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Installing OS X on empty drive, won't let me.

SpookTheHamster

SpookTheHamster

macrumors 65816
Original poster
Nov 7, 2004
1,495
8
London
Hi,

My parents bought an old PowerMac (G4/450) to replace their dead PC. I popped in what I'd always assumed was a Panther install disc (it says "Panther - Install Disc" on it, and I've used it to install OS X on an OS 9 machine) and erased the drive, but OS X Installer refuses to go past selecting a destination because there is no existing OS X install on the drive.

Right, so I ****ed up. Would I be able to sort it out by getting my sister to bring my old PowerBook round, booting the PowerMac in target mode and dragging to the empty drive? What would I need to drag across?

I'd rather not have to spend £89 on a Tiger disc to get this done, the computer only cost £65

And another thing, why the hell do they call it an "install disc" if you can't install from it?!
 
when booting off of the install disk, you can go to disk utilities in the menu bar, maybe erasing (formatting) the HD will help. if not, you could clone your powermac drive to an external using carbon or superdupa (i think thats what its called)
 
speakerwizard said:
when booting off of the install disk, you can go to disk utilities in the menu bar, maybe erasing (formatting) the HD will help. if not, you could clone your powermac drive to an external using carbon or superdupa (i think thats what its called)
Click to expand...

The fact that the hard drive is erased is why it won't let me install OS X. It's entirely empty and the Panther disc is (apparently) upgrade only.

I don't have access to an external drive while I'm here, but thanks for pointing me at CCC. Do you think I'll be able just to clone the PowerBook and drag it to the PowerMac?
 
SpookTheHamster said:
I don't have access to an external drive while I'm here, but thanks for pointing me at CCC. Do you think I'll be able just to clone the PowerBook and drag it to the PowerMac?
Click to expand...

I'm not sure that's safe because of driver differences...

Now the G4/450 didn't come with discs, is that correct? Where did your Panther install disc come from? Is it a Panther retail box disc or is it the system restore disc from some system or other? If it's the latter, it shouldn't let you install it on another computer besides the one it came with....

If they are system restore discs, usually they have a grey front... if they are Panther retail discs, they should look like this:

Panther_CDs.jpg


If they *are* retail discs, there is no such thing as an upgrade disc. They're all "full install" discs. I'm not sure what the problem could be... perhaps something to do with the firmware of that PM? You might try installing Panther using Target Disc mode and the powerbook (boot the powerbook off the discs with the PM connected to it via FW in target disc mode, then select the PM as the install destination).
 
No discs with the computer.

The discs were given to me by Apple, as Tiger was released within 14 days of when I bought my computer. It seems to be that they'll work to upgrade anything (OS 9, X) but not as a complete install.

Anyone got any Panther/Tiger discs they want to get rid of?
 
CanadaRAM said:
Ok then, the seller ripped you off by not including the stock CDs-- you are going to have to purchase Tiger - or you can contact Apple Customer service and see if they will sell you replacement CDs that came with the computer.
Click to expand...

Damnit, no other way?

The seller isn't to blame, it was my stupid fault for trusting my discs and erasing the drive.

edit: Just called Apple, the computer would have shipped with OS 9.0.2, which they don't keep in stock (surprise, surprise). I'm hoping my girlfriend still has her Puma discs I can install with.
 
Copy over the OS from your other mac computer onto the blank HD.

Don't worry about having the wrong drivers as you're not going to actually run this OS.

Then boot from the CD drive and wipe and install OSX.

Tadaa :)

Got nothing to lose by trying it anyway.

EDIT: It isn't clear if you wiped the drive with the installer or if the drive was already wiped when you ran the installer.

If the first case, then don't wipe first with the installer as you already tried that.

Just archive and upgrade or reinstall or something like that. Then later you can delete the archive. I can't remember the various options but try them out.
 
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