Installing Win7 on a macbook pro using a mac mini as external optical drive

hi everyone,
My 2 year old son watches movies on my macbook pro. He stuck something in the optical drive making it unusable. Repairing it is 200 to 300 euros (ouch).
I want to install win7 via bootcamp and I'm using my mac mini (october 2009) as an external optical drive. These are my steps:
1.hold the "t" on the mac mini
2.connect it to the macbook with a firewire 800 to firewire 400 cable
3.Power up and hold the "alt" on the macbook
4.I see the optical drive on the boot screen and I choose it
5.Then I get a blank screen and a few seconds later the "missing operating system" message appears.
Am I missing something? Is it possible to install win7 using a mac mini as an external drive?
PS1:I already have partitioned the HD with bootcamp.
PS2:I've upgraded the hard disk drive of the macbook with a seagate momentus 500GB hard disk. Don't think this is the problem, thought I should mentioned it.

Hi Mike,
For reference it is called "IP over Firewire".
Connect the two computers with a fire wire cable. System Preferences > Network > Configure IPv4: > Manually > IP address: 192.168.3.1 (and .2 on other) > Subnet Mask: 255.255.255.0. Leave the other fields blank. Do this on both computers on the computer you want to allow access to or both for two way access go to System Preference > Sharing > Select a service to change its settings. Turn remote Login on.
On the MBP go to the Finder Menu > Go > Connect to Server > Type in the IP address of the Mini 192.168.3.2 (Whatever you gave it)
With this configuration you still have full use of the Mini and certain apps can use Xgrid and use the processor of the mini when it is not doing anything. I would keep the Mini as 10.4 unless you really need both machines running Leopard. As noted before you cannot boot the MBP from a HDD that is Apple Partition Scheme and vice versa you cannot boot the PPC from a Guide Partition Table.
Sweet Polly

Similar Messages

HT4410 If I install Windows 7 on my MacBook Pro using Bootcamp, now having 2 start up drives, do I select the Windows drive, then I can install a software program that runs only on a PC?

If I install Windows 7 on my MacBook Pro using Bootcamp, now having 2 start up drives, do I select the Windows drive, then I can install a software program that runs only on a PC?

Thank you

After I installed Lion, my MacBook Pro can no longer detect my external hard drives or my USB flash drives. What should I do?

After I installed Lion, my MacBook Pro can no longer detect my external hard drives or my USB flash drives. What should I do?

And me -- My Mac at work running Snow Leopard reads the drive normally. My home Mac (on Lion) can't even find it....
Yet another Leo let-down.....

I want to install Win7 on my new iMac using bootcamp. I got a USB drive for the win7 install-disc, but I don't own a cd for the Mac OS (since it was preinstalled when I got it). I read somewhere that I need a mac OS disc as well?

I want to install Win7 on my new iMac using bootcamp. I got a USB drive for the win7 install-disc, but I don't own a cd for the Mac OS (since it was preinstalled when I got it). I read somewhere that I need a mac OS disc as well to complete the bootcamp installation of Win7 ?
I need some recomendations plz.

Hello,
you don't need OS X install-disk, but I strongly recomend to burn a Win 7 disk. You may have some problems with installing it from a USB Flash :)
Cheers!

My MacBook Pro no longer "sees" my LACie external hard drive

Hello,
I need you help with this one. My MacBook Pro no longer "sees" my LACie external hard drive. In the System Profiler (under FireWire) the drive is listed as:
FireWire Bus:
Maximum Speed: Up to 800 Mb/sec
Unknown Device:
Manufacturer: Unknown
Model: Unknown
Maximum Speed: Up to 800 Mb/sec
Connection Speed: Unknown
Can anyone help me to correct this issue? Thank you in advance for your help!!
Nat

I was finally able to resolve this issue. I went to LaCie's site and went to the support area to find troubleshooting steps for my particular drive. It turns out that the problem was corrected when I swapped the power supply cord of the "troubled" drive with another LaCie drive that I have and that seemed to resolve the problem. Thank you Tony for your help. I appreciate you guys!
Thanks,
Nat

I transferred data from my Macbook Pro to my Mac mini but it forced me to make a new user for my old data. How do I transfer my music, pics, and docs from the "old" user to the new user (so that I only have one user instead of 2?)

I transferred data from my Macbook Pro to my Mac mini but it forced me to make a new user for my old data. How do I transfer my music, pics, and docs from the "old" user to the new user (so that I only have one user instead of 2?)

