Installing os without a cd drive....help

stevegongruistevegongrui
Posted:
in Genius Bar edited January 2014
So I was given a bondi blue iMac yesterday. However, the cd drive does not work. The guy tells me everything else is good.



Is there any way to install the OS on the hdd (it actually didn't come with an hdd either but I borrowed a friend's and shoved it in-so I'd have to format it for mac first) without the cd drive?



Is there any way to boot off another computer using ethernet or something?



Potentially I could install the os on the hdd on another mac and then stick the hdd back into the iMac but that would be quite a hassle.





help,

Thanks.

Comments

  • Reply 1 of 9
    karl kuehnkarl kuehn Posts: 756member
    NetBooting requires a MacOS X Server computer, but you can still boot of external HD's or CD/DVD drives over USB (bondi's don't have firewire).
  • Reply 2 of 9
    torifiletorifile Posts: 4,024member
    Quote:

    Originally posted by stevegongrui

    Potentially I could install the os on the hdd on another mac and then stick the hdd back into the iMac but that would be quite a hassle.





    help,

    Thanks.



    I think that's your best bet, honestly. You could get an external enclosure for the drive, hook it up via firewire to a computer and clone the drive over to it. OS X doesn't have any machine specific driver requirements so you won't have any trouble with missing drivers.
  • Reply 3 of 9
    ghost_user_nameghost_user_name Posts: 22,667member
    Quote:

    Originally posted by stevegongrui

    So I was given a bondi blue iMac yesterday. However, the cd drive does not work. The guy tells me everything else is good.



    Is there any way to install the OS on the hdd (it actually didn't come with an hdd either but I borrowed a friend's and shoved it in-so I'd have to format it for mac first) without the cd drive?



    Is there any way to boot off another computer using ethernet or something?



    Potentially I could install the os on the hdd on another mac and then stick the hdd back into the iMac but that would be quite a hassle.





    help,

    Thanks.



    Or you could just buy a new CD Drive off of ebay. I mean, in the long run, that's probably going to be the most convenient
  • Reply 4 of 9
    stevegongruistevegongrui Posts: 771member
    Quote:

    Originally posted by Karl Kuehn

    NetBooting requires a MacOS X Server computer, but you can still boot of external HD's or CD/DVD drives over USB (bondi's don't have firewire).



    My roommate has a usb external hdd.



    But the problem is even if the iMac boots off the hdd, how do I install it? I can't copy the cd to the hdd and install from that can I?



    Would I need something like a cloner?







    Btw, how much does a cd drive for the imac cost? And I suppose I could use just about every one that's the right size ? So what do I search for in ebay?





    Thanks guys,

    Steve.
  • Reply 5 of 9
    lucaluca Posts: 3,833member
    Quote:

    Originally posted by stevegongrui

    My roommate has a usb external hdd.



    But the problem is even if the iMac boots off the hdd, how do I install it? I can't copy the cd to the hdd and install from that can I?



    Would I need something like a cloner?



    Connect the external hard drive to your iBook. Install OS X onto it. Use Carbon Copy Cloner to clone the external hard drive onto the internal one in the iMac. Give it a few hours or days (USB is really slow) and after that you should be fine.



    EDIT: Hmm... now I'm wondering how that would work. I don't know how your iMac would be able to run Carbon Copy Cloner in the first place. Maybe you should just take out the iMac's hard drive, put it in your roommate's USB case and install OS X on it from the iBook. Then put the hard drive back.
  • Reply 6 of 9
    torifiletorifile Posts: 4,024member
    Quote:

    Originally posted by Luca

    EDIT: Hmm... now I'm wondering how that would work. I don't know how your iMac would be able to run Carbon Copy Cloner in the first place. Maybe you should just take out the iMac's hard drive, put it in your roommate's USB case and install OS X on it from the iBook. Then put the hard drive back.



    Isn't that what I said about 3 posts up?
  • Reply 7 of 9
    lucaluca Posts: 3,833member
    Quote:

    Originally posted by torifile

    Isn't that what I said about 3 posts up?



    Haha, yeah, I guess so.



    My advice? Skip OS X on the iMac. It'll be too slow. Besides, your iBook already has OS X which should run really well on it. Just use 8.6 or 9.1 on the iMac (9.2.x doesn't add any features to the OS, just extra bulk and bugs associated with the Classic environment). You might be able to pick up a really cheap USB enclosure and CD-ROM drive somewhere. The Iomega Predator, for example, is a small external 4x4x6x CD-RW drive. Not fast at all, but it should suit you fine if you only use the machine occasionally.
  • Reply 8 of 9
    stevegongruistevegongrui Posts: 771member
    do you know if the iMac can boot off external cd drives?



    I have a friend who has a usb 2 cd writer
  • Reply 9 of 9
    lucaluca Posts: 3,833member
    Quote:

    Originally posted by stevegongrui

    do you know if the iMac can boot off external cd drives?



    I have a friend who has a usb 2 cd writer



    I don't know, but it's worth a try.
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