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Installing OS X without a working dvd-rom/cd-rom???

wattabing

wattabing

macrumors newbie
Original poster
Mar 13, 2009
16
0
New Jersey
Is it possible?? I have a few different external hard drives... I have a legit copy of os-x or i might be able to download one and use my serial.... I definitely have a full copy that came with my iMac... Anyways, is there a way to put it on an external and have my imac boot from external and install the OS?? Thanks!!!! A walkthrough would be nice if something exsists!!!! I am fairly computer literate, but i just made the switch to mac about a year ago... I love my iMac!!!


I have an imac and the cd-rom is broken, and i must do a reformat/reload, but not sure how to do it, because my cdrom is broken...is there a way to reinstall leopard without a working cd-rom drive...
 
You could possibly try installing it using Target Disk Mode and a Firewire cable but this all depends on where you are installing it from. Is the copy of it that you have a legitimate copy of OS X for your machine? If its registered to your cd-rom then it would be difficult. If you have OS X installed on an external drive you could plug it in and reinstall.

PS. Buying an external cd drive will not work since your copy of OS X is registered to your iMac's CD-Drive however there may be a way around this that I don't know about.
 
wattabing said:
but i just made the switch to mac about a year ago... I love my iMac!!!


I have an imac and the cd-rom is broken, and i must do a reformat/reload, but not sure how to do it, because my cdrom is broken...is there a way to reinstall leopard without a working cd-rom drive...
Click to expand...

If your iMac is a under a year old, Apple should fix the cd-rom for you no? If you have Applecare they will replace it if its under 3 years old.
 
Instructions for reinstalling mac os x without an external hard drive -

I did this for a friend recently who wanted a clean install. They didn't have the disk 'cause they were away from home so we:

- Torrented leopard (I know booo, hisss etc)
- Backed up her macbook
- Made 2 new blank partitions (NB this is only possible if you're running leopard)
*Open disk utility > click your hard drive > go to the Partitions tab > press the plus sign underneath the box showing your current partition > select the size of the new partition (do this twice, one partition will probably have to be about 7GB, for the dmg, the other we made about 15 GB for the Leopard install)
- Then put the dmg of Leopard onto one of the hard drives
*Click your hard drive > restore tab > copy the dmg from wherever you've downloaded it onto one of the blank partitions
- Go to system preferences and change your startup disk to the partition with the dmg on it. Restart your computer and voila, it's like you're running off an install disk. Choose the remaining blank partition as where you want to install Leopard
- After you've installed Leopard go into disk utility and clean up the partitions you now no longer need.
 
instaxgirl said:
Instructions for reinstalling mac os x without an external hard drive -

I did this for a friend recently who wanted a clean install. They didn't have the disk 'cause they were away from home so we:

- Torrented leopard (I know booo, hisss etc)
- Backed up her macbook
- Made 2 new blank partitions (NB this is only possible if you're running leopard)
*Open disk utility > click your hard drive > go to the Partitions tab > press the plus sign underneath the box showing your current partition > select the size of the new partition (do this twice, one partition will probably have to be about 7GB, for the dmg, the other we made about 15 GB for the Leopard install)
- Then put the dmg of Leopard onto one of the hard drives
*Click your hard drive > restore tab > copy the dmg from wherever you've downloaded it onto one of the blank partitions
- Go to system preferences and change your startup disk to the partition with the dmg on it. Restart your computer and voila, it's like you're running off an install disk. Choose the remaining blank partition as where you want to install Leopard
- After you've installed Leopard go into disk utility and clean up the partitions you now no longer need.
Click to expand...

This works. My friend's iBook G4's DVD drive was messed up, so I had to do this to install Leopard. Of course, with PowerPCs, you can only boot from a FireWire external hard drive... USB won't work.
 
RHatton said:
PS. Buying an external cd drive will not work since your copy of OS X is registered to your iMac's CD-Drive however there may be a way around this that I don't know about.
Click to expand...
There's apparently a lot you don't know about! An external drive will work fine, as NOTHING gets "registered" to any drive.
 
Ah I apologize. I was always under that impression. I used Target Disk Mode and a firewire cable to install leopard on my machine using a friends newer macbook. It worked just fine but it took a while to finish the install.
 
Thats exactly my plan... i will download a torrent of leopard and follow your instructions... its gonna be a few days, but ill let you know how it goes... and yes i do have a legit copy of leopard so technically i am using the torrent for backup purposes... Again i will let you know how it goes.... i may even actually take it to apple to get cdrom fixed... i do have applecare and didnt think it lasted 3 yrs, thanks for the heads up.. so either way ill let you know how it goes....

instaxgirl said:
Instructions for reinstalling mac os x without an external hard drive -

I did this for a friend recently who wanted a clean install. They didn't have the disk 'cause they were away from home so we:

- Torrented leopard (I know booo, hisss etc)
- Backed up her macbook
- Made 2 new blank partitions (NB this is only possible if you're running leopard)
*Open disk utility > click your hard drive > go to the Partitions tab > press the plus sign underneath the box showing your current partition > select the size of the new partition (do this twice, one partition will probably have to be about 7GB, for the dmg, the other we made about 15 GB for the Leopard install)
- Then put the dmg of Leopard onto one of the hard drives
*Click your hard drive > restore tab > copy the dmg from wherever you've downloaded it onto one of the blank partitions
- Go to system preferences and change your startup disk to the partition with the dmg on it. Restart your computer and voila, it's like you're running off an install disk. Choose the remaining blank partition as where you want to install Leopard
- After you've installed Leopard go into disk utility and clean up the partitions you now no longer need.
Click to expand...
 
