Need to reformat inherited iMac

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Need to reformat inherited iMac

I have just inherited an older iMac from a relative who recently passed away, with 700 MHz processor, and am unsure of the rest of the specs on the machine. This would actually be the first Mac that I have used. My initial concern is that all I've got is the Retail version of Tiger that was used to upgrade the machine from Panther. It's a single DVD, though the computer itself only has a CD tray, it came along with an external DVD drive which I believe is USB. I'm wanting to do a new install of Tiger just to over-write the previous stuff on the machine, but she has a security password required for software installations that was not written down before she passed away. My primary question is whether or not it's possible to bypass that password to install the OS, as I'm fairly certain I won;t be able to boot from the DVD given that it's only readable from a USB connected external DVD drive. Any tips or suggestions would be greatly appreciated here, thanks in advance!

iMac, Mac OS X (10.4)

Posted on Sep 15, 2009 7:01 PM

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Answer 1

Sep 15, 2009 7:19 PM in response to aeric_7734

The only way to install Tiger is to boot from that installation disc. So I wonder how it was installed in the first place. Also, that iMac only has the slow USB 1.1, not 2.0, so an external USB DVD drive would have been somewhat useless. Some DVD external drives have both USB and FireWire connections. Are you sure this one does not have FireWire?

If it has FireWire, you may be able to boot from it. Then, you can erase the internal drive while started up from the installation disc, then install Mac OS X on a clean volume.

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Answer 2

K Shaffer

Level 7

34,972 points

Sep 16, 2009 1:08 PM in response to aeric_7734

Should the external DVD unit be a FireWire 400 capable optical drive
that can boot the computer with the 10.4 or other DVD installer disc,
that would be best and most likely to succeed. USB 1.1 is too slow
and that is what the early iMac G4s had. FireWire 400 & USB 1.

{The use of a second computer and FireWire Target Disk Mode or
another means, may have been used to install a newer DVD based
system into the older iMac G4 700 that has no Combo/Superdrive
and would not support USB 2.0 file transfer speeds outside of FW.}

A few different configuration options existed on these early LCD iMacs
and their specifications are determined by build model, serial number
and year information; a good resource is http://mactracker.ca download.

Apple iMac G4/700 (Flat Panel LCD) Specs (M8672LL/A*)
http://www.everymac.com/systems/apple/imac/stats/imac700fp.html

Good luck & happy computing! 🙂

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