Need to repair disk (boot from install) DVD drive failing

Mac Book Pro 2.2 GHz, Snow Leopard 10.6

I need to repair my disk but I can't boot system from my install dvd due to failing dvd drive.

Can I copy or clone my install disk to and external firewire hard drive and then boot from that or from a mac mini.

If so, please give me the steps.

Please help, clients and projects on the line

Thanks

The easiest thing to do right away would be to do a "Safe Boot" which will repair your hard drive without the need for your installer DVD at all. See here for instructions on doing a Safe Boot:

OS X Maintenance And Troubleshooting
Item #5

Basically, all that you have to do is restart your Mac with the Shift key held down.


If you need to back up your installer DVD to your hard drive, the best way to do that would be to make a disk image of it. See:

How To Make Copies of DVDs

However, if you want to be able to boot (startup) from your external hard drive and use Disk Utility to repair another drive, just install OS X on your external drive (using your Installer DVD) and set your external drive as the startup drive in System Preferences. A copy of Disk Utility will automatically be installed with OS X.

Randy B. Singer said:

The easiest thing to do right away would be to do a "Safe Boot" which will repair your hard drive without the need for your installer DVD at all. See here for instructions on doing a Safe Boot:

OS X Maintenance And Troubleshooting
Item #5

Click to expand...

For the brave person who anonymously gave me negative reputation points by calling the above "popycock" (sic), see the following Apple tech note:

Resolve startup issues and perform disk maintenance with Disk Utility and fsck

which says:

"If you're using Mac OS X 10.2 or later, you can start up your computer in Safe Mode, which includes an automatic disk check and repair."

If you have a thumb drive 8GB or larger, you can clone the Restore disk onto the USB drive and boot from that to repair the disk.

Use carbon copy cloner to copy the disks. Download Carbon Copy Cloner for Mac - Easy-to-use backup/cloning utility. MacUpdate.com