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Installing SL from dmg file to mac.

-tWv-

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macrumors 68000
Original poster
May 11, 2009
1,583
2
Ohio
I have kind of a weird question. I have the disk image file of Snow Leopard, but I do not have access to dual layer dvds, so i need a way to install snow leopard to my mac.

Is it possible to create a partition on my external hard drive, restore the disk image file to that partition with disk utility, and then boot up into that partition to be able to install osx? Or can you even boot from an external drive? I just need a way to install SL without a disc. Is there any way to do this?
 
The way i did it was i took a old Xbox 360 hard drive..No S***...Partitioned it in half. Restore the .dmg to the bottom partition and boot from it. Installed snow leopard to the top Partition and to clean up i erased the install partition and expand the snow leopard startup disk to fill the unused space.
It all fit onto a 20GB Xbox 360 Hard drive with 9GB of space to spare.
 
If you want to install Snow Leopard onto another partition, just create the new partition, then navigate to /Volumes/Mac OS X Install DVD/System/Installation/Packages/OSInstall.mpkg and run the installer from Leopard and choose the newly created partition. No media needed :)
 
So it means that you can open the Snow Leopard disk image, and install on another partition? Without burning on a DL DVD or using an external hard drive?
 
Thankyou for all your quick responses.

PurrBall said:
If you want to install Snow Leopard onto another partition, just create the new partition, then navigate to /Volumes/Mac OS X Install DVD/System/Installation/Packages/OSInstall.mpkg and run the installer from Leopard and choose the newly created partition. No media needed :)
Click to expand...


I got to /volumes/Mac OS X install DVD/ and then I can't get to system. Is this navigating something that has to be done in the terminal? If i can't get it to install here is my plan of action:

I will create 2 more partitions on my drive, one being just enough room to fit the disk image, and the second being where i will install snow leopard. I will then restore the disk image to the smaller partition and then boot into that in order to install snow leopard. After i install i will delete the small partition and recover lost disc space. Will this work?

Also, one question. When I go into disk utility it says "to erase and partition the selected disk..." and then goes on to tell me how to partition it. will this erase the disk so I have to re-install mac osx? or should I use the gparted live cd that I have so it doesn't erase the whole drive?

I attached a SS of what disk utility is showing.
 

Attachments

  • Disk Utility SS.jpg
    Disk Utility SS.jpg
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Alright I partitioned the disk and I had to repair permissions because my keyboard wouldn't work after I did but now all is well. I am proceeding to restore the image to my small partition and then boot into that partition to do the install. I will report back with results
 
PurrBall said:
In Finder you can go to Go > Go to folder and then type /Volumes/Mac OS X Install DVD/System
Click to expand...

Oh, well that would have been easier than making a boot partition, but oh well. Thanks for all the help everyone. Problem Solved :)
 
Did al the steps and managed to install Snow Leopard. Loving it so far.

Is it me or are the overall colors much brighter and crispier in SL?

Got a question, after installing it, can we delete the partition?

Thanks
 
After I did the partition, I booted from it and installed SL on my main hard drive, so yes, it's the install partition.
 
Wowzera said:
So it means that you can open the Snow Leopard disk image, and install on another partition? Without burning on a DL DVD or using an external hard drive?
Click to expand...
Would it be possible to open disk image and install SL on the same partition?
 
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