Firewire DVD drive to reformat?

Hi!
The Combo Drive in my eMac went crazy and I dont know if it's the drive that is bad or a software problem. If I put the OS disk in the drive and reboot from the ComboDrive, it wont work, but spins like mad! I dont own any disk utilities other than the standard Mac OS utility and it says nothing is wrong. Either way, I dont want to buy a new internal drive if that's not the problem and this Mac needs a good reformat anyway to clean things up and bring it back to top performance. I now own OS 10.4.3 and need to install it on this machine which is running 10.2 right now.
If I buy a firewire or USB DVD drive, will it be able to be used to do a system reformat from? I copied the OS 10.4.3 disk onto a Firewire drive that I own, but it tells me this is not a suitable drive to reformat the system with. So, will a firewire or USB DVD drive work? Also, why is it that Macs apparently dont support USB 2.0? Thanks!

I copied the OS 10.4.3 disk onto a Firewire driveIf you drag-copied the OS X System and Library folders from your hard drive to the Firewire drive, that won't work --- there are several thousand invisible files critical to running OS X that aren'tt copied using that method. You can use a third-party utility like SuperDuper! to clone the hard drive's System and Library, since the normal method (using your OS X Install disc to install to the Firewire device) obviously has a flaw or two in your case.

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Panther to Tiger using LaCie Firewire DVD drive

First, it was suggested I start a new topic, because of using an external Firewire drive. I have the proper Tiger "Retail" install disk. This is for a friends iMac that did not come with a DVD/Combo drive.
Anything anyone can suggest. I'm hoping the following will work:
1. iMac has latest firmware, and is up to date with latest Panther.
2. hook up LaCie external firewire DVD drive, and as long as it is recognized on the desktop of my friends iMac, that I will be able to then insert/load the Tiger Install Disk and double click on it to install Tiger onto the iMac.
3. I additionally have the option of taking over my Intel dual-core MacBook (Leopard installed) and using that in Target Disk Mode with the Tiger disk in the combo drive of the MacBook. Will it then install on the iMac?
4. I appreciate any and all suggestions and help. I read through numerous posts, but all the links for the Applelink article about installing using Target Disk Mode simply take me to the main page of Applelink and I can't seem to find the instructions.
5. I'm just wondering anyone's experience in using an external Firewire DVD drive to use as the install disk for the OSX Tiger installation to an older iMac.
thanks! Patrick.

Hi Patrick, and a warm welcome to the forums!
1. Good.
2. Should work if it's Mac compatable, you'll find out soon enough.
3. Very likely.
4. The iMac should see the MacBook's DVD as bootable when the MB is in Target Mode.
5. It works with many FW Opticals, but a few do not support Mac Booting.
6. Another option possibly, you can clone an image of the DVDs to a FW drive and boot from that for an install too... I've used Toast to do it, but it can be done with Disk Utility.
PS. I doubt you'll have problems with 2 ways to go there, good luck!

Problems Installing via an External Firewire DVD drive

Hi,
I'm trying to install Leopard from an external LaCie D2 (with LightScribe) DVD/DL drive via a Firewire cable.
I start the iMac (G5 20" SuperDrive is dead) via the "option" key, a screen with a choice between HD and Leopard Install DVD appears.
When I select the second option (install Leopard) I have the Apple Start Up screen (the grey screen with the dark grey Apple) but the spinning flower is missing. And the screen stays that way for minutes... Is it normal? Do I have to wait more? Is my iMac cursed?

Here's the problem:
1- the problem occurs when I boot, so the OS is "innocent"
2- when I load the start up menu (with the option key held down) I see both of the drives (HD and External Firewire DVD drive), so it can't be a "power" problem... (http://youtube.com/watch?v=MQs2n1vxpkw)
3- when I insert a DVD (movie for example), the drive reads it when connected via USB 2.0 and doesn't via Firewire, so the drive is unable to read (or reads slowly)? a Driver problem?
4- when I shutdown the iMac with the external drive connected via the USB port, the drive shuts down too, while it doesn't when it's connected via the FW one...

DVD player won't recognize firewire DVD drive and won't install.

