03-14-2009, 01:46 AM

Hi guys,

I am newbie. My iMac's DVD drive died sometimes ago and now I want to setup windows on my iMac. The problem is there is no DVD drive to install from.

I saw an external Superdrive for Mac Book thin Air today in the store. My question is that is that possible to use Macbook Air's externel SuperDrive to setup for my iMac?

Thank alot

03-14-2009, 01:53 PM

I've used external DVD drives to install Mac OS X before, so I don't see any reason why it wouldn't work.

03-14-2009, 03:50 PM

If you can mount the image somehow like on an external hard disk... that would be alot cheaper.

03-14-2009, 05:28 PM

To the OP:

As you've been advised, mounting the image via an external HDD would be the least expensive way, however, you need a working drive to create the image first.

The MacBook Air drive is not the most economical drive to purchase. Most any good external DVD drive will work just fine. Provided your iMac has an Intel CPU, you can use an inexpensive USB 2.0 drive. A PPC iMac will only boot from a Firewire drive.

Regards.

03-14-2009, 05:56 PM

thanks guy for coming to my rescue. \

Yes, I did try to install windows from my USB 2.0 drive, there are some tutorials showing how to install windows from usb, but I ran to a problem that my iMac doesnt allow to to boot from USB. I did some google and still couldnt find out how to force my mac to boot form usb drive. It is an intel mac by the way.

So just to make sure I get that right, I CAN you superdrive to install Windows on my intel iMac (not macBook Air)? or alternatively, I can use any external DVD drive to do so?

Somewhere on the net, I see the macBook Air's superdrive only works with MacBook Air. Am I right? So hopefully I still can use an any other external DVD drive.

03-14-2009, 09:47 PM

Installing Windows using an external drive is a toss up. Some users have reported that they had success, others say it won't work. As I stated before, any good USB 2.0 external DVD drive should work OK with your iMac, however, installing Windows from it is another matter. Since you need a drive anyway, it won't hurt to buy an inexpensive one and try.

Regards.

03-17-2009, 09:46 PM

Originally Posted by kahlil88

I've used external DVD drives to install Mac OS X before, so I don't see any reason why it wouldn't work.

I bought an externel drive but my iMac doesnt seem to to be able to boot from externel DVD drive. How did you do it?

03-17-2009, 10:11 PM

Originally Posted by wererabit

I bought an externel drive but my iMac doesnt seem to to be able to boot from externel DVD drive. How did you do it?

Your external hard drive needs a copy of OS X on it in order to be bootable. Since your iMac is an Intel machine it is able to boot from a USB 2.0 drive.

Regards.