Why can't Grey-Disk iMac OS X 10.5 be installed on my 10.4 MBP?

[jman995x]

I have a couple of different Macs around my house.
I recently wiped and did a clean install on my MBP with the Grey Disks (10.4) that came with the MBP.
I also have an iMac that shipped with Grey-Disk 10.5 OS.
I wanted to upgrade my MBP to 10.5 and tried to use the iMac's Grey Disks but got an error message stating that "This software cannot be installed on this computer."
Are the disks that ship with certain model of computer specific to that computer?
If not, why can't I use the 10.5 disks that shipped with my iMac on my MBP (that shipped with 10.4)?

Are there any workarounds?

Thanks,

J.

P.S. There's a program I have that works on 10.5 that doesn't work on 10.4 and changed on 10.6 (so I want to install 10.5 specifically).

 

[iBookG4user]

Yes, the grey discs are specific to the computer model that they are shipped with.

 

[justperry]

I have a couple of different Macs around my house.
I recently wiped and did a clean install on my MBP with the Grey Disks (10.4) that came with the MBP.
I also have an iMac that shipped with Grey-Disk 10.5 OS.
I wanted to upgrade my MBP to 10.5 and tried to use the iMac's Grey Disks but got an error message stating that "This software cannot be installed on this computer."
Are the disks that ship with certain model of computer specific to that computer?
If not, why can't I use the 10.5 disks that shipped with my iMac on my MBP (that shipped with 10.4)?

Are there any workarounds?

Thanks,

J.

P.S. There's a program I have that works on 10.5 that doesn't work on 10.4 and changed on 10.6 (so I want to install 10.5 specifically).

The grey disks are machine specific and don't work on other Macs.

But, if you have Firewire on both you could try this.
Connect both Macs with Firewire cable, start the MBP up in Target Disk Mode by Holding the T key.
Click on the installer, it will restart the Mac, choose the MBP to install to, when finished download the Combo 10.5.8 Installer from Apple, open it on the Mac, choose to update the External MBP, this should work.

Or, if you have an external HD, Install on that one, startup from it, update, then connect it to the MBP, startup from the external by holding the Option key, Use Carbon Copy Cloner to copy to the MBP internal drive.

 

[laptoplover2]

I have a couple of different Macs around my house.
I recently wiped and did a clean install on my MBP with the Grey Disks (10.4) that came with the MBP.
I also have an iMac that shipped with Grey-Disk 10.5 OS.
I wanted to upgrade my MBP to 10.5 and tried to use the iMac's Grey Disks but got an error message stating that "This software cannot be installed on this computer."
Are the disks that ship with certain model of computer specific to that computer?
If not, why can't I use the 10.5 disks that shipped with my iMac on my MBP (that shipped with 10.4)?

Are there any workarounds?

Thanks,

J.

P.S. There's a program I have that works on 10.5 that doesn't work on 10.4 and changed on 10.6 (so I want to install 10.5 specifically).

It probably is possible actually. You're going to need an external hard drive where you can make a partition on it or format it as a Mac OS X Journaled Drive. On the Mac with Leopard, install the program Carbon Copy Cloner, create a backup of your computer, and back it up to that external hard drive I was talking about. Then boot up the MacBook Pro from one of the grey disks along with the external drive plugged in. You should be able to either click a Backup button or go into Disk Utility on at least one of them. Click the Hard drive of that computer, then go to Restore, and restore it from the external hard drive. Both Macs should boot up identically now with Leopard and the same software and data on it.

 

[benwiggy]

Bundled installer disks only contain the drivers for a small range of similar Mac models. Retail disks contain the complete set of drivers for all compatible Macs.

You might be able to get one Mac to install a "bundled" OS and clone that installation onto another Mac, but it will only work if both Macs are similar enough to use the same subset of drivers.

 

[chown33]

It probably is possible actually. You're going to need an external hard drive where you can make a partition on it or format it as a Mac OS X Journaled Drive. On the Mac with Leopard, install the program Carbon Copy Cloner, create a backup of your computer, and back it up to that external hard drive I was talking about. Then boot up the MacBook Pro from one of the grey disks along with the external drive plugged in. You should be able to either click a Backup button or go into Disk Utility on at least one of them. Click the Hard drive of that computer, then go to Restore, and restore it from the external hard drive. Both Macs should boot up identically now with Leopard and the same software and data on it.

The red-hilited part may be impossible. The OP's grey disc is for an iMac, not a MacBook Pro. If you're suggesting booting from an MBP gray disk, what does that gain?

Real-world example: I have two Mac minis of slightly different generations. The gray disc from one simply won't boot the other. It just spits the disc out.

If the iMac gray disc is going to work at all, then installing 10.5 to the external HD will create a disk that's bootable by the MBP. So reset the MBP, hold down the Option key, and see if the external HD appears. If so, choose it. If the MBP fails to boot, then copying the external HD to the MBP's internal HD won't make it boot any better. You'd still need to follow justperry's suggestion and update the OS residing on the external HD. After that's done, one could still test bootability on the MBP by selecting the external HD. Personally, I would do this before any copying to the MBP internal drive.

 

[laptoplover2]

The red-hilited part may be impossible. The OP's grey disc is for an iMac, not a MacBook Pro. If you're suggesting booting from an MBP gray disk, what does that gain?

Real-world example: I have two Mac minis of slightly different generations. The gray disc from one simply won't boot the other. It just spits the disc out.

If the iMac gray disc is going to work at all, then installing 10.5 to the external HD will create a disk that's bootable by the MBP. So reset the MBP, hold down the Option key, and see if the external HD appears. If so, choose it. If the MBP fails to boot, then copying the external HD to the MBP's internal HD won't make it boot any better. You'd still need to follow justperry's suggestion and update the OS residing on the external HD. After that's done, one could still test bootability on the MBP by selecting the external HD. Personally, I would do this before any copying to the MBP internal drive.

Sorry. The most I've worked with is the Snow Leopard disk with two MacBooks. Actually though, you should be able to boot up directly from the external hard drive you format it that way instead of saving it to a disk image. Carbon Copy Cloner is a life saver. So basically, use CCC on Leopard to an external drive. Boot the one with Tiger from the drive, open CCC, and restore it to that hard drive.