Unless you transfer the files from Setup Assistant, Migration Assistant creates a new user with the data.
To transfer the files to your first user, you have to log on this new user, and copy all your files to /Users/Shard folder. This is a folder where you can put the files you want to share between two or more users, and all users can read and write in it.
After copying the files, go to your first user, open /Users/Shared folder, and copy the files to your user folders. If you migrated applications, you must know that they are stored in a common folder (/Applications), so you don't have to transfer them. To open /Users/Shared folder, open Go menu (in the menu bar) > Go to Folder, and type the folder

I want to keep my music on my macbook pro and my movies on my external hard drive.

I want to keep my music on my macbook pro and my movies on my external hard drive how do i get itunes to recogonise my external hard drive.? so i can drag more movies across later. i am able to plug my external into my Apple Express to stream to my apple TV arent i..???

michols wrote:
I want to keep my music on my macbook pro and my movies on my external hard drive how do i get itunes to recogonise my external hard drive.?
iTunes > preferences > advanced.
point iTunes media folder location to the external
on the same tab, ensure the copy files ... when adding option is checkmarked
okay out of preferences
highlight the content to be moved (i.e. the movies) in iTunes and right-click
select consolidate files from the pop-up menu
wait for the process to finish
when done, you may delete the original files from your boot drive. you may also want to point iTunes media folder location back to your local iTunes folder.
i am able to plug my external into my Apple Express to stream to my apple TV arent i..???
no. airport express does not support the airdisk feature. you'd need an airport extreme (or time capsule) for that.

Install library receipts from a MacBook Pro onto a Mac Mini PPC

I have a pay per Mbyte internet connection at home, but unlimited internet where I work. I am hoping to install updates on the MacBook Pro at work and keep the receipt .pkg files and install them on the Mac Mini PPC at home so I don't have to pay for the large file size. Any idea if this will work?

you don't need the receipts; you need the updates themselves. just download them at work, store them on external media, and install at home. assuming you aren't violating any "acceptable use" policy at work, you'll be fine.

Can I move my iWeb from mac-mini to my new macbook pro ? iLife 11 does not have iWeb and I really want to use it to update my website on my new macbook Pro instead of Mac mini

Can I move my iWeb from mac-mini to my new macbook pro ? iLife 11 does not have iWeb and I really want to use it to update my website on my new macbook Pro instead of Mac mini

There is no license required for iWeb. Just do a Wyodor suggested and you'll be ready to go. If you're running Lion however, consider the following:
In Lion the Library folder is now invisible. To make it permanently visible enter the following in the Terminal application window: chflags nohidden ~/Library and hit the Enter button - 10.7: Un-hide the User Library folder.
To open your domain file in Lion or to switch between multiple domain files Cyclosaurus has provided us with the following script that you can make into an Applescript application with Script Editor. Open Script Editor, copy and paste the script below into Script Editor's window and save as an application.
do shell script "/usr/bin/defaults write com.apple.iWeb iWebDefaultsDocumentPath -boolean no"delay 1
tell application "iWeb" to activate
You can download an already compiled version with this link: iWeb Switch Domain.
Just launch the application, find and select the domain file you want to open and it will open with iWeb. It modifies the iWeb preference file each time it's launched so one can switch between domain files.
WARNING: iWeb Switch Domain will overwrite an existing Domain.sites2 file if you select to create a new domain in the same folder. So rename your domain files once they've been created to something other than the default name.
OT

Macbook Pro not able to burn from External DVD drive

Hi there,
I just bought a Samsung SE-208DB external drive for my 2011 Macbook Pro 8,1 13inch and at first the drive was detected by my Macbook Pro and I was able ot burn a disk but now when I plug in the device, it powers on for a bit then powers off to were I can't eject the disk anymore.Then sometimes it works just fine. I am using an external USB hub with AC plug power so I am confident power to the USb isn't an issue. I just wanted to know are Macbook Pro known to have issues with external drives?
And for those wondering why I don't just use the internal DVD on my Macbook Pro, I replaced it with an SSD for dedicated Windows 7 operating system.
Any ideas on how to approached this problem? Should I just get another brand of external DVD drive. I know I can't get Apples as for some strange reason, Apple makes those only compatible with Macs that didn't come with DVD drives like the Macbook Air.
Thanks

Ok I solved it.
The problem is that the drive uses too much power from the usb port.
You can use one of those cables with on one end two usb plugs and on the other end a mini usb. Connect the coresponding usb for power to an iphone charger or any 5v/1amp charger.
Or you can do what I did. I used a usb hub. In one usb port I connected my iphone charger and the drive to another usb port on the hub.
I have just burned my first succesful disc.
Regards

