Problem creating "universal" Leopard drive

I'm not sure but I don't think a PPC version Leopard disk is going to boot an Intel based mac.
hpr3

Is an original Leopard install disk not bootable in a machine released (well) after it came out?

No, it's not. You can't boot the MacBook from a version of Mac OS X earlier than what it shipped with, and the original retail Leopard disk is almost certainly newer (unless the MacBook shipped with 10.4). You'll need an Intel-based Mac that came with 10.4 so that you can boot from that original Leopard disk. Then once you get Mac OS X installed on the external drive, boot from the external and apply all the available Mac OS X updates. That should get you to a version that will boot the MacBook. Or you'll need a retail copy of Mac OS X 10.5 new enough to boot your MacBook which, if if the MacBook is very new probably won't be available. You can install the MacBook's copy of 10.5 to the external and will probably work on a number of systems at least well enough to run diagnostics and such, if that's your aim.

Note that if you still have PowerPC-based Macs, it's not possible, at least not by any means I know of, to create a single disk volume that can boot both PowerPC and Intel-based Macs since they each use different drive formats. You'll need to partition the external drive into two (or more) partitions, and format at least one as APM and one as GPT, then install Mac OS X to each partition (I would think you could install to one partition and use a cloning utility such as Carbon Copy Cloner to duplicate the install to the other partition). Then install from the MacBook (or other Intel-based Mac) to the GPT partition and update, then do the same from the PowerPC-based Mac (for those you can use the retail copy of Leopard). Then you connect the drive to the appropriate machine, boot while holding down the Option key, and select the appropriate partition.

Hope this helps.

Message was edited by: Dave Sawyer

Is an original Leopard install disk not bootable in a machine released (well) after it came out? How, then, would I create a drive that can boot various newer Macs?

If the newest Mac came out before 10.5.6 you should be able to do it. Do the install from the PPC Mac onto the external drive using the Apple Partition Map. Then update it to 10.5.6. This should make t usable on amy Mac released before 10.5.6. Intel Macs can boot from Apple Partition Map drives, but cannot install (or maybe even update) on such drives. PPC Macs can't boot from GUID drives.

Check out this article. http://support.apple.com/kb/HT2595?locale=en_US. The disc I used was 10.5(.0), but if it's properly updated to 10.5.6, it will boot anything.

What I'd like to find out is how to make what I installed and updated into my own bootable DVD disc, complete with admin accounts and other minor settings. If (When) 10.5.7 comes out, just update the master, recreate the installer package, and then there'd be a fresh install with all the updates applied.