Installing Tiger from an external Hard drive?

[redsquash]

I currrently run osx 10.4 on a powerbook, but the DVD drive isnt recognised when I install a disc. This is only a recent problem but prior 2 years were fine.
Can I copy the installation discs onto an exteranl hard drive , formatted in fat32, and then install from the hard drive onto the mac.
I want to take the operrting system back to the original installation as I am trying to get my dvd drive to work.

I dont want to be running 2 versions of tiger.

 

[robbieduncan]

I've successfully installed Leopard from an external drive (developer download). This was from an image restored onto the external drive (wipes out the content).

 

[redsquash]

I've successfully installed Leopard from an external drive (developer download). This was from an image restored onto the external drive (wipes out the content).

Not sure what your answer means. If I open the contents of a dvd copied to hard drive from a mac, Can I proceed . Is that what your answer means?

 

[robbieduncan]

Not sure what your answer means. If I open the contents of a dvd copied to hard drive from a mac, Can I proceed . Is that what your answer means?

You cannot simply drag-and-drop copy the contents of the DVD: this will not result in a bootable partition. You can image the DVD using Disk Utility and then use Disk Utility to restore this image to the external drive. This will result in the complete loss of current contents on the external drive and a reformat to HFS+.

 

[redsquash]

Hi robbie,
Dragging to the externalhard disk isnt an option now that I see what you mean.
How about having my powerbook hard disk split into 2 partions. Not sure how to do that either.

Since I cant use my dvd drive I then proceed with the info you gave in your prior post.
Not sure what it means exactly but I can give it a try once I find the disc utility.
EDIT
Just checked disc utility an looks like I cant partion my Hard drive.
Can I use another MAc to somehow reinstall my own mAc?

 

[robbieduncan]

Do you have 2 Macs? If not how are you going to read from the DVD if your Powerbook refuses to read from it?

If you have 2 Macs then connection your Powerbook to the other Mac via Firewire and restart it in target disk mode. Put the DVD in the othermac and start the installer. You can then choose to install to the Powerbook that is in target disk mode...

 

[redsquash]

Do you have 2 Macs? If not how are you going to read from the DVD if your Powerbook refuses to read from it?

If you have 2 Macs then connection your Powerbook to the other Mac via Firewire and restart it in target disk mode. Put the DVD in the othermac and start the installer. You can then choose to install to the Powerbook that is in target disk mode...

Thanks Robbie, I will try to find another Mac whioch seems the easiiest option.
I have an exteranl dvd drive connected to my windows computer and an external fat32 drive for storage