How to reinstall Leopard from another source than the install disk?

Question

Hi there. Great forum full of information but I somehow could not find the answer to my problem.
I own a MacBook Pro and for some reason, the Optical drive refuses to read DVD and CD. It still accepts blank CD and does write....strange.
I can live with that, but what will I do if and when my Mac needs access to the install disk that came with it?
Today I partitioned an external Lacie HD with the intention of installing OS Leopard on it. I thought this would be an ideal solution as a back up strategy. Files in one volume, OS in another.
I have copied the content of both install disks on my desk top through firewire using my good lady's macbook (tiger) but when I click on the install icon, I get a negative message.
[IMG]http://img99.imageshack.us/img99/5370/picture1tk.png[/IMG]
[IMG]http://img21.imageshack.us/img21/7129/picture2gn.png[/IMG]
What is the way of doing this?
Also, is it possible to reformat an reinstall the OS through firewire using the other macBook optical drive?
Thanks

Answer 1

You must be sure the drive is partitioned GUID or it will not boot a computer from the cloned installer disc.
You may want to consider getting a flash drive. An 8 GB flash drive will hold the OS X installer and a 16 GB one will hold the installer and Disc 2 (need to partition the flash drive.) Take care what brand you buy. Some don't work too well for booting Macs. I've had good success with PNYs. Prep them as follows:
Extended Hard Drive Preparation
1. Open Disk Utility in your Utilities folder.
2. After DU loads select your hard drive (this is the entry with the mfgr.'s ID and size) from the left side list. Click on the Partition tab in the DU main window.
3. Under the Volume Scheme heading set the number of partitions from the drop down menu to one. Set the format type to Mac OS Extended (Journaled.) Click on the Options button, set the partition scheme to GUID (for Intel Macs) or APM (for PPC Macs) then click on the OK button. Click on the Partition button and wait until the process has completed.
4. Select the volume you just created (this is the sub-entry under the drive entry) from the left side list. Click on the Erase tab in the DU main window.
5. Set the format type to Mac OS Extended (Journaled.) Click on the Options button, check the button for Zero Data and click on OK to return to the Erase window.
6. Click on the Erase button. The format process can take up to several hours depending upon the drive size.
The above works, also, for external hard drives.