Using iMac discs to upgrade

[panadear]

Can I use the restore discs that came with a brand new iMac to upgrade another MacBook running Tiger?

[kriegvision]

I'm pretty sure, in most cases, the restore DVDs are tied to the specific hardware they shipped with. If you had the same exact model of computer you could use them, but not in the situation you described above.

[chasm]

In addition to being illegal (violation of the EULA), its probably not possible. As kriegvision says, the discs included with shipping Macs are model-specific.

Snow Leopard (retail) is about $30 if you want to upgrade that MacBook. And yes -- you can upgrade from Tiger (as long as the Tiger install is up-to-date, ie 10.4.11).

Now that you have two Macs in the house, I might suggest that whenever 10.7 comes out, you have a look at a "family license" -- it's less than the cost of two copies and covers up to five machines in the household.

[Turboladdade]

Snow Leopard (retail) is about $30 if you want to upgrade that MacBook. And yes -- you can upgrade from Tiger (as long as the Tiger install is up-to-date, ie 10.4.11).

I think technically that's also "against the rules" since you're only supposed to buy that $29 copy if you're a Leopard user. Too bad the $29 copy works just fine even if you have Tiger or Panther or no operating system at all just a blank hard drive.

[chasm]

If Apple had seen this as any sort of problem, they would have recalled unsold stock and re-pressed the DVD to make it impossible at any point after the "flaw" was discovered, some seven months ago. They didn't.

The reason for this is quite clear, and its the exact same reason they priced Snow Leopard at $30 (and have been cutting prices wherever possible). They want/need as many of their users to move to Intel equipment and Snow Leopard as quickly as can be accomplished.

Nuff said.

[kriegvision]

If Apple had seen this as any sort of problem, they would have recalled unsold stock and re-pressed the DVD to make it impossible at any point after the "flaw" was discovered, some seven months ago. They didn't.

I don't see how that's any different than Apple not realizing people were going to buy $29 copies of Snow Leopard and install them on all their Macs and their friend's Macs.

[chasm]

I can.

One is a hidden bonus feature, and the other is theft. Seems pretty obvious to me, actually.

[panadear]

Thanks for the differing opinions guys. I figured out that directly it doesn't work, but using firewire disk mode and installing from the iMac it does work! Problem solved.