I bought a Sony firewire DVD drive so that my wife could watch DVDs on her iBook. I can't get Apple's DVD Player to install on the iBook because it says it doesn't recognize any appropriate hardware.
Does anyone know how to get it to recognize the firewire DVD player and install?
If not, does anyone else know of a good third party DVD player for this iBook. I installed one, I think it is called Xine or something like that. It playes the DVDs but is "glitchy."
Thanks very much,
Ted Vieira

Actually, since posting the question I found an answer in an ealier thread...
I'm still not sure about getting Apple's DVD Player to work with an exernal drive, but you can get a free VLC Medea Player that works great at:
http://www.videolan.org/vlc/download-macosx.html
I was able to download this and install it. It was a little "glitchy" with USB 2.0, but worked fine with FireWire.
Ted Vieira

Problem installing OSX 10.4 from Firewire DVD drive

Hi, I'd be very grateful if anyone can help... I've been trying to install OSX 10.4 from DVD loaded in an external Firewire Lacie DVD drive and haven't been successful yet. I have tried instructing startup from the DVD in System Preferences, holding Option on startup and selecting the DVD and also holding 't' on startup, which I was informed forced startup from an external Firewire device (this resulted in a large Firewire logo floating round the screen but after 10 minutes or so hadn't progressed into full startup). Having read some bits of info found on Apple support I can see there is some issue about installing OSX 10.4 from a DVD drive other than an internal Apple drive (although I can't see any explanation why). Could someone please let me know if there is another way of doing this? – I mainly want to get 10.4 installed because I want to get a new ipod which requires 10.4 rather than 10.3. Thanks very much, Sam

Some external DVD drives support startup. Some do not.
Holding down the T key at startup makes the Mac go into FireWire Target Disk Mode. It will not help you start up from the DVD drive.
If you have another Mac with FireWire and a DVD drive, you can use FireWire Target Disk Mode to mount your Mac's hard drive on the other Mac's desktop. Then, you can use that other Mac to startup from the DVD and run the installer, pointing to your Mac's hard drive for the installation.
http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=58583
I don't know of any other way, if the external DVD drive does not support start up.

Is there a key command for ejecting a dvd or cd from a firewire dvd drive?

I have looked in the chats with no luck. I have two optical drives connected to my G5 powermac one internal and one firewire, and can't remember
the key command to eject a disc from the external one without dragging it to the trash. I know I used to do that it. option / eject button/ or control/ eject but that does not work. I know you can click on the disc icon then do command/e. But I think there is a way to eject it with a key command and not have to click on the disc first. In other words when you hit the keyboards eject button you can eject the disc in the internal super drive with one push of the keyboards eject button. I want to be able to do that with my external dvd drive.
Any clue?
Thanks.

hmm, it might not be possible without some third party hack.
Try the following link:
http://www.macosxhints.com/article.php?story=20050520155515566
You'll need to paste the provided script into Script Editor, save it as an application and bind a keyboard shortcut to it using one of many many application launchers like Quciksilver, Butler, Quickeys, ikeys or Spark (suggested by the above link).
sorry that script is outdated.
here is the correct one:
property drawerstatus : true
if drawerstatus is true then
do shell script "drutil -drive external tray eject"
else
do shell script "drutil -drive external tray close"
end if
set drawerstatus to not drawerstatus
Message was edited by: V.K.

Installing Tiger (dvd) with sony external firewire DVD drive

Helo all,
Can anyone tell me if the B/W G3 can boot up an OS X CD from an external firewire or USB DVD Room.
I want to upgrade my machine to Tiger but not having any luck with getting it to recognize the external DVD Rom on boot up.
It recognizes it with no problem once the OS is installed and logged into a user profile but the entire time during boot up I can't get it to boot from the drive.
I have tried the following key combinations (Don't know if they are supposed to work with the B/W G3):
T - Firewire Target Mode
Command-Option-Shift-Delete - Bypass internal harddrive on boot
System Prefs > Startup Disk > Select DVD Room > Restart
Is there anything else I can try other then trying to find an IDE internal hard drive to plug into this machine?

