installing osx on a flash drive from windows

[whateveryusayiam]

So I have a macbook with no hd and no optical drive, I have an extra hd, which I've formatted for a mac os, and the discs for Tiger osx, but the only way I can think of to put the os onto the hd is by means of a usb flash drive, and I'm not sure what software can help me do that from windows. Does anyone know?

[Turboladdade]

Before you even go any further - if this is a retail copy of Tiger (as in, not a MacBook restore DVD), it isn't going to work. Retail Tiger disks are PowerPC only.

[whateveryusayiam]

Well I am pretty new to all of the macintosh world, though fairly familiar with pc's, (just to let u know off the bat) it's labeled as a restore cd. But I apologize for not having clarified this myself prior to my post but its "Mac osx 9" not "Tiger" as I had originally thought. I do apologize, but that having been cleared up, is it possible with the disk that I have?

[Turboladdade]

If you mean you have a Mac OS 9 disc, and you have a MacBook, no it definitely is not. The "X" in Mac OS X is the roman numeral ten.

[whateveryusayiam]

Lol, wow, I feel a little slow all the sudden...Thank you for inspiring me to more than skim the fine print, yes on my third try. It's version 10.3.5 to be exact.
I also have a copy of Ubuntu as a backup if nothing else, though I'd much prefer it be a Mac os (first experience owning one) but honestly I'd just like to use the computer period right now and work out all the fine tuning after I've accomplished that much. So With version 10.3.5, (install/restore dvd) is it possible someway to create a bootable flash drive of this os from windows? Or even somehow install the os on the external hd (completely independent of the computer) and then install it to the rest of the computer ready to go? I know on pc's I've at least switched the same hd to several motherboards (albeit with hardware errors) but it was still bootable.

[Turboladdade]

That still wont work. As a general rule of thumb, Macs are not compatible with operating systems that predate them. The very minimum version that any MacBook can support is 10.4 "Tiger" and that's only with the matching restore disc. 10.5 "Leopard" was the first retail to support Intel Macs (and consequentially the last to support PowerPC Macs).

Which MacBook model do you exactly have? See if you can identify it from this database:

http://www.everymac.com/systems/apple/i ... espec.html

These links may also be helpful:

How to identify your MacBook
http://support.apple.com/kb/ht1635

How to identify your MacBook Pro
http://support.apple.com/kb/ht4132

[whateveryusayiam]

Apple Black Macbook Core 2 Duo 2.4 GHz, . Might I install a copy of ubuntu then? As far as I know its the most recent version of it?

[Turboladdade]

I mean, you could install Ubuntu if you really wanted to for some reason, but the whole point of owning a Mac is to run Mac OS X and the wonderful Mac-specific applications like iLife and iWork. You have a pretty high-end MacBook there. All you have to do is go to your local Apple Store, go to Best Buy or go online and buy a copy of Mac OS X 10.6 Snow Leopard. It's 29 whole dollars:

http://store.apple.com/us/product/MC573 ... Tc1MTEzNjY

[sxbaan]

Yeah, definitely go and get Snow Leopard for that thing. A Mac that's only three years old is far too young to be worrying about Linux already. Reserve that for when it's too old to run the current version of Mac OS X.

[whateveryusayiam]

Thanks for all of your help, it's definitely saved me a lot of time and confusion. I wish there were torrent files of mac os's tho, I just spent fifty on this copy trying to get an older mac running only to fail...but you've been of much help THANKS!

[Turboladdade]

Thanks for all of your help, it's definitely saved me a lot of time and confusion. I wish there were torrent files of mac os's tho, I just spent fifty on this copy trying to get an older mac running only to fail...but you've been of much help THANKS!

You spent $50 on a copy of Mac OS X Panther (10.3.x)? That must make it even more frustrating now that you know that Mac OS X Snow Leopard brand new from Apple is only $29

Also, for the record, yes you can install Mac OS X in a variety of ways when opticals are out of the question, but I've never done it Windows to Mac, only Mac to Mac. An installed copy of Mac OS X is highly portable, you can disconnect and reconnect it to any Mac that it is compatible with that version number and it'll instantly run. It's best to do this with FireWire drives, as FireWire on Macs has some extra bonus features like Target Disk Mode (turn any Mac into an external hard drive) that make it really the preferred method of external storage connectivity on the Mac platform.

What you'll probably have to do is find a utility to copy the raw bytes directly to your drive. I've done it with Mac OS CDs before - making bootable copies from a PC that work fine on a Mac, but I'm not really up-to-date on Windows data utilities.

Or get a FireWire DVD drive. Or repair your Mac's optical drive using parts from OWC like these.