently purchased a mint condition iBook G3 for an absolute steal, but the only problem is it has OS X 10.2.8 on it. ...

You haven't said which specific model iBook you have. However, the original (1999) iBook is the only model that didn't ship with a DVD drive. Tiger does not support this model. The maximum OS is MacOS X 10.3.9.

 

[lewis82]

I never tried to install OS X using an USB stick but by logic, you would have to go in Disk Utility, and "Restore" the DVD to the flash drive.

(If you want to install 10.3, lookup on Ebay for the CD version... it exists )

 

[calderone]

You haven't said which specific model iBook you have. However, the original (1999) iBook is the only model that didn't ship with a DVD drive. Tiger does not support this model. The maximum OS is MacOS X 10.3.9.

Firewire clamshell and on will support 10.4.11. Firewire 466 SE was the first with a DVD drive. A lot still came with a CD only drive, but there were alternate configurations available with a DVD drive.

USB boot is possible, but it is a mixed bag. See the comments here:
http://www.macosxhints.com/article.php?story=20061017084322177

The above comment is correct though, restore the DVD to the drive and you should be good. If you have a Firewire model, and a firewire drive you will be more likely to have success and it should be faster as well since early iBooks had USB 1.1.

 

[Shintsu]

My iBook is a 2002 iBook G3 model - it's the white 12.1" screen, not those clamshell style but the newer one. So given it's not going to be so easy to use the flash drive as an installer, is there a program that will install on OS 10.2.8 that I can mount a .ISO from? This still seems the most easy way for me to do it that I can understand, I'm just unfamiliar with Macs and their software to know what I'm looking for.

 

[Shintsu]

Bump - Plus, does anyone know if the Mac OS X disc will appear like it has nothing on it in Windows? I always use my backup copy of OS X on a DVD-RW instead of the actual disc but my Windows PC says it's a blank disc. I don't have a Mac with a DVD drive anymore so I can't verify if it is just a Windows lack of recognition or if the disc is actually blank. Does anyone know of any external DVD drives that are Mac compatible? All the ones I see at Best Buy don't mention anything about being Mac compatible but I don't see why a USB device wouldn't be.

I really need to get Tiger on this iBook, 10.2.8 is simply too limited on what software I can install on it!!

 

[Shintsu]

Ended up using Target mode and a relatives DVD-ROM equipped iMac to install it.