Booting From CD/DVD Drive

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I've used this practice on win box's for years using bu software creating a bootable cd/dvd. Don't see much talk about that. Is an iMac capable of booting off of a external cd/dvd drive or is that practice not favored/used by iMac user's as another way to recover from a disaster?
 

Raz0rEdge

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A Mac can boot off of an external/internal optical drive or USB if the media is formatted properly. You hold down the OPTION key during boot up to get the selector. This is the preferred method of doing clean installations of macOS if you have to.
 

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Mac's have always been able to boot from external bootable devices. Whether that device is a bootable external HD...bootable external CD/DVD/Blue-Ray...or bootable USB thumb drive/stick drive.:)

- Nick
 
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That's a good question, since modern iMacs do not have optical drives?

What is it you're trying to do?

What iMac do you have?

Edit: Here's my preferred method for creating a bootable installer, https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT201372, you will need an 8GB (or larger) USB/thumb/flash drive.
 
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These days what requires booting from a CD/DVD? The last eight operating systems have been downloadable only with an install package loaded into the Applications Folder.

For mine burn these to a USB thumb drive and boot from that to do an erase and clean install.
 

chscag

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Ashwin and Nick have provided answers. I believe Kenny was curious about that. Remember, he's new to Macs. ;D
 
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Thanks for the replies and chscag you are correct. I am curious about the workings of the iMac also haven’t seen much discussion about booting from or using cd/dvd and was curious.
My first and new iMac should be here Thursday, it’s a base 27, i5, 8m, 256 ssd and can hardly wait. May sound dumb but it’s like being 10 and waiting for Xmas. Trying not to ask to many basic question, waiting for a book from I believe Riley printing called the missing manual but not available until the 31st of this month, I’m sure that will answer a lot too.
 
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pigoo3

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Thanks for the replies and chscag you are correct. I am curious about the workings of the iMac also haven’t seen much discussion about booting from or using cd/dvd and was curious.

Just a bit of FYI Kenny...since you're new to Mac's::)

- Apple around 2011 with the release of OS 10.6 (Snow Leopard)...was the last Apple OS version to be distributed on optical disk (CD/DVD).
- Around 2012 is when Apple started releasing new computers (MacBook Pro's) with no builtin optical drive.
- Around this time (2012/2013) Apple released an external Apple Superdrive (external optical drive)...for folks that bought new computers without a built optical drive...but wanted to continue using CD's/DVD's.
- The last iMac's with a builtin optical drive were 2011 models.

Since 2012 with the release of OS 10.8 (Mountain Lion)...all OS updates & upgrades were digital download only (Apple Store). And the primary way folks were maintaining an installer of OS upgrades was on the internal drive of thier computer...on an external drive... or making a bootable USB thumb drive installer.

Not many (or any) folks were "saving" a copy of the Apple upgrade installer's on optical disks (DVD's)...because the installers were at least 5 gigabyte...which is larger than the max capacity of single-sided DVD's (around 4.7gig). Yes there are dual layer DVD's & writable blue-ray disks (now)...but saving stuff on optical disks now is sort of passe'...and most folks use UBS thumb drives or external hard drives...or "The Cloud"! Lol

- Nick

p.s. Current macOS version is 10.14 (Mojave).:)
 
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Nick, thanks for the history. Now that you mention about all digital format taking over it is difficult to find much on a cd anymore. I may get one down the road, one of the member's here suggested I think it was a Samsung for a very reasonable price. I do have some older Nikon camera software that I'll have to see if it runs on a mac or an updated version.
 
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The one biggest suggestion I can make as you get the new machine is to stop thinking in Windows terms and framework. The macOS is an entirely different animal. The biggest difference is that unlike Windows (at least through Win7 and early Win10) you don't really need to spend a lot of time "tuning," or "adjusting," or "optimizing" your Mac. Generally, macOS is already optimized for you, so all you need to do is set up a few preferences and then just use the machine. That's what the "it just works" slogan really meant--you don't need to take care of the Mac, it pretty much takes care of itself. So stop thinking in terms of "where and how do I put this" and more in the "what do I want to do" mode. Obviously, there will be times when you will want to open a new folder, move some files around, etc., but things like disk organization, defragging, constant updates, etc, are much different and rare in the Mac universe.
 

pigoo3

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Now that you mention about all digital format taking over it is difficult to find much on a cd anymore.

And since no new Mac's come with an optical drive (and haven't for about 5-6 years)...this isn't surprising.:) Almost everything is digital download...or Cloud-based...and you do everything online.

I may get one down the road, one of the member's here suggested I think it was a Samsung for a very reasonable price. I do have some older Nikon camera software that I'll have to see if it runs on a mac or an updated version.

Hey...I got a lot of stuff on CD and DVD. But since the macOS has evolved a lot since new Mac's had internal optical drives (2012-ish)...if someone today (2018/2019) is running the latest macOS (10.14 Mojave)...a lot of applications that came on CD/DVD 5-6 years ago (or longer) will no longer be compatible with Mojave. So these older app installs on CD/DVD are no longer useful to someone running the latest macOS Mojave.

But...if someone is using an older Mac running an older macOS version that the apps on CD/DVD are still compatible with...then an external optical drive does come in handy.:)

For me...if I need to access some of my CD's/DVD's...it's usually for old files, photos, music, videos, etc. Or if I want to play an old game on CD/DVD...and I'm using an older Mac running an older OS that can run the old game.:)

One thing you will learn very quickly with Mac's & OS versions...things get wayyy obsolete (non-compatible with the latest OS) much more quickly than they do with the Windows OS. The Windows OS generally has way longer backwards compatability than the macOS.

- Nick
 
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Jake, good point, never did much tweaking though but rethinking my approach on things is a very good suggestion.

Nick, hopefully getting a new system with the latest macOS will help me for a while before needing to upgrade hardware or software.
 

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