B&Ws can not boot from Firewire drives.
Most Pioneer drives are bootable if installed internally. Certain other brands are also bootable (internally).
This page has Mac user reviews of different DVD drives in various Mac models.
http://forums.xlr8yourmac.com/drivedb/search.drivedb.lasso

Supported external usb and/or firewire dvd drive

What's the latest consensus on an external drive for an iBook running 10.4? The internal one has failed and is going to be a couple of hundred quid to replace.
FireWire and USB support would be ideal as the USB interface will be useful once the iBook is replaced with a MacBook.
Support can be native or via patchburn, I'm not that fussed. Needs to work with iLife and The Finder.
ta

Being in the UK, i'd buy this drive:
http://www.amazon.co.uk/Freecom-DVD-Recorder-Lightscribe-Firewire/dp/B000TV5RR6/ ref=sr123?ie=UTF8&s=electronics&qid=1225272357&sr=1-23
USB2 / Firewire, Lightscribe, cheap!
A quick search on Amazon.com:
http://www.amazon.com/s/qid=1225272518/ref=srnr_n4?ie=UTF8&rs=172476&bbn=1193860&rnid=172476&rh=n:541966,n:172455,n:172476,n:1193 860
I second the support for LaCie, they focus on Mac support
Phil

USB/Firewire/DVD drives working but not showing up on my desktop after firmware update

I just updated my 15inch Macbook Pro (early 2011) to the latest firmware patch and now none of my external hard drives, flash drives, or DVDs are showing up on my desktop. I can still access all of the files from the side bar in a finder window (and play movies in DVD player, etc). This was not a problem before I updated my computer about an hour ago. I already tried restarting it and that did nothing. I went into disk utility and tried repairing the drives but it claims there is nothing wrong with them. In sum, everything is functioning properly, but nothing is showing up on my desktop.
Does anyone have any insight as to why this may be and/or any solutions to the problem?

In Finder "Go" menu hold the option key and choose Library. Then go to Preferences trash these two files:
com.apple.finder.plist
com.apple.sidebarlists.plist
Then, restart.(You will have to reset a few finder prefs the way you like them.)

Use macbook pro as external firewire cd drive to reformat iBookG4 with boot disk?

My cd drive has failed on my iBook. Can I use firewire to connect my iBook to my macbook pro and use the macbooks cd drive as an external bootable drive?
Thanks!

That's a good idea. You may be able to do that. Plug your iBook into your MacBook Pro using your firewire cable, start your MacBook Pro up (with the disk inside of the MacBook Pro's optical drive) while holding down the "T" key on your MacBook Pro's keyboard (make sure you get a large firewire icon on the MacBook Pro's display), start up your iBook while holding down the "Option" key until you get a screen displaying available boot drives. If all goes well, you should see your iBook's internal hard drive, your MacBook Pro's hard drive, and hopefully the disk in the MacBook Pro's optical drive. Use the arrow keys or trackpad on your iBook to select the drive you wish to boot from and if all works properly, your iBook should boot.

Can an iMac Boot from a FireWire DVD Drive?

My superdrive just died and I'd like to know if its functionality can be completely restored with an external FireWire drive, in particular can it be used to boot the Mac?
Thanks!

Hello Tyler,
Yes you can boot from an External Firewire drive.
You may not be able to restore the broken drive though.
Disk Warrior may help some...
http://www.alsoft.com/DiskWarrior/
Hope that helps
Regards
Ian

Can I use USB external DVD Drive to boot up my G4?

My G4 (PCI Graphics) internal drive DVD-ROM is not working, its dead. I want to replace it with an External USB or Firewire Lacie DVD Drive.
According to Apple document http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=58606, my computer cant boot up from Firewire devices. I think that means, I wont be able reinstall my Mac OS or install future systems or start my DiskWarrior from the CD. Using a external Firewire DVD Drive. Let me know if I am wrong?
Can I use a USB external DVD Drive to boot up?
G4 (PCI Graphics) 400 mhz, 488Mb Memory, 50GB, 9.2.2 & 10.3.9. USB 1.0 & Firewire 400 Ports
G4 (PCI Graphics) Mac OS X (10.3.9)

Hi, Harold -
Bad news - your G4 (PCI) model can not boot to either a firewire drive nor to a USB drive.
Although the G4 (PCI) models do have native firewire, they (and their cousins the B&W G3) are specifically exempted from firewire booting; there is no workaround for this -
Article #58606 - FireWire Booting
Relatedly, a G4 (PCI) machine can be the Host machine in a Firewire Target Disk Mode setup, but can not be the Target machine.
Article #58583 - Firewire Target Disk Mode
USB booting was introduced first on the G4 (AGP) model, and is not available on earlier Mac models -
Article #58430 - USB Info and Benefits of Dual-Channel USB
The only external drive your G4 (PCI) can be booted to is a SCSI drive - but that requires that the machine have an appropriate SCSI PCI card installed.
Replacing the internal optical drive might be the best choice, particularly for ease of maintenance and OS installing in the future.

