MBP: DVD reader (or workaround) to install Snow Leopard?

Hello. I have a MacBook Pro and I am looking for a way to upgrade to Snow Leopard. A little background...I'm having an issue with not being able to restart my computer without the concern that it won't turn back on. If I'm lucky the computer will turn on immediately, other times it may turn on after being completely shut off for 30 minutes. Then there are times when it may take a few days or weeks to turn on after multiple attempts. My warranty has expired and after speaking to an associate at Best Buy they suggested I install Snow Leopard to resolve the issue. So of course, I purchased Snow Leopard because I need the OS for other programs as well. When I tried to install it I realized that my disc drive is for CDs and not DVDs. I have googled an external DVD reader for Macs but the results are showing for DVD burners. Is there a way to install Snow Leopard externally or a way around this? Please help! Thank you.
Model Name: MacBook Pro 15"
Model Identifier: MacBookPro2,2
Processor Name: Intel Core 2 Duo
Processor Speed: 2.16 GHz
Number Of Processors: 1
Total Number Of Cores: 2
L2 Cache (per processor): 4 MB
Memory: 4 GB
Bus Speed: 667 MHz
Boot ROM Version: MBP22.00A5.B07
SMC Version: 1.12f5

Also DVD burners that are built-in to the Mac also have built-in DVD reading capability. Very few external DVD burners don't have DVD boot capability. A few are very old, and need a firmware update, or to have their lense cleaned before they can boot a DVD disc. 'C' key booting is not always successful regardless of the health of the drive, and you may need to do Option key booting with the startup manager:
http://www.info.apple.com/kbnum/n106178
Before you go that path though, we need the answer to the first two questions to troubleshoot your Mac.

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I can't burn DVD's on DVD Studio Pro since I install Snow Leopard

Well, my computer was working great, I had tiger installed and I decided to update to snow leopard and "big mistake" since then I haven't been able to burn DVD's from DVD Studio Pro, at the time to start writing the information to burn it, it shows a message saying " the recording device reported the error #6. Unknown device error. I connected and external dvd burner and when is time to burn it says "The recording device reported the illegal request. Unknown device.
I can easily burn DVD's from iDVD what makes me believe the problem is not with the burner. I went to Melrose Mac and they told me there is a conflict between FCS and Snow Leopard, they suggested to install Leopard instead, he mention many people has complain about the same issue Can that be possible? I got something thinking my computer was going to work better and I screwed it up!

Did you also upgrade DVD Studio Pro?

Has anyone found a solution for fixing the dvd reading problems after installing snow leopard?

I installed snow leopard on my macpro tower and my dvd player will not read dvds. My archived dvd all come up blank but on my laptop their fine. All my other dvds are just spit out. I have seen hundreds of post about this in the forums but I haven't come across a solution. Apple told me they have never come across this issue which is disturbing to say the least.

Leroydouglas
Thanks, I did see that thread and way too many others like it. My drive was working fine up to the minute I installed snow leopard and now I can't read all my archived dvds of the last 5 years of my work. Nor will it read the training dvd "New" that I just bought. It also won't even read the iwork disc that came with snow leopard. Of course all these disc work fine on my other make that didn't get the snow leopard upgrade. Apple support told me they never heard of anything like this. I took it to the apple store and they think it the dvd drive itself. Please, it plays cds fine and accepts new dvd media...some. Countless people have had their drives go out right after the snow leopard install.
I'm sorry but what happens to a dvd player or what hardware problem happens to only allow a player to read a few dvds but all cds. Could someone explain to me what breaks. Apple saying I need to by a new dvd player from them is crazy. Why do I get the feeling that if I install snow leopard on my other machine that the dvd player will also break. How also can apple not have any record of this happening to others.
I work with windows machines and linux boxes and Macs and I'm sorry I trusted an upgrade to a mac os that has been around for a while. If I would have checked the forums the way I do with anything I work with I guarantee I would not have upgrade to snow leopard after seeing all the people out their with this issue. It is also shameful that apple says it has no knowledge of this problem.

