installing os10.5.6dmg on mac book pro unibody

Question

installing os10.5.6dmg on mac book pro unibody

hi ....

some one has given me a macbook pro unibody end 2008 !

without a hdd and disk drive ...

and I want to install os10.5.6 dmg on it !

this being on a usb stick now ...

now when I press " alt " on boot up

there is only a pointer coming

no selection to booting from

now my question >

since there seems to be a defect in the efi chip !

if I get an external hdd with a 250gb sata hdd in it

and create a recovery partition on this

then install this into the mbp > then press R

could it then boot on this ?

or what do you think could be done ?

Posted on Sep 13, 2019 6:33 AM

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Answer 1

Best reply

Grant Bennet-Alder

Level 10

127,663 points

Sep 13, 2019 9:27 AM in response to galacticcentral

You should be able to boot from a properly-made BOOTABLE USB-stick installer, but the process for making them did not become popular until MacOS 10.7 and later. I doubt that the 10.5.6 image you have is bootable. if it is, in fact, a .dmg, that requires fully-working MacOS to mount it.

There is a physical MacOS 10.6 snow leopard bootable Installer/Utilities DVD available from the Apple online store, delivered by postal Mail for about US$20.

https://www.apple.com/shop/product/MC573Z/A/mac-os-x-106-snow-leopard?fnode=15e4cf59a293abcd543dba98c0e32ecca17836b411803ef8b998f510306367fdcae3ff820169ad63f05055670eed9d5844a11ce0cb7c9349fa4cebf4f2b002a290865fcfaf8a4d93c8046602cff2109c60d44b4cf99fe5077a813ab7b34c231b

There is nothing magical about the Internal drive. Your Mac can install, boot and run from an external drive.

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Answer 2

Sep 14, 2019 4:21 AM in response to babowa

ok .... so what do you think ?

could be done ?

to prepare the to be installed hdd out side the mbp ?

what about if I would have the same model mbp and working

then take an external hdd and make a copy of it ?

then install it in the mbp ...

what do you think about this ?

or what else could be done ?

.

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Answer 3

Sep 14, 2019 4:28 AM in response to Grant Bennet-Alder

well ...

if the efi does not provide any other boot choice

then it will not boot from usb ... under any circumstance

or ?

I think the 10.5.6.dmg is a every day install os

you would be installing onto the hdd

but to do this I would have to

have a usb port live ...

and how could this be done ?

on a hdd with nothing on !

I have been reading about commands on start up

" boot from usb " ... " boot from disk drive "

do you know any thing about this ?

.

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Answer 4

Sep 14, 2019 6:06 AM in response to galacticcentral

Bootable USB-stick Installers are made by special procedure, which only was needed and became available in 10.7 and later. You need a working MacOS to do anything useful with a .dmg Installer.

The solution for Macs to run 10.6 Snow Leopard and earlier was to use the Installer/Utilities DVD that shipped with the product, or a "Full retail" DVD. For 10.6 Snow Leopard, you can still buy a "Full Retail" installer (for all appropriate Macs) from the Apple Online Store.

The MacBook Pro you describe should have a DVD slot on the side.

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Answer 5

Sep 16, 2019 5:02 AM in response to Grant Bennet-Alder

.

if you read my starting text ... you will know ...

that there is no dvd drive installed !

and for as long as I am not certain

this mashine will come back to life

any investment not necessary

will not be made !

and to make a bootable usb installer ...

I can take even a pc with the right app to do it on !

but the question was > is this usb even adressable ?

so I think to install the right file on the hdd directly

will be the thing to do ...

the dmg can be taken off ...

the content put on the hdd

even with a pc inclusive formating

I thought you guys would know more then I do

but I am sorry to say ... you do not !

so ... I am closing this tread here

by .... by

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Answer 6

Sep 16, 2019 6:55 AM in response to galacticcentral

The two ways you have proposed to get this .dmg installed:

1) place a recovery partition on a drive and allow it to read and mount the .dmg

The .dmg is NOT a bootable MacOS. It has the installer data (only) inside it. There is no stand-alone method to place a recovery partition anywhere.

With a .dmg, you need the Utilities that come on a bootable Installer DVD or bootable USB-stick Installer. You also need the Utilities to prep your new drive, because the .dmg is not sufficient for a running MacOS until it has been Installed on another drive.

2) use a PC to make the bootable DVD

A PC is not suitable. You need to execute MacOS commands in Terminal, which are not available on a PC or Linux.

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Answer 7

Sep 16, 2019 9:12 AM in response to galacticcentral

One other important bit of trivia:

The Mac can install on and boot fromm an external drive as easily as an internal drive. If you have a "found" drive laying around, you could use it to Install on.

An external DVD reader could also be used, but most folks do not have these laying around.

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Answer 8

babowa

Level 9

78,115 points

Sep 13, 2019 8:21 AM in response to galacticcentral

No, because that model is too old for a recovery partition.

And you say it has no hard drive and no disk drive?

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installing os10.5.6dmg on mac book pro unibody

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