How do you install MACOSX without DVD drive?

hey guys,
I have a Powerbook, the DVD drive does not work anymore. I would like to format my Powerbook. I remember hearing that you can install MAC OSX via network?
The Powerbook is my only MAC computer, I have another computer which is a PC running on Windows XP. Is there anyway I can put my original MAC OSX bootup disk on the PC and have it read by the Powerbook via ethernet network?
If there is a more simpler solution, please advise.
PS. I'm aware I can use an external firewire DVD drive, but I do not have access to any at this point, and unfortunately can't spend money on one. I'm broke from school tuition, books and the necessities of life.
Thanks again for your help and support.
Teddy

You can only install OS X over a server running OS X Server. If you don't have access to an Apple server then you cannot install over a network.
If you have access to another Mac with a good DVD drive it is possible to use Target Disk Mode to do what you want.
How To- Installing Tiger Using FireWire Target Disk Mode
How to Use FireWire Target Disk Mode

DVD Drive does not accept anything.

I have a Powerbook G4 1GHz, 15", 1GB, 60GB, UJ-815 Drive.
Every time I put in a cd or a dvd of any kind it starts to make some noise and then spits it out. No idea what is wrong, I installed fine but then Updated to 10.3.9 and that was it... Please help.

My Titanium G4 has just started doing the same thing. Inserting any disc spins up the drive in fits and starts but eventually all discs are ejected. Load the same discs in an external LaCie firewire DVD drive and they show up and behave as normal.
I suspected the 10.4.11 update and went back down to 10.4.10 but no change.
And if I boot it up in OS 9 it does the same thing.
The upshot is I don't know if it is faulty, dirty or what. I very rarely use it anyway. I have always, where possible, used an external drive just so the internal one lasts as long as possible.

HDD crashed! How to install Tiger onto 867mhz G4 with no DVD drive??

Hi folks.
My trusty 867mhz G4 Quicksilver Powermac drive has finally konked out. It was running OS 9.2.2 before. Now I want to install Tiger as the OS.
Having only a CD drive (nope, can't read or write DVD's), how do I proceed to install Tiger (I have the original install disk) onto the brand new blank hard drive?
Possible tools that I have:
1) last generation 1.67mhz G4 powerbook
2) dual 2.5ghz G5 powermac
3) Lacie external firewire DVD drive
Things I have tried:
1) hold down "c" while starting up the Quicksilver with the Lacie DVD drive hooked up to it, hoping I can start up from the optical drive, which contains the Tiger install disk. Result: blank white screen that goes nowhere. Found out that the Lacie needs at least 10.3.9 to run.
I'm out of ideas.
Can someone tell me the right way to do this?

Thanks guys.
Didn't sleep at all last night, BUT, I did it!
1) Set the Quicksilver as a firewire target disk hooked up to my G4 1.67GHZ Powerbook. Result = frozen blue screen.
3) Set the Quicksilver as a firewire target disk hooked up to my dual 2.5GHZ G5 Power Mac. Result = frozen blue screen
So that got me thinking, the common thing about the Powerbook and Power Mac is that they both run Leopard. It makes sense to me that computers that already have Leopard installed will probably not run a Tiger installer.
So, I whip out the oldest and slowest computer I have, which is an old 550MHZ Titanium Powerbook, complete with 1 broken hinge, flickering screen and peeled paint. It runs Tiger. I set the Quicksilver as a firewire target disk hooked up to the Titanium Powerbook.
Voila! It works like a charm!
So for anyone facing the same problem, one of the possibilities is: you can do it with the computer set as a firewire target disk hooked up to another computer running nothing newer than Tiger.
Thanks again for your help guys!

Firewire DVD drive to reformat?

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