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User profile for user: pjkearney
pjkearney Author
User level: Level 1
4 points

Changing an OS X 10.4 computer into a server - help

This is going to sound like a dumb question, but...

On p.80 of the OS X Server Getting Started manual, it states that one of my installation options is to "change a computer running Mac OS X version 10.4 into a server", but I am unable to do this.

I am trying to install OS X Server on an existing 10.4.5 machine running the consumer version of the OS. The installation procedure is forcing me to do a complete re-format of the machine, which doesn't seem right to me.

Is there a way to install OS X Server without erasing and reformatting the whole machine?

My end goal is to use this machine as a web server, a Quicktime Streaming server and continue to have it's iTunes setup and library as my primary music library and podcast computer. Reformatting will lose all my existing podcast subscriptions. The music library is stored on another internal drive and could be re-connected (and re-authorized) with a fresh install of iTunes if necessary - but it shouldn't BE necessary, right?

Please help a server newbie. Thanks in advance!


450 MHz PPC G4 Mac OS X (10.4.5) 896 MB SDRAM

Posted on Feb 18, 2006 4:17 PM

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4 replies
User profile for user: Community User
Community User

Feb 18, 2006 5:06 PM in response to pjkearney

I would guess that the server CDs are 10.4.0, and since the machine is 10.4.5, the server install program is spotting the downgrade and balking. You can go from client to server when the server software is the same, or later version than the client.

Your subscriptions are probably stored in ~/Library/Preferences or Caches. They could be copied to the other drive and then brought back after the install. Hard drives aren't that expensive anymore, so you may want to consider buying a new one to install server on, and then you have your client stuff for as long as you want, and someday reformat the drive for additional space for music.

Roger
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User profile for user: pjkearney
pjkearney Author
User level: Level 1
4 points

Feb 18, 2006 5:22 PM in response to Community User

The machine in question has two physical drives:

- The startup volume (running consumer version of 10.4.5)
- Regular hard drive containing music library, but has over 200GB available.

The OS X Server installer indicated that it "could" install on the regular hard drive, but if I wanted to install on the startup volume then the startup drive would need to be reformatted.

What if I installed Server on the regular drive? What kinds of conflicts would that create? If any?

And again - thanks for your quick responses!


Mac OS X (10.4.5)
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User profile for user: Community User
Community User

Feb 19, 2006 4:34 PM in response to pjkearney

What if I installed Server on the regular drive? What kinds of conflicts would that create? If any?

Probably nothing, but when you do disk operations there's always a chance of something happening, and without a backup plan that you have confidence and experience with, data can be lost.

You're in a place where I can't/won't tell you what to do, because if something goes wrong, I don't want to be blamed.

Roger
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Changing an OS X 10.4 computer into a server - help

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