Apple Event: May 7th at 7 am PT
My Mac is out of date, I'm still running 10.5.8 but have the Snow Leopard disk to update my operating system to 10.6.3. However, my built-in optical drive is broken so I use a USB powered optical drive. So, when I start the process of installing the new operating software, will the MAC direct itself to my USB drive to boot when necessary?
iMac, Mac OS X (10.5.8)
I'm not sure my memory is correct as it's been quite a while, but I seem to remember that Leopard (10.5.x) did not support booting from a USB drive.Unfortunately, that is what you would need to do: insert the install disk and then boot up while holding the Option key - that should show you the bootable choices. At that point, you'd choose the install disk and then direct the install to your internal disk. You can try that, but I'm reasonably sure that it won't work in Leopard.
the OP would first need Snow Leopard (10.6.8) and, most likely, since he is still on 10.5, his machine may not go further than Snow Leopard or possibly Lion. And, even if Mavericks was a possibility, you need Snow Leopard first since you need an Apple ID account at the app store in order to download Mav.
Thanks for the replies. Just to clarify, because I'm on 10.5.8 I have to upgrade to Snow Leopard using a dvd disk, which I have. I cannot upgrade to any other more recent operating system until I'm on Snow Leopard, so that's the first thing to do.
So, just to clarify further, I have a DVD drive that plugs into 2 USB ports that I use to burn and read DVDs, ever since the inbuilt DVD drive on my iMac started sticking disks inside.
So...I'm really looking for the best way to do this upgrade with what I have...I don't know whether the Mac will find the disk if it is on the plugged in portable DVD drive rather than the inbuilt DVD drive....
Any advice greatly appreciated...
Why not just try? If it doesn't install, nothing lost.
So...I'm really looking for the best way to do this upgrade with what I have...I don't know whether the Mac will find the disk if it is on the plugged in portable DVD drive rather than the inbuilt DVD drive...
.
All you can do is try. If it does not work, the answer is: you cannot do what you want to do with what you have. You would need an external firewire DVD drive/burner.
Can I install a new operating system using a USB optical drive?
