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[Succeeded by new topic] Install OS 9 from USB?

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cameroncr95

macrumors newbie
Original poster
Feb 17, 2014
26
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THIS TOPIC HAS BEEN SUCCEEDED BY THIS TOPIC, PLEASE HELP ME WITH THIS ONE INSTEAD!: https://forums.macrumors.com/threads/1708425/



I have recently obtained a Power PC Imac G3 from a friend.
It is currently running OS X 10.4, however, I do not want that. I am better at classic mac and OS X is horrible in my opinion. None of the classic software works on it and it confuses me. SOOOOOO, what I am asking is this:

Is it possible to install OS9 from a USB stick? I had already tested usb boot and this imac I can confirm does recognize USB as a bootable device. Thanks for the help.
 
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I fundamentally disagree with your assessment of OS X and do not understand how running OS9 as Classic under Tiger can be confusing.

However, we are all different and have different likes. So if it's true that you can get the Mac to see a bootable USB device then just copy everything from an OS9 install disk to the USB device and boot from the USB device.

Keep in mind though that if what you mean is that you can get System Preferences>Startup Disk in OS X to "see" a USB device as a startup device it doesn't mean you can boot from it.

There's a way to use OpenFirmware to force a boot from a USB device but my one experience with OF on an iMac G3 was very strange because it didn't seem to behave the same way as OF on a G4 or G5. And if using OS X and Classic is confusing that's likely to be even more so.

I am assuming too that you are asking this question because your CD-ROM drive is broken.
 
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If you have the disc image, why not just burn it to a CD? Is the drive broken?

If you partition the thumb drive as a Mac drive with APM and Mac os 9 drivers then copy a system folder to the drive. Bless the drive then reboot, you should now have a bootable os 9 USB drive.
 
I have tried to copy an ISO from OS9 discs but upon boot the setup says: "Setup cannot continue because you cannot install Mac OS 9 from a non original drive" or something of that nature.

So I was curious about how I should go about doing it. I cannot use the disc drive because of a faulty lens, so USB is my only option.
 
cameroncr95 said:
I have tried to copy an ISO from OS9 discs but upon boot the setup says: "Setup cannot continue because you cannot install Mac OS 9 from a non original drive" or something of that nature.

So I was curious about how I should go about doing it. I cannot use the disc drive because of a faulty lens, so USB is my only option.
Click to expand...

The appropriate way would be to restore the ISO to the USB drive. However, the OS 9 days were a dark era for USB mass storage. Essentially OS 9 checks to ensure the disk was not copied or cloned. Give the restore a shot. Are you restoring the drive on a newer Mac?
 
If your iMac is a tray loading model, it cannot be booted from a USB device. USB boot support was added with the slot loading models. One thing you could try is to use a USB optical drive and boot the OS 9 disc from that.
 
OP, if you have an OS9 machine separate from the one you need help on, you can copy the contents of your second Mac's top level folder to the USB drive, then deposit those contents into the top level folder of your OS X machine.

If you do it right, the Startup Disk preference pane will recognize your OS9 System Folder and then boot from it. You can then boot into IS 9, load a valid bootable CD, and restart from the CD to erase & install a new OS9.

I know this works because I've done it on my G4 MDD dual 1.0. I've done it twice, actually.
 
It is an Imac G3 slot load Indigo DV model, and as I said I tested and can confirm USB booting does work, however once setup started the error about a cloned drive appeared and it aborted.
 
cameroncr95 said:
It is an Imac G3 slot load Indigo DV model, and as I said I tested and can confirm USB booting does work, however once setup started the error about a cloned drive appeared and it aborted.
Click to expand...
If you're able to get it booted, maybe try doing a "Get Info" on the drive you're installing from and check the box "Locked". I've done that with an ISO of an OS 9 cd that I've made, and it allows the installer to complete.
 
HereBeMonsters said:
Is there some way of partitioning and installing classic onto the disc while running 10.4?
Click to expand...

If so, that would be great. Then possibly someway of removing OSX 10 from within 9.

Another reason I need this is OS X 10 is just too darn slow for the G3
 
Sorry, I can't remember if there is or not. I just remember having dual boot on my G3 iMac, and I think I set it up from within the OS. I think it was running 10.2 though.
 
HereBeMonsters said:
Sorry, I can't remember if there is or not. I just remember having dual boot on my G3 iMac, and I think I set it up from within the OS. I think it was running 10.2 though.
Click to expand...

If you install Classic properly then it resides within OS X on the same partition on the hard drive. Then you could run Classic on top of OS X or boot back into full OS 9. In the OP's case, he or she will need to wipe the drive and install OS 9. The easiest way is to either replace the internal disk drive, use a USB external disk drive, or attempt an OS 9 install off of USB. The problem is that no one really had the need to start OS 9 off a USB drive.
 
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