Can't install Snow Leopard on MacBook Pro - DVD won't mount

I am unable to install Snow Leopard on my MacBook Pro as the DVD won't mount. This is an early 2008 vintage MacBook Pro, intel core duo...
I'm using a OS X Snow Leopard install DVD (family licensed). This DVD has been used to install 3 other Macs in my house without a problem (about a year ago), but cannot be used to upgrade my MBP. Actually, this disk mounted on the MBP exactly once - inserted with system up, the disk mounted. Upon running the installed (a year ago), the computer restarted but hung in boot. After getting the disk ejected and the computer restarted, the disk would never mount again. I've defered upgrade for a year but at this point need to upgrade my MBP at least to Snow Leopard and possibly Lion.
The problem doesn't seem to be with the DVD, since it continues to mount fine in other computers, and in fact a borrowed Snow Leopard DVD also will not mount on the MBP.
BUT ... the problem also does not seem to be with the optical drive in my computer, as it can read & mount the install/restore disks that came with the computer as well as other CDs and DVD ROMs. Only the Snow Leopard install DVDs fail to mount.
I've also tried mounting the 10.6 install DVD on my Mac Pro desktop, making it available over the network (ethernet) with DVD/CD sharing. I can mount the remote disk from my MBP that way, but when I launch the installer, the application launches (its own menus are displayed, I can quit from menu, for example) but does nothing -- no windows open, nothing.
I've also tried "Remote Install" (again with the DVD made available with the Remote Install MacOS X application on my desktop), but when I boot the MBP with option held down, the remote disk is not available as a startup disk.
Zapping the PRAM did not help.
Am off to the store to get an optical drive cleaning kit and a blank DVD big enough to burn a new disk image, but would appreciate any further ideas at this point....

Solution that worked: Copy the Install DVD to a USB flash drive and boot from that.
http://www.maciverse.com/install-os-x-snow-leopard-from-usb-flash-drive.html
Up and running with Snow Leopard now and working on the updates.

MBP 17" mid 2010 Snow Leopard Native: why not possible to install Snow Leopard in some new Hard disk?It appears "impossibile 'cause you have Mac OS X" 23.1.1."

Guys, I want to install SL in some hard disk. It's the native OS, the one came with the MBP. But after having installed Lion, my MBP doesn't allow me to install from the original dvd of Snow Leopard, telling me "impossible because you have Mac OS X” 23.1.1. istaller".
Someone can help me?

hey thank you for your answers. I've written that I want to install snow leopard in a new hard disk, not over the lion. In other words, I want a hard disk with the faster snow leopard, that was the native OSX of my MBP mid 2010. But using the last procedure you suggested me, the dvd doesn't appear. I repeat, there's something changed in the firmware that blocks snow leopard.
the comunication that appears when I insert the original dvd of SL is something like "impossible to install snow leopard because you have Mac OS X” 23.1.1. istaller".

I have a 2007 Macbook Pro that is running 10.7.5 and I am trying to use a 10.6.3 DVD to install Snow Leopard to an external hard drive.

I have a 2007 Macbook Pro that is running 10.7.5 and I am trying to use a 10.6.3 DVD to install Snow Leopard to an external hard drive. I've followed every possible instruction on every which website. The problem is when I boot to Install disc, I am unable to choose which hard drive I'd like to install the OS on. It says that it is unable to Install and automatically takes me to Restore and suggests that I restore to Time Machine backups. Any and all help is appreciated.

lovinlife5959,
have you tried booting from the grey Mac OS X Install DVD that originally came in the box with your MacBook Pro? See if you can install its version of Mac OS X (either 10.4.9, 10.4.10, or 10.5.0, depending upon when it shipped from the factory) onto your external hard drive. If that works, boot from your external hard drive, run Software Update on it, and then try updating your external drive to 10.6.3 via the white Snow Leopard DVD.

DVD drive isn't working. Can't install Snow Leopard.

My DVD drive isn't working properly. Is there another way for me to install Snow Leopard? I didn't see a digital download of this software in the Apple Store.

Another computer or an ext CD/DVD player are your only options.

How can I install Snow Leopard on my 15" MacBook Pro without using its DVD drive?

How can I install Snow Leopard on my 15" MacBook Pro without using its DVD drive?

I'm assuming your dvd drive is broken? if you have a thumb drive large enough (8GB or better), you can use another computer to make a bootable image from the install dvd to the thumb drive. then you can install from the the thumb drive.
Ihttp://www.maciverse.com/install-os-x-snow-leopard-from-usb-flash-drive.html
that's a step by step walkthrough.

