Mac OS X Install DVD erased my HD: a nightmare story

Question

Stay tuned as I will update this thread, but I figured I better post it ASAP in case anyone else gets the bright idea to install 10.5 over target disk mode.
*Short story for now:*
G5 running 10.4. Disc drive broken, won't read DVDs, and keyboard won't function (except for return key) when booted with option into the boot select screen for some reason. Only install solution seems to be to install with the disc in a laptop, installing onto the G5 HD as target disk mode. I chose Archive and Install to be safe.
The installer seems to get all the way through, then fails with the error (paraphrased):
*INSTALL FAILED*
*Mac OS X could not be installed on your computer.*
<warning icon>
*The installer was unable to import your user directory from the previous system. You will need to create a new user account in Setup Assistant. Your original account is stored in "/Previous System/" folder.*
*Click "restart" to try installing again.*
The G5 won't boot (question mark folder), turns out the only thing on the drive now is as folder called BaseSystem.pkg.217aY51ZZ which contains 41 language related .plan files and an empty Receipts folder. Oh, and a PDF of an old DiskWarrior report, for some reason.
Here's the *ls -la* list of the drive:
total 4392
drwxrwxr-t@ 23 darwin staff 850 Apr 20 05:12 .
drwxrwxrwt@ 6 root admin 204 Apr 20 15:57 ..
-rw-rw-rw-@ 1 darwin staff 15364 Apr 20 15:55 .DS_Store
drw-------@ 8 darwin staff 272 Nov 23 19:12 .Spotlight-V100
d-wx-wx-wt 3 darwin staff 102 Apr 20 15:54 .Trashes
-rw-r--r-- 1 darwin staff 0 Nov 16 20:27 .com.apple.timemachine.supported
drwx------ 5 darwin staff 170 Apr 20 15:53 .fseventsd
-rw-------@ 1 darwin staff 589824 May 22 2004 .hotfiles.btree
-rw-rw---- 1 darwin staff 16 Mar 9 2009 .vbt5
drwxr-xr-x@ 2 darwin staff 68 Mar 5 2004 .vol
drwxr-xr-x 44 darwin staff 1496 Apr 19 21:26 BaseSystem.pkg.217aY51ZZ
-rw-r--r--@ 1 darwin staff 382976 Apr 19 19:52 Desktop DB
-rw-r--r--@ 1 darwin staff 1227970 Nov 2 19:51 Desktop DF
drwxrwxr-x@ 2 darwin staff 68 Sep 26 2003 Desktop Folder
-rw-r--r-- 1 darwin staff 22674 Nov 23 18:27 Macintosh HD Report.pdf
drwxr-xr-x@ 5 darwin staff 170 Dec 8 2003 Network
drwx---rwx@ 3 darwin staff 102 Oct 20 2004 Network Trash Folder
drwxr-xr-x@ 2 darwin staff 68 May 24 2004 TheVolumeSettingsFolder
drwxrwxrwt@ 5 darwin staff 170 Apr 19 19:52 Volumes
drwxr-xr-x@ 4 darwin staff 136 May 22 2004 automount
drwxrwxr-t@ 3 darwin staff 102 Dec 22 2005 cores
FML, as they say. Thanks Apple.

Answer 1

A user burned DVD+R DL version of any version of Mac OS X is asking for trouble without a backup. Technical reasons alone can cause problems. Apple uses commercial grade optical discs when selling optical discs to the general public. These are hard to come by, and have properties consumer grade discs don't have, such as DVD+R DL discs that are able to be read on original Apple DVD-R only drives. Secondly when you make a copy, it rarely if ever is as good as the original because optical drives face the same type of sector errors that hard drives do. Third, if the drive you say is broken is the one that originally made the copy, likely it was already getting broke at the time the copy was made, meaning the copy you made was already subject to impurities of being on a broken or dirty drive. You should have tested the copy on a backed up system regardless, before trusting it to your system after the drive was definitively broke. Now for target disc mode installs, you have other variables you should be aware of:
http://discussions.apple.com/click.jspa?searchID=-1&messageID=6031855
We are of course assuming you have license to make that copy. If you aren't, none of the advise should be taken here, because terms of use forbid us discussing illegal activities on the right hand side of this page.