Q: No DVD drive in new iMac ???

As an added bonus, I seem unable to boot my shiny new iMac from a Disk Warrior boot disk using the accessory external disk drive which I had to purchase in order to continue operating in the real world.

Great.

Does anyboy know of a thread that would tell me  how to boot from the external optical drive?

If you bought an Apple Superdrive and it won't boot from a DW boot disk you should return it.

To add to...

If you have an Apple Superdrive and can not boot from DW. You can make a bootable thumb drive (which will faster compaired to the DVD) from the DW disc. You can make a bootable thumb drive from another computer that has a disk drive... Or use sharing  (DVD/CD) on another computer...

From Alsoft’s (DiskWarrior) site...

DiskWarrior 4 Support

DiskWarrior 4 is required for Intel-based Macs. Learn about the new features of DiskWarrior 4 and how to upgrade by clicking here.

Please note that to install DiskWarrior 4 onto your hard disk, your Mac must start up in OS X 10.3.9 through 10.9. Please read the system requirements for DiskWarrior 4.

DiskWarrior 4 version 4.4 is now available on DiskWarrior DVD revision 1109. This DVD is a universal startup DVD that can start up both PowerPC and Intel Macs. All Mac models meeting the system requirements for DiskWarrior can be started from the DVD. The current DiskWarrior DVD cannot start up the new MacBook Pros introduced June 11, 2012. An updated disc that will also start up these recent Mac models will be released as soon as Apple, Inc. releases new startup files to Alsoft, Inc. and other developers. Some older iMacs with wireless keyboards have timing issues when starting up from any DVD. Instead of pressing the "C" key immediately upon start up, wait for the startup chime and then press the "Option" key. This will bring up the Startup Manager which will allow you to choose the DVD as a startup disk. If your wireless mouse is not working in the Startup Manager, use the arrow keys to choose the DVD, then press the "Return" key to continue starting up. Click here to learn how to repair the directory of a disk in a Mac model that cannot be started from the DiskWarrior DVD.

Hemlaw wrote:

Does anyboy know of a thread that would tell me  how to boot from the external optical drive?

Most likely issue is that the optical drive requires an OS at least as recent as the one that came with the machine. The one shipped with DW doesn't meet that criteria.

I just checked the latest DW disc version 4.4 and it boots using Snow Leopard. Since my iMac came with Snow Leopard it boots even though I have Mavericks installed.

Since the OP has a new iMac it probably came with Mountain Lion or Mavericks, being that  it won't boot from the DW disk. The only thing the OP can do is install what ever OS he/she is using onto an external hard drive or thumb drive and boot from there with the DW app installed (installing is just dragging and dropping the DW app from the disk.).

David M Brewer wrote:

I just checked the latest DW disc version 4.4 and it boots using Snow Leopard.

I was responding to Hemlawwho stated that he had a shiny new iMac.

Thanks, David Brewer and other repiies.  It's not the OS and it's not DW; it's the USB optical drive.  I have a bunch of iMacs and can boot with DW and Mavericks where I have machines with built-in optical drive.

I have contacted DW and believe they are going to walk me through creating a boot thumb drive today.  Hope so.  It's not simply a drag and drop deal.

Whoever thought iMac buyers don't need a built in optical drive any more needs to join the real world.  That might be true someday and but not today.

Did those iMacs come with Lion, ML or Mavericks installed? The reason I ask, Macs shouldn't be able to boot from an OS lower than was original installed on the computer.

I looked on the internet to see how to make a bootable DW thumb drive and the tutorials aren't that great. Once I figured it out, I smacked my head, that was easy. The thumb drive will be faster (10x-100x) compared to the  DVD.

The thumb drive needs to be divided into three partitions. The min. size thumb drive that you can use is 4 GBs. If you use a 4 gig drive need to make sure the three partitions are as follow in size:

Partition 1... 1.41 GBs

Partition 2... 1.91 GBs

Partition 3... 0.2 GBs

How to make a boobable DW thumb drive:

http://thehowto.wikidot.com/diskwarrior-bootable-usb

If you have any problems making the thumb drive ring back in...

Here's directions from DW tech support:

(1)  Alternate Startup Disk

If you have an external drive such as...

FireWire (PowerPC or Intel)

USB2 or newer (Intel only)

Thunderbolt (Intel only)

Or a secondary internal drive or partition...

You can install Mac OS X (the version which shipped with your computer or higher) on that drive and start up the computer from the operating system on the external/secondary device.  Once you have started up the computer from the newly-installed operating system, install DiskWarrior into the "Utilities" folder (which is inside the "Applications" folder).  Then, you can launch DiskWarrior from the Utilities folder of the external/secondary device to rebuild the directory of the computer's main hard drive.

(2)  Target Disk Mode:  Connect two Macs with a FireWire or Thunderbolt cable (not all options will be applicable depending on the model of your computer) where one is the "host" and the other is a "target".  The host Mac should be running OS X (10.4.x "Tiger" or higher).  In this scenario, the target Mac is the computer whose internal hard drive you want to repair.  Start by shutting down the target Mac.  Then turn it on while holding down the "T" key.  The target Mac's drive will appear as an option via the DiskWarrior interface.  Run DiskWarrior from the Utilities folder of the host Mac and rebuild the target Mac's disk.

I partitioned the external HD I use for Time Machine backups.  I think you only need to hive off 50 GB (or less?) to install Mavericks and most current external HD can easily spare that.  I partitioned off 100 GB.

Restart with command-R and install Mavericks on that partition.

Install (copy) DW 4.4 onto that partition.

Voila.

ps:  I ran DW for the first time and it make a slough of reparis and corrections.  Computer happier now.  Anybody who tells you that you only need Disk Utility is either a myopic Apple aplogist or a paid troll.

good luck.  Thansk for the input; I hope this post helps you.

I find that hard to believe...... That a person who has been using Apple products decides to go out and buy a New iMac and when they find out there is no superdrive in it and that they have to purchase one for 75$ or less they decide thats it,,,gonna sell my Apple stuff and buy me some real computers like a Dell or an HP or an Acer or some other piece of junk Apple Wannabee computer..... I DONT THINK SO!!!!!

I feel your pain.  I've been limping along with my G5 PowerMac for a while now, and I was looking forward to downsizing.  But the issue now becomes, what am I going to do with the images from my new digital camera, if I don't have an optical drive?  When I shoot TIFFs, the file size approaches 100mb per image.  Am I supposed to start giving away SD cards?  I've been using Macs since the late 80s, and I don't like the idea of switching to a PC, but I really do not want to spend another $3,000 on a PowerMac.  My options have been limited by Apple.

You could spend 30 or 40 dollars on an external drive.

PowerMacs are no longer in production, no current Mac has an optical drive.

baltwo San Diego, CA 

I was responding to Hemlawwho stated that he had a shiny new iMac.

Are you a paid Apple apologist?

Hemlaw wrote:

 

baltwo San Diego, CA 

 

I was responding to Hemlawwho stated that he had a shiny new iMac.

 

Are you a paid Apple apologist?

Contributers here are volunteers, no-one gets paid.