How to backup MacBook Pro without AirPort Time Capsule or External hard drive

How to backup MacBook Pro without AirPort Time Capsule or External hard drive

This is crude but if you need a work around, just plug the USB drive directly into the iMac.. copy the files to it.. then plug it into the TC.
You also do not need to use the TC as an intermediary between your iMac and MBP.. just turn on sharing in the computer.. so you can directly copy files from one to the other.. Macs have public access directory preconfigured for each user account.
As far as mounting the TC..
In finder use Go, Connect to server.. and type.
AFP://TCname or TCipaddress
Where TCname is the actual name of the TC.. I strongly recommend you follow SMB network rules.. ie if your TC has a name like
Fred Blog's Time Capsule 2445566.
It is too long.. it has spaces and it has non-alphanumeric characters.
Shorten it to FredTC
No spaces no characters that are NOT alphanumeric.
TCIPaddress is simply the standard IP.
You can also use CIFS://TCname which according to the article forces the connection back to SMB1 rather than SMB2 which as usual is broken.
But I would definitely use AFP if possible. I cannot understand the decision to move to SMB as standard.

Can "Refit" Be Used for USB Boot From External Optical Drive?

Since the new Mac Mini 2011 has no optical drive, how would one make a generic USB 2.0 optical drive act as a boot device? I have heard that a utility called "Refit" can alter the boot loading order and device choices in Macs. I suppose it is also possible that the new Mini may already be set up to boot first from USB. I would appreciate any comments. It would be nice to have some kind of optical drive boot option for Windows installation and other possible utilities that need to boot before the OS in order to work. Maybe I will have to take my external optical drive to an Apple store to find out. Hope not. I also suspect that a USB keyboard will be mandatory for "Refit" and the boot drive to be used before Mac OS X is loaded.

No utility should be needed.
You can hold the Option key down during the boot process to select which drive you wish to use as a boot device.
Also pressing and holding C boots to the optical drive.
There is reportedly a pretty broad number of USB optical drives that people have been able to use as a boot device, as inexpensively as $30. I don't know that there is a specific list though. I would research whichever model you wish to buy with a quick google search or searching that model here in the forum.
Or maybe somebody will have a recommendation which one they have.

Can I use my mac mini as a network drive on my wireless network?

I would like to redeploy my Mac Mini to be a network server drive off of my Airport Extreme router? Is this possible? Is it difficult? How do I do it? Thanks!

Yes, you can use your Mac mini as a network file server. The mini can be connected to the AirPort Extreme Base Station (AEBS) by either Ethernet or wireless to share files to other network clients.
Please see the following Apple Support article for details on how to configure your Mac for file sharing.

Can't install 10.4 on Macbook Pro using original disks

I've backed up everything, tried to do an archive & install, but no go. It said everything installed properly, but then hung up on the reboot gray apple screen.
I ran the disk diagnostics and the hard drive is fine. I did it through disk utility, and once from the command prompt logging in as a single user. No problem found.
I zapped pram, repaired permissions, and did everything I could think of.
Failed again.
So I tried to do a complete erase and install. The installation goes fine, then at reboot, it stalls at the same screen. It's been spinning for a long time now.
Any suggestions?
It's a 2.2 ghz Intel Core Duo Macbook Pro, 160 gig hd.

I finally got it to boot on the fourth attempt, and letting it run for several hours. I ran Disk Utility again, and this time it came up as a failing hard drive. So that's the problem.

Can I use USB 3.0 to network a MacBook Pro to a Mac mini?

I'm looking for a way to have a very high speed NAS. USB 3.0 offers the potential for much better performance than 1Gb ethernet. I've seen a NAS product that has both 1Gb ethernet and a USB 3.0 connection, however it requires a reboot to switch interfaces.
So, I'm considering attaching storage to a Mac mini server, in the hopes that I could use a USB 3.0 crossover cable to connect my MacBook Pro to the mini when docked. Hopefully, I could then achieve SS USB speeds while docked, but still have slower Wifi access to my storage when undocked.
I'll grant you that 1Gb ethernet when docked is a lot better than Wifi, but I'm trying to remove all the bottle necks here.
I've found a website selling "USB 3.0 Super-Speed A/A Cable Crossover" cables. However, they specifically claim that there is no OS that supports using USB 3.0 in crossover mode for file transfers. They sell the cable as an engineering debug and test cable only.
Has anyone gone down this road?
I don't suppose I could create a thunderbolt network instead? Target Disk Mode is not an option. I don't want my server going offline.

You probably can't use the PB display at all--there are likely just too many differences between the MBP and the PB. One place you can go to check out display compatibility is PowerBook Medic:
http://www.powerbookmedic.com/
You can look up replacement displays for both the PB and the MBP. My guess is that they will be different.
It sounds like the disgruntled someone owes you a paid repair to your Mac.
Good luck!

Installing Win7 on a macbook pro using a mac mini as external optical drive

Similar Messages

Maybe you are looking for