Went from 10.5 to 10.3, now going back, need help!

[Jenn]

Hi!

I got my dad a PPC non-intel Mac Mini a couple years ago, and he bought himself Leopard as soon as it came out. I have since LOST his copy of Leopard at my work, and I never really pursued looking for it because I had made him a backup. Well, the backup was on a double-layer DVD that his machine cannot read.

Right after I used it, his machine would not start, and he was getting madder by the minute, assuming that because I was the last to use it, I screwed it up. I had even talked him into letting me use it while visiting him, which I highly regret. I have been through #3!! trying to get his computer back on line, but nothing short of a full retail install disk will work to archive & install a new 10.5 system folder.

In a panic, I stupidly reinstalled 10.3 from the disks that came with his machine, and it forced me to create a new user ID! It put his home folder in the "previous systems" folder! His desktop is gone, he can't find any of his stuff, and he's really upset.

I finally have a retail disk, and I'm about to put 10.5 back on, but I need tips. Will it be possible to recover his old user Identities exactly as they were?

I am desperate for input here!

Thanks so much for listening to my problem!

 

[harryb2448]

No I believe you probably formatted the drive when you went back to Panther OS X.3, howewver check out that 'Previous System' folder with crossed fingers. Your problem will be Panther may well be unable to read Leopard files.

His machine can read Dual Layer DVD's, otherwise Leopard would not have installed. Maybe his Mini has other problems such as a failing hard or optical drive. Pop Disc One of the Panther discs in and see if Apple Hardware Test is there, and if so run the full extended test and see what comes up.

 

[DarkestRitual]

10.3 also never came with a mini. 10.4, maybe. Tiger.

 

[dtravis7]

The very first 1.25Ghz G4 PPC Mini shipped with 10.3 (10.3.5 If I remember correctly). That is for sure. I purchased 10.4 Tiger months later the night it was released at my local then COMPUSA Apple section. Later PPC mini's came with 10.4 but the very early ones did ship with 10.3.

Those were the first Minis that only shipped with 256 Megs RAM also.

 

[Jenn]

derstood soave

Yep, this is the oldest, lamest mac mini there was. It definitely came with panther.

Well, it tried to lag early on while calculating the estimated time, but on a whim I installed 10.4 over 10.3 and then 10.5 over that, and it worked. I bet that was pointless to those who understand better how this stuff works, but it seemed to help somehow.

I was unable to recover 10.5 settings and identities from before the system software failure, but all the data is there and my dad's machine is pretty much back as he had it, so I am HAPPY.

Harryb2448-

I'm sure I'm misunderstanding something, but this machine will only accept the retail install disc one of four tries, and it just will not accept a properly duplicated DVD+R DL no matter how many times it is inserted. The DVD+R disc I tried works on my macbook. Thanks for the hardware test tip. Will try that. I suppose there's a corresponding app to test the DVD DL optical drive on my macbook? It does not work; at the very end of burning a disc it says something failed. I wonder if this is because of some faulty firmware update.


Thanks!

Jenn

 

[harryb2448]

Jenn go into your MacBook Apple System Profiler, About this Mac, More Info, Disc Burning and see if +R DL is listed amongst the options. Not all models came with a DL burner, but they should all read a DL disc. Sounds like that optical drive is getting a little shakey Jenn!