Can a Macbook3.1 (Late 2007) boot/upgrade from an external optical drive?

[vk3diw]

(Hope I'm on point with the right forum for this one. It is centrally a question about this model's boot/upgrade capabilities)

Hello
I have an old Macbook 13" The model=Macbook3.1, running 10.5.8 Leopard. I'd like to take it up to Lion which seems possible (via Snow Leopard) after checking the compatibility.
My problem is that the optical drive is not working. I think I do have to upgrade via a DVD (and please correct me if I am wrong).
Is it possible to get it to install from an externally connected drive? Or are there any other alternatives available to me?

I'm not familiar with the upgrade process - am assuming that it will need to boot from the drive at least once. (??)

Cheers

 

[chas_m]

Yes, you'll have to upgrade from DVD (the first-stage upgrade to Snow Leopard) -- beyond that you can just download the Lion one.

Yes, an optical drive will be available to boot from and should boot. Because your machine doesn't have USB 3.0, however, this is going to be SLOOOOOOOOW. If you have an enclosure for your external Superdrive that supports Firewire 800, that would be much faster -- but still slow by modern standards.

 

[pigoo3]

Lion is a downloadable OS…so no problem installing Lion. The problem is this computer currently has OS 10.5.8 on it…and you need at least OS 10.6.6 (Snow Leopard) in order to access the App Store to get Lion.

You need to purchase a Snow Leopard install DVD (only media it comes on) to install 10.6. Then purchase 10.7 via online.

The options to install from DVD would be:

1. A 2nd computer via Target Disk Mode.
2. An external optical drive.

All in all. A bit of an expense to install 10.7 on an old MacBook. Cost of Snow Leopard + cost of Lion….plus potentially the cost of a firewire cable or an external optical drive.

HTH,

- Nick

p.s. I wasn't 100% sure when you said "external drive" if you meant an external hard drive or external optical drive.

 

[vk3diw]

Hey, thanks for the quick and helpful replies.
This is me testing the waters for something for which I need an Apple platform, so am not fussed about speed or performance at the moment. Also, for an older geek like me who's idea of fun is resurrecting old tube/valve radios, it's an interesting exercise (This was my daughter's machine when she was in school).

@chas_m: So that's what that other port is? I had not yet looked it up, but from your reply guess that's the Firewire port. I'll probably stay with USB and (luckily) already have a USB superdrive (?) that I bought for my daughter's later mac.

@Nick: Sorry, I should have said "external optical".
& yes, I know costs can add up - but at $30 (Australian) for Snow L and I guess similar for Lion + having the optical already, I'm getting this off the ground pretty easily. If things pan out, I'll probably go Mac mini down the line just to get the platform capability.

Now I just have to go out looking for a Mac store that's got Snow Leopard ..... (could go online, but you guys have got me all fired up to do this today

Cheers friends, really appreciate the speedy advice.

 

[vk3diw]

-( I thought I replied earlier today, but I think I messed it up and it went through as a new post or something - hope the moderators fix it up ... my apologies, guys! ... newbie fingers)-

Anyway - it was to say thanks for the helpful replies. It's for something I need to do with OS X, so at the moment speed and performance are unimportant. If it goes okay I'l probably get a Mac Mini down the road.

@chas_m:
Of course! That other port looked familiar - I haven't seen an IEEE1394 for ages and had forgotten the Firewire profile. But I found that I had got my daughter an external USB Superdrive for her recent Mac, so I can snaffle that for the upgrade.

@Nick:
Sorry - should have said "external DVD" drive. And because I have the optical drive, $30AUD for Snow L + similar for Lion is relatively low entry cost for my playing around, compared to trying to get myself more current Apple hdwre. You guys got me so fired up I went out to try and get the Snow L DVD rather than order it online, but (unsurprisingly) nobody stocks it outside of an Apple store - and it's Saturday, so will get it on the morrow.

Many thanks again, guys. See a clear path through this now...
Cheers

 

[bobtomay]

For some reason posts were put into moderation - now approved

 

[sappho]

Hi, new to forum.

I hope it's o.k to continue this thread as my situation is quite similar.

I've got a 2006 macbook with 10.5.8 installed also. I haven't got a restore disc for it. I just purchased a s/h Mac Pro with o.s 10.10.5. I understand with the new macs you can now restore online but with the old ones you can't.

I want to sell the macbook but want to clear my old files permanently. Actually, I was a bit shocked to see that even after deleting all my files they are still accessible through viewing old documents in Safari and by file recovery. I know these days in the west it's worth would be very low, but where I am it's worth me selling it.

It's not economically worth purchasing the Snow leopard DVD as one poster has already stated. I did look into that before I bought my Mac Pro but it's twice as expensive to get in my location.

I seen some stuff on Youtube that show that you can create a bootable USB stick of the O.S. That would be O.K except I can't find my O.S. People say you need to find the .dmg file. I've searched in spotlight and looked through the files I can think of (I'm no expert) but I can't locate it. Any ideas?

Additionally, if you can help me find it, I saw another video which said that you don't even need the external USB stick. Apparently, you can use disk first aid to partition 8GB of the drive while you are using it, then copy your O.S to that partition, and then erase the remaining partition of the drive. If I can really do this then it would resolve my problem. The MacPro is so fast by comparison I know there's nothing I'd use the macbook for, so I'd prefer some cash rather than trashing it.

Appreciate any advice,

Thanks

 

[pigoo3]

People say you need to find the .dmg file. I've searched in spotlight and looked through the files I can think of (I'm no expert) but I can't locate it. Any ideas?

Nope…no .dmg files. OS X 10.6 and earlier only came on disk. This is the legal method to reinstall OS 10.6 & earlier. Got to get yourself a genuine retail 10.6 (Snow Leopard disk). FYI. A 10.5 install disk was $129 when is was the latest & greatest. $20 for a Snow Leopard disk is a bargain.

Be glad you don't need a 10.5 disk!

- Nick

 

[sappho]

Thanks for the clarification. So either I need to get the disk, or just keep the mac. If I did get the snow leopard DVD how much further can I upgrade the O.S for free. It's a core 2 duo 2ghz with 1MB of ram.

 

[chscag]

Probably Lion (OS X 10.7.X ) is as far as you can go. And Lion is not free - $20.00.


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[vk3diw]

sappho,
it sounds like you are in Australia, like me ... or at least somewhere similar where people are held hostage by retailers and pay around one-and-a-half to twice as much as our friends in the US (for just about everything
tech... sigh.
However... even though the software will cost me all up about $60 Aussie, I still think it's a relatively easy way to get a pc with a (relatively) current OS, albeit slow.
I'm not sure about your memory though. You said 1MB and I'm assuming you meant 1 GB (???). That sounds like it may be a bit under-resourced. I would check on memory and if at all possible upgrade. I do think you need to do the sums and work out what fits you the best. - but I'd factor in a memory upgrade to at least 2 and ideally 4GB. I browsed around the swap meet here in Melbourne last weekend and saw a few medium old used Macbooks in the $300-450 range with current OS, 4-8GB memory, etc. That may well be a better option for you.
cheers