How to use an iPod to install Tiger on a Mac without a DVD drive

January 17, 2006


When Apple introduced Mac OS X 10.4 Tiger the installation disk included with the new operating system shipped on a single DVD. While most current Macs have a DVD Combo or Superdrive some older models only included a CD-ROM drive.

Here is how you can install Tiger on your Mac if you don’t have a DVD drive. All you need is a Firewire equipped iPod or a Firewire external hard drive and a friend who has a Mac with a DVD drive.

Take your Tiger installation DVD to a friend who has a Mac with a DVD drive and Panther or Tiger installed.

1. First plug in your iPod or external firewire HD, put in a Tiger DVD, and open Disk Utility.
2. Then click on one of the disk and then click on a tab called “Restore” (this tab doesn’t exist in the Jaguar version, can be found on Macs ith Panther or Tiger).
3. Next a dialog box will come up. There will be two fields, one saying “Source:” and the other “Destination:” You need to drag the Tiger DVD into the “Source:” field and do likewise with the iPod/external HD and the “Destination:” field.
4. There should be a button in that dialog box labeled “Restore.” You click that.
5. You will now need to attach the ipod/HD to your Mac’s (the one you wish to install Tiger on) firewire port.
6. After the drive has mounted restart your mac and hold down the option key. It should bring you to a screen that allows you to choose what volume you wish to boot from select the volume for the external HD/iPod and click boot.

After following these steps the installer that will allow you to install Tiger will now load. Follow the onscreen Tiger installation instructions to install Tiger on your computer.

Posted by Macsupport | Filed Under Tips 

Comments

11 Responses to “How to use an iPod to install Tiger on a Mac without a DVD drive”

  1. andrew on January 17th, 2006 9:44 pm

    does it work with anydrive…formatting ipod is a bitch.

  2. Scott on January 17th, 2006 9:47 pm

    This will work with any firewire external drive from my understanding. I have done it before with a Lacie Porsche mobile drive once when I installed Tiger on an old iBook.

  3. darkroom on January 17th, 2006 11:03 pm

    yeah, i installed tiger on my machine with my iPod, because my DVD drive hasn’t worked in ages… but i just downloaded the mac os x disc image from some torrent site, and skipped the whole ‘friend with a mac’ part…

  4. Ton on January 18th, 2006 4:37 am

    When i click Restore, will this be erasing the destination drive? I know there is an option if you wish to erase it, but I want to make sure… cheers

  5. Maci-Chan on January 18th, 2006 5:45 am

    What the article doesn’t mention is that this screws the whole partition table in the iPod around.

    When doing this realize you’ll loose all the music that’s on your iPod, since after these steps it just becomes a normal firewire hard drive.

    Follow the instructions and then when your done installing Kitty 10.4, fire up the iPod Software updater and do a restore to put the iPod system software back on it. Else all you’ll get is a sad iPod on your screen or an ever lasting OS X install iPod. Have your Pick ;)

  6. MacFanDave on January 18th, 2006 7:13 am

    I believe this only works with full-sized FireWire iPods. No current models can do this, they are all USB 2.0 only (sure, they may CHARGE with a FireWire cable, but they cannot move data via FireWire.)

    Most people didn’t make a peep when Apple forsook its own beloved data transfer method, FireWire, to make iPods USB-only. Now, those decisions are having consequences.

  7. Scott on January 18th, 2006 7:53 am

    MacFanDave,

    One of the reasons I have not updated my iPod yet is because I don’t have USB 2.0 on my G4 iMac. I would really like to get a iPod Video but don’t really want to sync with USB 1.0

    I really wish Apple would have at least supported syncing via firewire even if they didn’t include the cables in the box.

  8. D W on January 18th, 2006 9:23 am

    After accidentally dropping my 4th Gen 40Gb iPod and crashing the hard drive, I decided to upgrade it. No I didn’t buy a new 5th Gen, I put a new 60Gb Toshiba 1.8inch form factor drive in it. Yeah so I ignored the warranty, but I firewire ability beats small-screen video anyday. US$180 drive from eWiz.com, or US$399 5Gen iPod… no contest. No firewire = no new iPod for me.

  9. cool on January 18th, 2006 3:59 pm

    Can you use a USB iPod, if not Why?

  10. Scott on January 18th, 2006 4:18 pm

    You can’t boot from a USB iPod or external hard drive. OS X only supports booting from firewire. I am guessing is has something to do with the bandwidth limit on USB 1.0. All Macs used to have only USB 1.0 ports on them, now within the past couple of years they have started to include USB 2.0 but I guess Apple hasn’t updated the OS to support booting from USB.

  11. cool on January 21st, 2006 9:21 am

    Will it erase the Hard Drive or iPod? Will I lose everything on my iPod or External Hard Drive?

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