Swap HD Question?

[nospeed411]

OK...so I received all my new goodies for the iMac today. Here is my dilemma.... I have this thing running Leopard and have no Tiger install disc. Swapping out the Hard drive is now going to be a giant PITA. I will have no real sure fire way to get it up and running after I swap the drive. Remember this is an 800mghz G4 so I have to use leopard assist to install OSX Leopard.

I am attempting to clone the HD right now onto a small portable laptop drive, but as I do some more reading I see that it may not boot from the USB drive. This kinda kills the idea of cloning to USB, swapping drive booting from USB, and re cloning that onto new internal drive. I am just not real sure of how to go about this the least painful way....HALP..!!

 

[ThunderSnake]

Do you have a firewire cable? You can use your MBP to restore your clone to your iMac in TDM.

 

[nospeed411]

Do you have a firewire cable? You can use your MBP to restore your clone to your iMac in TDM.

No firewire...and if my MBP is a intel model that wouldn't be possible to do on a PP iMac....

After further reading I see that it should be able to boot from usb drive...cloning now to test.

 

[nospeed411]

Ok....that doesn't work...booting from usb

Does anyone know if running leopard assist, pulling apart computer, swapping in new drive and installing will work? I am wondering if the leopard assist hack will be wiped out once I pull the power plug??

 

[OrangeSVTguy]

Just clone the HDD that's in your iMac to the external USB HDD. SuperDuper! and Carbon Copy Cloner are your two options. Once that is done, swap the newly cloned external drive into your iMac and boot.

 

[nospeed411]

Just clone the HDD that's in your iMac to the external USB HDD. SuperDuper! and Carbon Copy Cloner are your two options. Once that is done, swap the newly cloned external drive into your iMac and boot.

Ya I was trying to avoid buying an external enclosure for a one time use deal...LOL Oh well it has become my only option . Called my buddy who manages a Best Buy and he's going to pick one up for me on the cheap tomorrow.

You know it's kinda tough trying to do this and spend as little as possible. I am such a cheap ass...LOL

Thanks for the help