Upgrading a DVD-less Powerbook

January 17, 2006 1:21 PM

How to install Tiger (OSX 10.4) on a Powerbook with a broken DVD drive?

So far I've been able to use that Powerbook just fine, getting everything through either the Internet or through an external drive (USB) but now I'd like to actually upgrade it. How can I do this? What are my options?

posted by vacapinta to Computers & Internet (5 answers total)

Best answer: Get another mac (hopefully that's easy, because it's the hardest part of this procedure). Shut down your PB. Plug in the firewire cables. Boot the PB and hold down the "T" key (for "target" mode). You'll see the Macintosh HD appear on the desktop of the 2nd mac. Insert the DVD into the 2nd machine. Double click the installer and just pick the right Macintosh HD from the list. I'm pretty sure this will work.
posted by zpousman at 1:23 PM on January 17, 2006

Best answer: zpouseman - it WILL work. I updated my old iMac that way (the iMac didn't have a DVD drive and I wasn't paying Apple to send me the CD installers). I booted the iMac in FireWire mode, ran the DVD from my iBook, and *BAM* Tiger on a Dalmation.
posted by jazon at 1:31 PM on January 17, 2006

Best answer: What, zpousman said.

You have to boot the Mac that you want to install OSX onto into FireWire disk mode. Then install from the machine that it's connected to, selecting the firewire disk as the boot disk.

A caveat to this: you have to set the boot disk back to the second machine's internal disk before rebooting the second machine, otherwise you'll see a sad Mac.

To set the boot disk: System Preferences->Startup Disk->Macintosh HD [or whatever you've called it]
posted by veedubya at 1:33 PM on January 17, 2006

I did this for a friend with a bum drive. It worked swimmingly well.
posted by mds35 at 2:35 PM on January 17, 2006

Response by poster: Thanks! I'll give it a try!
posted by vacapinta at 3:46 PM on January 17, 2006