Huh?

RHatton said:
I used Target Disk Mode and a firewire cable to install leopard on my machine using a friends newer macbook. It worked just fine but it took a while to finish the install.
Click to expand...


I have same need to reinstall os with broken disk drive. Target disk mode = ? Please explain process.
 
monkeymanx said:
I have same need to reinstall os with broken disk drive. Target disk mode = ? Please explain process.
Click to expand...

I did do a reload of the OS folling instaxgirls directions, the steps are perfect and it worked like a charm.... I did an archive and install so i could save some stuff and it worked just fine... I am bringing my imac to apple tomorrow to get cdrom fixed... once that is fixed i think i may do a whole new fresh wipe/reload of the OS... Anyways, follow the directions i quoted in my last message and you will be just fine...
 
Still need help

GGJstudios said:
http://support.apple.com/kb/HT1661
Click to expand...

Above link was useful. Thank you.

Do you have link to similar place that will tell me how to reinstall the os on a macBook with a broken cd drive. I have another macBook with a (working) cd/dvd drive.

The broken machine was osx 10.4 and I have bought osx 10.5, do I have to install 10.4 first (I ask this cos the tech that replaced the stuffed hard drive on the machine said it).

I'm trying not to pay Au$75 for the shop to do this for me.
 
monkeymanx said:
Above link was useful. Thank you.

Do you have link to similar place that will tell me how to reinstall the os on a macBook with a broken cd drive. I have another macBook with a (working) cd/dvd drive.

The broken machine was osx 10.4 and I have bought osx 10.5, do I have to install 10.4 first (I ask this cos the tech that replaced the stuffed hard drive on the machine said it).

I'm trying not to pay Au$75 for the shop to do this for me.
Click to expand...

Same process. I think your best bet in this case would be to pop the disk into the computer with the working drive, then restart it with the T key held down (Target Disk Mode), and of course connect the two computers via FireWire, assuming these are not Unibody's. Then start up the other computer with the option key held down, and choose the install disk to boot from and complete the install as normal.

jW
 
Mal said:
Same process. I think your best bet in this case would be to pop the disk into the computer with the working drive, then restart it with the T key held down (Target Disk Mode), and of course connect the two computers via FireWire, assuming these are not Unibody's. Then start up the other computer with the option key held down, and choose the install disk to boot from and complete the install as normal.

jW
Click to expand...

Just to clarify:

I have a ibook g4 with a wipped harddrive.. I would connect the computers with a firewire cable.. turn the target (wipped harddrive) computer on holding "t" to get to firewire mode. Then turn on the host computer with the os X cd in the cd rom drive with the option key pressed.. then you say the target pc will recongnize the host pc's cd-rom drive.. I feel like I am missing a step.. could you please clarify?
 
jeremyc2551 said:
I feel like I am missing a step.. could you please clarify?
Click to expand...

When you boot up the computer in Target Disk Mode then the other computer will recognize it as a hard drive. Using the Leopard install disk you install the OS to that drive. The Target Disk computer doesn't recognize anything because in Disk mode it is operating just like an external hard drive would. With the install disk you can put the OS on any recognized drive.
 
If the iMac is a relatively new Intel one, couldn't Remotely Install Mac OSX work, too? I know it is supposed to be for MacBook Air, but isn't the support to either provide the drive or use the drive built into the EFI firmware for all models?

jeremyc2551, Think of Target Disk Mode as turning your iBook into an external FireWire drive for the other machine. If that other machine is Intel, it would install OSX to work for an Intel machine by default, so you would have to be sure to choose Apple Partition Map partitioning, for instance.
 
Mal said:
Same process. I think your best bet in this case would be to pop the disk into the computer with the working drive, then restart it with the T key held down (Target Disk Mode), and of course connect the two computers via FireWire, assuming these are not Unibody's. Then start up the other computer with the option key held down, and choose the install disk to boot from and complete the install as normal.

jW
Click to expand...

jzuena said:
If the iMac is a relatively new Intel one, couldn't Remotely Install Mac OSX work, too? I know it is supposed to be for MacBook Air, but isn't the support to either provide the drive or use the drive built into the EFI firmware for all models?

jeremyc2551, Think of Target Disk Mode as turning your iBook into an external FireWire drive for the other machine. If that other machine is Intel, it would install OSX to work for an Intel machine by default, so you would have to be sure to choose Apple Partition Map partitioning, for instance.
Click to expand...

Thank you so much for you info.. ok.. I did get it to recongzine the ibook as a external harddrive.. so next I will go into apple partition map partitioning.. (I think I will need a little bit more help there..) When I try to run the os install .. it keeps wanting me to install it to my host pc.. Any further help with the partitioning would be very helpful..

Blessings,

JC
 
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