installing leopard osx on imac g4

You can't do it that way, because one Mac is Intel and the other is PowerPC. And it's not because the OS installation is different. It's because of something more obscure called the +partition map scheme+ of the hard drive.

For a drive to be bootable on a PowerPC Mac, the +partition map scheme+ needs to be +Apple Partition Map+. For an Intel Mac, it is called +GUID Partition Table+. An Intel Mac can actually boot a drive that is either +Apple Partition Map+ or +GUID Partition Table+; however, when you run Installer to do a Mac OS X installation, if you are using an Intel Mac (such as a MacBook) to run the installation, it will insist that the +partition map scheme+ of the drive is +GUID Partition Table+.

Therefore, because you used FireWire Target Disk Mode to run the installation from the MacBook targeting the iMac hard drive (as its external drive), the +partition map scheme+ ended up being +GUID Partition Table+. A PowerPC Mac that has Tiger or later can access a drive that is +GUID Partition Table+, but can only boot the drive if it is +Apple Partition Map+.

What you may be able to do instead, is the following.

Use the MacBook to install a fresh Leopard installation onto an external drive. Restart from it and run Software Update, and make sure it is working. Then restart from the MacBook's own drive again.

Connect the iMac using FireWire Target Disk Mode to the MacBook as you did before. Use the MacBook to erase the iMac's hard drive using Disk Utility. Instead of using the Erase tab, use the Partition tab. Reset the +Volume Scheme+ to *1 Partition*. Click the Options button, and select *Apple Partition Map* there as the +partition map scheme+. Back on the main window, name the volume and set the format to *Mac OS Extended (Journaled)*, and Apply it.

Now, you have the iMac's hard drive with the proper +partition map scheme+ and format. Use a cloning utility, such as Carbon Copy Cloner or SuperDuper, to clone the fresh Leopard installation from the external drive to the iMac's hard drive. Since cloning is done at the volume level, not the drive level, you should get a bootable clone of the Leopard installation on a drive that can be booted by a PowerPC Mac.

Leopard is universal so I think the above method will work. However, there may be complications such as the proper drivers for an 800 MHz iMac G4 not being present in the Leopard installation, because Apple does not officially support that model with Leopard.

Note: To be legal, the Leopard license you are using must not be currently used on another Mac. If the MacBook is currently using that Leopard license, you should not do it for legal reasons.

Hi Ken, I did a search and this response came up and I hope you could help. So hear is my scenario. My boss had a Power Mac G 5 and she gave it to me minus the Hard Drive. I bought a new Western Digital HD 1.5 TB and MAC OS X Snow Leopard (only to learn Snow Leopard wouldn't work on the power PC) So I bought Leopard, now it would install.

The bad thing is I cannot get another Power Mac to clone and install Leopard on the external drive. Can I do this instead, Connect the Western Digital to my IMAC (intel) and set the format on the Western Digital drive to be Apple Partition Map? or would the IMAC by default set it to GUID? I would then install Leopard through my IMAC to the Western Digital drive. Then i will insert the drive into the Power Mac G 5. Please let me know if this is possible . Thanks for your time.

Another consideration might be to acquire a copy of 10.4 Tiger and install that on the G4. I think Leopard may present too many difficulties on that machine. Just a thought.

I know Tiger runs very well on the iMac G4s. I passed off my old flat panel iMac 17 inch G4 to my son recently when I upgraded to this new iMac. I never went above Tiger on the old G4.

Regards,
Steve M.

The hard drive in your imac is in power pc format and your macbook in in GUID format and neither of them will recognize a disc if they are the wrong format. So what you have to do is erase the imac hard drive through fire wire but make sure it is set to "mac os extended journaled" i think thats it but just make sure it is not set to GUID because that is intel format. so next make sure on the left sidebar your imac hard drive is selected and click restore, and drag from the sidebar your macbooks mounted hard drive and drag it to source and drag th mounted volume of your imac to destination and click restore but make sure that erase destination is UNCHECKED because if it erases it will set it back to GUID. so when it is done copying your imac will start up exactly like your macbook leopard and all.

Also, if you want a clean install get a external hard drive that you can erase and install leopard on that from the install discs then do the exact same thing except with the external drive.

I will second that about reverting back to 10.4 on the iMac 800. I also have an old iMac 700 G4 and was never able to successfully get Leopard to run on it very well and reverted back to Tiger which I still have my original purchase disk (CD's) though most of the copies out there are DVD's. If you are able to get an original 10.4 disk, you will then need to upgrade that at Apple downloads to, I think, the combined upgrade for 1 thru 12. As to obtaining an original 10.4 disk, check your area for an Apple Club (MAUG) and they may be able to help you the most which ever way you decide.

Sparkgapper