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Mini to 10.5

sfphoto

sfphoto

macrumors 6502
Original poster
Jun 10, 2010
499
41
Can one start a 2004 PPC Mini (Tiger) in target mode, connect to a 2009 MacBook (Leopard) and then:

Install 10.5 (as an upgrade) from the MacBook using the MacBook Leopard disc
THEN
update the Min to 10.5.8 with the Combo updater, finally re-starting the Mini.

I know the MacBook Leopard disc is machine specific but am thinking the Combo update would recognize the PPC Mini and correctly install 10.5.8


Thanks in advance-
 
Without actually trying this(or any sort of similar set-up), I don't think it will work.

All Apple-made Leopard installs are universal-including the system specific disks. With that said, Intel Macs require the start-up disk to be partitioned using GUID, and PowerPC Macs require APM. I don't think that the installer will run if the partition map is incorrect for the architecture.

What you can do is install Leopard on your Macbook, then use a program like Carbon Copy Cloner to clone the install onto your Mini in TDM. CCC will give you a warning about this due to the differences in partition mapping, but will go ahead and do it anyway. I have done this successfully(mostly as an experiment, since I have a retail Leopard disk). You can run the 10.5.8 combo update from either your Macbook or Mini-it won't really matter.
 
I might be wrong but I believe if you install using an Intel machine then it will select the Intel Mac kernel to install rather than the PPC one and the resulting installation will be unbootable in any case regardless of the partition scheme.
 
There is only one kernel in Leopard. bunnspecial is correct about the GUID/APM format problem.
 
I installed Leopard to a partition (shut down without going through setup) and made a disk image of the partition and deleted the partition. Because it uses GUID partition table I don't think you can do it, but, you could manually copy the files (show hidden files) from the GUID disk image to the target drive with Apple Partiton map
 
Do not manually copy the files. That will result in a non-bootable operating system as the permissions will be extremely broken.
 
sfphoto said:
Can one start a 2004 PPC Mini (Tiger) in target mode, connect to a 2009 MacBook (Leopard) and then:

Install 10.5 (as an upgrade) from the MacBook using the MacBook Leopard disc
THEN
update the Min to 10.5.8 with the Combo updater, finally re-starting the Mini.

I know the MacBook Leopard disc is machine specific but am thinking the Combo update would recognize the PPC Mini and correctly install 10.5.8


Thanks in advance-
Click to expand...

I've tried that before and it DID work.

I have booted a PPC Powerbook running Leopard to an intel Mac Mini (early 2009) MANY MANY TIMES.

Yes it works. Go for it.
 
Speaking from experience:

I have used Carbon Copy Cloner to copy Leopard installs between Intel and PowerPC Macs. It will give you warnings about the GUID/APM differences, but will let you proceed with the clone and will work fine.

In fact, I bought my black Macbook it had a bad hard drive(I knew before buying). I stuck an SSD in it, but my 10.5.0 Retail disk refused to install. On Intell's advice, I booted the Macbook in TDM and cloned the Leopard install from a PPC computer(as it so happened my TiBook, because it was handy at the time, although anything would have worked). A couple of weeks later, I picked up the factory restore disks on Ebay for a few bucks, and purely as an experiment tried the same operation in reverse: I ran the restore disks on the Macbook, and then cloned the install to a Quicksilver. It again booted and ran fine.

I'll also add that I've since upgrade the Macbook to Lion(the newest OS it supports) but it was fun to play with Lion on Intel hardware for a little while. I still have it installed on a(small) partition for the occasional Rosetta use. I really should break down and buy Snow Leopard while Apple is still selling the media for $20.
 
So I don't think that I want to clone - need to keep the user directory / files intact ..

Rather upgrade my friends old 10.4.11 so that Safari 5 can be used. Uses for email and web surfing. She uses all the Mac features like Address Book, Mail, etc.

Thinking I should just find a 10.5 retail disc.
 
sfphoto said:
So I don't think that I want to clone - need to keep the user directory / files intact ..

Rather upgrade my friends old 10.4.11 so that Safari 5 can be used. Uses for email and web surfing. She uses all the Mac features like Address Book, Mail, etc.

Thinking I should just find a 10.5 retail disc.
Click to expand...

