Old red iMac + Tiger - how do i install??

[trickytree]

Hi all,

I have an old iMac with just a CD drive in it, but I want to upgrade it to Tiger so I can use my iPod touch with it (minimum requirement apparently).

So, I have made a disc image of my Tiger DVD, copied it to a Firewire external drive, mounted it on my iMac, but first thing it needs to do is restart, but obviously it looks for the disc in the drive, which it isn't because it's just a disc image.

So, my question is, can you make a bootable disc image, or can anyone see another way of getting Tiger onto it??

 

[harryb2448]

Very complicated and even if you did get an install via Firewire you will have no install disk for problem fixing.

Have you thought of replacing the CD drive with say a combo or DVD driver which are as cheap as chips.

Otherwise, try connecting Firewire drive and reboot holding down the Option key and see if the drive will boot. Maybe then use CCC or SuperDuper to copy Tiger to your HDD?

 

[trickytree]

Hmmm, how tricky is it to replace a CD drive in one of those iMacs - any idea??

I don't have all the necessary bits with me at the minute, but I had another idea - see what you think ...

I have a Mac Pro at work, I could connect the iMac via the firewire cable and boot that up in target mode, then install it onto it via the Mac Pro??

I don't know if that would see it as a bootable system or not - I'll try it in the morning and let you know.

Thanks for you help tho!!

 

[bryphotoguy]

Which version of the iMac do you have (slot load or tray load?)
I don't think they made DVD-ROM drives that were tray load. If you have a slot load machine, you could pick up a slot load DVD drive for $50 on eBay. You could also buy an external FireWire DVD-ROM or DVD Burner. I don't know how much one would cost, maybe $100 or less for a DVD Burner.
But doing the target disk mode from the Mac Pro and iMac should work just fine.

 

[trickytree]

It won't work from the Mac Pro as it spits out the Tiger DVD saying it cannot be installed on it (its the non intel version) and wont let me get to the stage of installing it elsewhere.

I had to kick someone off their old G4 Quicksilver and use that, with the iMac in target mode, and when I left tonight, it was installing fine - will follow this up tomorrow morning!!

 

[trickytree]

Yep, it worked!!

Had to 'option key on startup' to pick which system, but after that, no probs.