Burning a DVD in a PC for a Mac

May 23, 2005 1:46 AM

My machine has a DVD writer, my girlfriend's iMac has a DVD reader. Is there a piece of software which will allow me to burn a bootable DVD in Mac format?
posted by NinjaPirate to computers & internet (10 comments total)

What software are you planning to put on the DVD?
posted by cillit bang at 3:02 AM on May 23, 2005

bootable: operating system
posted by NinjaPirate at 3:15 AM on May 23, 2005

Yes. Do you have Mac OS installer CDs to create it, or a Linux installer, or what?
posted by cillit bang at 4:04 AM on May 23, 2005

Tiger, perhaps? from a dmg file?

I'm not going to pass judgement here.

You can convert a dmg file to iso format, which you should be able to burn on a PC. However, the conversion might lose the boot sector information so the end result will not work for you.

In case you still want to try it, you need to get the dmg file to a mac with OS X, open the terminal and type

hdiutil convert original.dmg -format UDTO -o converted.iso
posted by sd at 5:06 AM on May 23, 2005

That won't work, you need to do a few hacks to get Mac OS X to boot from properly from a CD.

However, BootCD will do all the legwork for you.

Be warned that booting Mac OS X from a CD can take a long time - 10 to 15 minutes to get to the desktop.

It can, however, be useful for programs such as Disk Repair or iDefrag, allowing you to repair, image, or defrag your system disk, which is otherwise not possible while you're booted from it.
posted by Mwongozi at 5:22 AM on May 23, 2005

cillit bang, sd: yes, a copy of Tiger, unknown provenance and debatable virtue. If it were a dog, you wouldn't let it lick your face because, although it's cute, you're not entirely sure where it's been.
Also, it's only a test to find out how well her aging machine will take the strain of the modern world. A couple of people have told me that this version makes far better use of limited resources. 10.1 is just slow enough to grate on the nerves but not so much I want to shell for a new machine as well as software.

If it comes down to it, I may get a decent external enclosure and hook my DVD writer up to her machine, but simpler, swifter options are always welcome.
posted by NinjaPirate at 6:32 AM on May 23, 2005

ninja pirate:
i think the encloseure is the simple, swifter option. $ involved but simplier.
one thing you may have to do though is download and install patchburn on the mac so that the os is able to write to that drive. YMMV
posted by ShawnString at 7:15 AM on May 23, 2005

If the two machines are (or can be) on the same LAN or otherwise connected via a high speed connection, you can netboot the iMac from the .dmg on the other Mac's disk, no DVD involved. That's how my employer handles MacOS upgrades, at any rate.
posted by hattifattener at 7:29 AM on May 23, 2005

I am not sure I understand the question correctly, but I recently installed Tiger onto my DVD-deprived iBook by connecting it to my eMac that does have a SuperDrive. Was real simple and I am a novice Mac user. I shut down the iBook and restarted it while holding the T key down. Once I saw the floating firewire logo I conected it to the eMac. When I saw the iBook on the eMac's desktop I inserted the Tiger DVD and ran the install. When it asked me which drive I wanted to install on, I selected the hard drive of the iBook. Then I followed the instructions. Worked like a charm. However, when I installed Tiger on that same eMac later I realised that the iBook never technically completed the install because it hadn't restarted correctly. But I haven't noticed any draw backs and that last reboot seemed to be only for the registration stuff.

Sorry if I have the question wrong.
posted by terrapin at 9:28 AM on May 23, 2005

If I'd been around more today I would have realised my most basic error. The "My machine" of the question is a PC, but you never would have known that without looking at the tags.
Woe is mine first question.

That's the reason I need advice on Mac format DVDs, and that's also the reason I can't boot from the network. This is probably several hours too late to elicit a brilliant response, but thanks to all who tried to tilt at it.
posted by NinjaPirate at 1:40 PM on May 23, 2005