Yes. You should use a 10.5 retail disk or modify a restore disk, however you must hold rights to use it as that could violate the EULA. Intell has more information on the End User License Agreement than I do. Also, do not use the stock Safari 5 browser but rather Leopard WebKit or TenFourFox for security and compatibility reasons.
 
bunnspecial said:
What you can do is install Leopard on your Macbook, then use a program like Carbon Copy Cloner to clone the install onto your Mini in TDM. CCC will give you a warning about this due to the differences in partition mapping, but will go ahead and do it anyway.
Click to expand...


Thanks bunnspecial

Have 10.5.8 on the MacBook & CCC.

Is there a way to preserve the user directory when cloning?
 
For what you are wanting to do, not easily. You could try, but the permissions will be extremely broken and you won't be able to log in to the new account.
 
Intell said:
For what you are wanting to do, not easily. You could try, but the permissions will be extremely broken and you won't be able to log in to the new account.
Click to expand...

Ok, thanks

Back to fleaBay to find a 10.5 retail disc.
 
California said:
I've tried that before and it DID work.

I have booted a PPC Powerbook running Leopard to an intel Mac Mini (early 2009) MANY MANY TIMES.

Yes it works. Go for it.
Click to expand...

Same here. When i Programmed 1Ghz Emacs for my school and since my Leopard disk is a burned copy as my original one disappeared when we moved back in 08' i had to use my macbook and firewire. The emac booted up fine.
 
Well in lieu of a 10.5 retail disk I tried the MacBook <> PPC MacMini as target.

Did not work. The MacBook disc would not install said the Mini is not GUID.

Wish my PPC 10.5 PowerMac disc would work but the Mini will not start with it so the only alternative is getting a retail disc.
 
sfphoto said:
Well in lieu of a 10.5 retail disk I tried the MacBook <> PPC MacMini as target.

Did not work. The MacBook disc would not install said the Mini is not GUID.

Wish my PPC 10.5 PowerMac disc would work but the Mini will not start with it so the only alternative is getting a retail disc.
Click to expand...

Interesting. Can you boot your macbook's hard drive in Leopard on the Mac Mini, from target disc mode? In other words, can you target disc mode your Macbook to the Mini and start up with it?
 
California said:
...can you target disc mode your Macbook to the Mini and start up with it?
Click to expand...

Did not try because 10.5 installation requires starting from a 10.5 disc and I need a retail one.

I have 10.5 for the MacBook but it wants to install on a GUID drive (not PPC) plus I have one for my G5 tower (also gray color) but neither will start if in the Mini.
 
sfphoto said:
Did not try because 10.5 installation requires starting from a 10.5 disc and I need a retail one.

I have 10.5 for the MacBook but it wants to install on a GUID drive (not PPC) plus I have one for my G5 tower (also gray color) but neither will start if in the Mini.
Click to expand...

Use the gray disk to do a clean Leopard install on a supported machine, and then Carbon Copy Cloner or the like to clone the install to Mini in Target Disk Mode.

I don't know where it started, but somewhere along the way with Intel Macs Apple added the ability to carve out an additional partition from unused space on the drive without completely reformatting it. I know it's possible under 10.7, although I'm not sure how far back the feature goes. If you need a place for a clean 10.5 install(you should probably have about 15gb) you could probably do it this way.
 
bunnspecial said:
I don't know where it started, but somewhere along the way with Intel Macs Apple added the ability to carve out an additional partition from unused space on the drive without completely reformatting it.
Click to expand...

Worked on 10.4 on Intel. Boot Camp assistant uses the feature to resize the HFS+ partition and create a new FAT32 partition. Even defragged/moved some data around (within reason) to clear contiguous space IIRC.
 
bunnspecial said:
I don't know where it started, but somewhere along the way with Intel Macs Apple added the ability to carve out an additional partition from unused space on the drive without completely reformatting it. I know it's possible under 10.7, although I'm not sure how far back the feature goes. If you need a place for a clean 10.5 install(you should probably have about 15gb) you could probably do it this way.
Click to expand...

Live partitioning was introduced in 10.5 Leopard.
 
Intell said:
It was introduced with a version of Tiger, 10.4.6 I think.
Click to expand...

Wikipedia said:
Mac OS X v10.5 Leopard added the ability to create, resize, and delete disk partitions without erasing them, a feature known as live partitioning.
Click to expand...

Maybe it was added to Disk Utility in 10.5 but implemented in the system in 10.4.6.
 
I think the key thing was the ability to create GUID partitions. Disk Utility cannot resize APM volumes. Once Apple launched Intel machines resizing followed soon after. Tiger 10.4.2 was the last bundled version for PPC Macs so 10.4.6 sounds about right.
 
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