Loading OS X from external HDD

Hey all, here's my conundrum. I've got a Macbook with a dead Superdrive, and now my hdd just died as well. I've got another hdd from a windows laptop. So how would I format and load OS X onto this hdd. Would OS X working from an external cd-drive read and reformat this hdd or can I use an external hard drive to load the os onto the laptop hdd to put back into the system...I hope this makes sense. Any help would be greatly appreciated!!!

If you swap your hard drives and put in the working drive then, using an external optical drive, you should be able to install your OS without problems.

Or if you have another Mac available and firewire on both machines, you can connect two macs with a firewire cable to use one in Target Disk Mode - this will share the optical drive as well.

scathe said:

If you swap your hard drives and put in the working drive then, using an external optical drive, you should be able to install your OS without problems.

Or if you have another Mac available and firewire on both machines, you can connect two macs with a firewire cable to use one in Target Disk Mode - this will share the optical drive as well.

Click to expand...

Okay great i'll try that, thanks. As I said I really wasn't sure how it would work or if it would.

scathe said:

If you swap your hard drives and put in the working drive then, using an external optical drive, you should be able to install your OS without problems.

Or if you have another Mac available and firewire on both machines, you can connect two macs with a firewire cable to use one in Target Disk Mode - this will share the optical drive as well.

Click to expand...

Very nice. ^

What about replacing the optical drive while you have it open. Depending on your model, its around 100-150 for a new super drive. (from macsales)

Or maybe you can find someone who removed there superdrive for a HD, then you can buy there used super drive. IDK, its worth a shot though.

That's an option i'm willing to take on, but i was needing an immediate fix. So I could be back up and running, i'm reduced to using my Lenovo laptop with Windows 7 from work until my macbook gets fixed. LOL

If you can get a new working optical drive then sure, you can replace it ... I bet you can find lots of how-to's at different sites

It will, however, void your warranty if it's a new computer.

scathe said:

If you can get a new working optical drive then sure, you can replace it ... I bet you can find lots of how-to's at different sites

It will, however, void your warranty if it's a new computer.

Click to expand...

I figured it wasn't a new computer, because if it was.. I would think he would take it to the apple store to get repaired, for free. (if it wasn't accident damage, and was some sort of defect)

to mutates

No, it is definitely out of the realm of Applecare. I got it in '06, I took it to my local Applestore here in Greensboro, NC and they bascially said to just to replace the superdrive and the left hinge (which is broken as well, not a real problem. Just an annoyance) that it'd probably be cheaper\or more cost effective to get a new macbook by the time they were done with parts and labor.

share superdrives between macs

I have a similar problem. I have two Imacs, one with a superdrive and one with a cd drive. I need to share the superdrive with the older Imac so I can install OS 10.4 (which is on a DVD). I have a firewire cable so can use the target disk mode.
How do I set up the newer Imac to share the superdrive?
I want to send the older mac to my granddaughters to use in school work.
Thanks for your help.

When using Target Mode, make sure the sender iMac is the one with the superdrive. You can then boot the receiver from the sender and install Tiger that way. Also, as a side note... you can ask Apple to send you a copy of Tiger on CDs. I'm not sure if they're still available or how much they'll charge. Give Apple customer support a call.