Install 10.4 Tiger using external USB DVD drive?

Hi Andy, and a warm welcome to the forums! 🙂

Not likely, as 99.999% of PPC Macs cannot boot OSX from a USB drive. Does it have Firewire also?

Might test yours by putting your Panther/10.3.x Install Disc in, reboot, hold the Option key down, see if the USB Drive is a Boot Option & acxctually does boot to the Panther installer.

Also, see if your iBook has or needs a Firmware update...

http://support.apple.com/kb/HT1395?viewlocale=en_US

Not all PPC Macs are incapable of booting from a USB drive. You could certainly try inasmuch as your iBook was the dual USB model and may actually startup from a USB device. Nothing ventured, nothing gained. Just be patient because if the computer will boot from a USB device it will be very, very slow.

If you purchase a FireWire external drive it must support FW400 because that's all the iBook supports. You could likely make your own by purchasing a suitable bare drive and buying a separate enclosure for it that supported FW400. You can find suitable drives and enclosures at macsales.com.

Note that your version of OS X may not support all the features of modern DVD drives. I would suggest you verify compatibility with the vendor before purchase.

What FireWire DVD drives would you recommend?

http://eshop.macsales.com/item/Other%20World%20Computing/VLFW2SD22XLS/

But make certain you can get a Black Retail OSX Tiger Intall Disc first, they can be hard to find.

Another option, do you have another Firewire Mac around with a DVD player?

Does that iPod Classic have Firewire?

When you come to select your external firewire drive, I would recommend that you avoid Western Digital, as in the majority of cases they will NOT boot up a PPC Mac.

Check the AllMac link below for Tiger on CDs.

Tiger install DVDs are in short supply. Tiger is no longer available at the Apple Store but may be available for $129 by calling Apple Phone Sales @ 1-800-MY-APPLE (1-800-692-7753). For other sources, do a Google search for MA453Z/A (10.4.6), MA190Z/A (10.4.3) and M9639Z/A (10.4) . Also look on eBay. Be sure & buy a retail version (black with silver X) and not a model specific version (gray) (See Can I use another Mac's system restore disc on my Mac? ). Expect to pay (possibly a lot) more than the Apple list price of $129.

Also check these web stores: http://www.lacomputercompany.com/cgi-bin/rpcart/index.cgi?command=dispitem&type= sku&sku=19521 http://www.allmac.com/shop/index.php?cPath=5_10003

Possible Alternative if you are currently using Panther 10.3 – Do a Google search for Tiger 10.4 Upgrade DVD . It will upgrade your 10.3 to 10.4, but it doesn’t contain the full retail Tiger installer. Should be cheaper than the retail Tiger install DVD.

After you install the base 10.4.x, update to the final Tiger version 10.4.11. Here's the link for the 10.4.11 combo update http://support.apple.com/kb/TA24901?viewlocale=en_US

Look at this link Mac OS X v10.4 Tiger Installing Software Support Page
http://www.apple.com/support/tiger/install/

You can also download the Tiger Installation and Setup Guide
http://manuals.info.apple.com/en/TigerInstall_SetupGuide.pdf

When you upgrade the OS, do it via Archive & Install. See About the Archive and Install feature http://support.apple.com/kb/HT1710
Be sure to select Preserve Users & Settings. Also, repair permissions before and after the install.

 Cheers, Tom 😉

The "Upgrade DVD"s were available for very short periods if you bought a new Mac with 10.3 installed & Tiger came out a week or two later, they require that 10.3 already be installed to "Update" it to Tiger, the Retail Tiger Discs will install without any previous OS on the Disk. 🙂