HT1544: Installing Mac OS X 10.5 Leopard

Learn about Installing Mac OS X 10.5 Leopard
ILatu

Q: Can I install leopard without install disks?

I need to re-install Leopard on a friends mac. He has leopard installed atm but he doesnt have the installation disks. Is there someway to create a bootable usb maybe using the current installation? What other options I got?

Posted on Jul 7, 2012 5:53 AM

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Q: Can I install leopard without install disks?

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  • by Neville Hillyer,

    Neville Hillyer Neville Hillyer Jul 7, 2012 6:24 AM in response to ILatu
    Level 4 (1,877 points)
    Mac OS X
    Jul 7, 2012 6:24 AM in response to ILatu

    Technically this can be done.

     

    For such things I always use Carbon Copy Cloner.

     

    You can either clone directly to another disk or partition or to a disk image which you can copy to wherever you wish.

     

    It will say in advance if it is likely that a clone to a disk will be bootable. Macs cannot normally boot from disk images.

     

    I use read/write sparse disk images - these are useful as full backups and have the advantage that individual items can be easily extracted or modified later.

     

    I have created bootable USB flash sticks but they are very slow and a little tedious to implement - there are several good web pages about this.

     

    If both Macs have FireWire you can boot one from the other and everything is much simpler.

     

    If FireWire is not an option the next best is to use an external disk with sufficient space for the whole OS.

     

    If you want further help from me please supply further details of equipment you have and why you want to reinstall.

  • by ILatu,

    ILatu ILatu Jul 7, 2012 6:38 AM in response to Neville Hillyer
    Level 1 (11 points)
    Jul 7, 2012 6:38 AM in response to Neville Hillyer

    The point of reinstall is to make a clean start. By cloning nothing would change so no reason to do that. Thanks for answering tho.

     

    About the equipment: I am not sure what kind of mac the one with Leopard is. I am guessing its a MacBook and its 3-4 years old (it belongs to a friend,I havent seen it). I also got an MBP running lion.

     

    One offtopic question. Can he (my friend) buy a digital OSX Lion by logging with his apple id on my MBP App Store pay for it and then just install it on his macbook using USB installer?

  • by Neville Hillyer,Solvedanswer

    Neville Hillyer Neville Hillyer Jul 7, 2012 6:48 AM in response to ILatu
    Level 4 (1,877 points)
    Mac OS X
    Jul 7, 2012 6:48 AM in response to ILatu

    How did you intend to do this without a clone or install disks? You can get reasonably clean OSs via a clone and updaters but if you now wish to explore newer OSs my general advice is below.

     

    Many people are happy with OS X 10.5.8 but if you want to update here is my general advice:

     

    To get information about your Mac click the apple (screen top left) and select About this Mac. This will give you your OS number. Then click More Info to see which Processor you have. If it says PowerPC you cannot upgrade to Snow Leopard and above as these OSs are for Intel only. You can discover more about various Macs at: http://www.apple-history.com/

     

    The OS numbers and names are:

    OS X 10.4.x - Tiger

    OS X 10.5.x - Leopard

    OS X 10.6.x - Snow Leopard

    OS X 10.7.x - Lion

    OS X 10.8.x - Mountain Lion

     

    If you have an Intel Mac it is well worth upgrading to Snow Leopard now and then considering other options after that.

     

    You can buy Snow Leopard here:

     

    http://store.apple.com/us/product/MC573Z/A

     

    For details about upgrading this to Lion or Mountain Lion see:

     

    http://store.apple.com/us/product/MD256Z/A

     

    In each case check that your Mac complies with the requirements.

     

    If you are not in the US you should use the Change Country link at the bottom of the page.