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11 May 2006

Mac OS X question... →[More:]I recently used a friend's Tiger Install disc to run Disk Utility and reinstall the OS on my gf's G4 DV iMac. The reinstallation didn't work completely, so I plan on doing a clean install. Problem is, I went to bern a copy of his disc so I could give it back to him and the disc I berned doesn't work on her machine now. I tried it on my iBook - works fine, on my G4 at work - no problem.
As I type this I'm starting to wonder if it's something with the CD/DVD drive. Of course, I didn't put another disc in there to check that side of things. But if that's the case (that the drive is whacked), then what should I do? This is driving me insane, and has used up a good deal of my time this week.

post by: Hellbient at: 10:18 | 4 comments

The iMac might have a dying CD/DVD reader and may stop reading CD/DVDs created by burning [my old iMac G3 DV did that before it was put to sleep]. Try mounting other discs to see if the problem persists.

You could use your iBook in Firewire Target Mode and after creating a .dmg of the Tiger install disk, copy it from your iBook to the iMac. Mount the .dmg on the iMac and boot from there. That might not work since the installer will want to reboot and not mount that again.

Or, if you have an iPod, you can try this. It effectively makes your iPod a Tiger install disk. When you're done, you turn it back into an iPod again by re-installing the iPod updater and when you resync with iTunes, it will copy all your music down again.

Or, you can buy a firewire optical drive for the iMac and install from that. That would be cheaper than getting a replacement internal optical drive. My Tiger discs came on DVD so you might have to spend $125USD for a DVD burner. Then the gf can burn DVDs [although not from iApps unless you hack] with Toast.

Or, borrow the original disc from your friend again.

posted by birdherder 11 May | 11:12

^^ what birdherder said.

If there's ever a next time, try to word your question in such a way that it isn't obvious that you're pirating the OS, ok?

posted by reflecked 11 May | 12:39

thanks all.

posted by Hellbient 11 May | 15:06

oh, and just to let you know, I'm not pirating the OS. I had the disk, it just got fried, so I was using my friend's for immediate use until I could get another one.

posted by Hellbient 11 May | 15:08

← Case closed (sorta) || !!! →

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