Need help in installing Snow Leopard without DVD drive

Hi,
I have a White Macbook 2008 model with 2.1 ghz processor and 1 GB Ram. The dvd rom is not working in my machine. It spits out the dvd's 99 out of 100 times.
I need to upgrade from 10.5.8 to 10.6. Apple has sent me a single disk to install snow leopard.
I am not willing to invest in new dvd drive either internal or external. Needed help on ways to install snow leopard please apart from using the dvd option.
I do have a Firewire 400 cable but i do not know anybody anymore who has a mac machine with 400 port.
Hence the cable is also useless and i cannot connect to anyother macbook and do the install using their drive.
Please suggest.
Regards,
Rahul

There are no direct options. Find a friend with a Mac that has a working optical drive. Buy an 8GB USB flash drive. Partition and format it for the Mac then clone the mounted DVD to the flash drive. Take it back to your computer and boot from the flash drive.
Boot Using OPTION key:
1. Restart the computer.
2. Immediately after the chime press and hold down the
"OPTION" key.
3. Release the key when the boot manager appears.
4. Select the disk icon for the flash drive.
5. Click on the arrow button below the icon.

My 2006 iMac running Snow Leopard won't boot even after erasing and re-installing Snow Leopard (via my MacBookPro), either from the HD or DVD drive. Can't get it to run Hardware Test. Disk Utility says disk OK - files are there. What can I do?

My 2006 iMac running Snow Leopard won't boot even after erasing and re-installing Snow Leopard. I erased and re-installed by putting the iMac in Target Disk mode and usin my MacBookPro as the host. But after numerous attempts I still can't get it to boot either from the HD or DVD drive. I just get the white screen after the wheel stops spinning. I can't get it to run Hardware Test - just get the white screen. If I use Disk Utility via my MBP it says the disk appears OK. All the Snow Leopad files appear to have been installed. What can I do?

Hi-NRG Bwoy wrote:
I erased and re-installed by putting the iMac in Target Disk mode and using my MacBookPro as the host.
Reet the SMC and the PRAM
 Cheat sheet to help diagnose and fix your Mac
Perhaps you installed the wrong version OS X onto the iMac, you can't use the disk from another Mac.
clean the disk.
If it's not working then use this method to create a bootable 10.6 USB from the iMac machine specific 10.6 disk or the 10.6.3 retail disk on your other Mac, use it to boot the iMac with.
http://www.maciverse.com/install-os-x-snow-leopard-from-usb-flash-drive.html
How to erase and install Snow Leopard 10.6

Re-install Snow Leopard in MBP 17?

I was told by an Apple store "genius" that I should re-install SL in my MBP 17 i7 because it was doing some goofy things before I spent money needlessly. The original install discs are missing and I asked in a post if I could use the install discs from my Mac Pro and was told no they wouldn't work. I was also told that the gray install discs only work with the machine they shipped with.
I assumed that there might be a different SL version for the MBP because the processor is different. I went to Best Buy to see if they had the correct discs for the MBP re-install and found they only had 1 version of SL. Their "Geek Squad" guy said the discs worked with all intel models including the MBP.
Can someone please help me understand what the reality is here? Why do some Mac install discs only work with the machine they were shipped with ? Does the MBP have a distinct set of discs apart from the Mac Pro? What the heck does gray have to do with it?
I'd also be happy as a clam to read it, if a kind soul would tell me where 'cause I've worn down 2 fingers looking for it in the mac KB.
I'm not refuting anything, but if I have to purchase new discs a local purchase would be a whole quicker than ordering something from Apple. What am I missing?
Ken
Message was edited by: kenackr

The _grey recovery disks_ that come with every Mac are _model specific._ That's why you cannot take a set of grey recovery disks from a MacPro and use them on a MacBook Pro. You probably also cannot use the recovery disks from one MacBook Pro on another one unless it is the +exact same model.+ The disks include OS X and iLife.
The _retail Snow Leopard disks_ that you saw at Best Buy can be used to install Snow Leopard on any Intel Mac. The disc only contains OS X Snow Leopard.
An i7 MBP would still be under warranty at this time, and you should contact Apple to request a replacement set of the recovery disks. +You were already told this in two other threads. Please don't keep posting the same question.+

I have an older IMac 5. I installed snow Leopard on. Now my DVD drive is not working. Discs go in but it dosn't boot up or show in finder. Then disc won't eject unless i shut down and restart. HELP !

I have an older IMac 5. I installed snow Leopard on. Now my DVD drive is not working. Discs go in but it dosn't boot up or show in finder. Then disc won't eject unless i shut down and restart. HELP !

Snow Leopard cannot run on a PPC G5 Mac as it requires an Intel processor. Please confirm what Mac you have.

"Clean Install" Snow Leopard on Tiger using 30 eur DVD. Legal or not?

Hi!
I have two questions:
1). Is it possible to use the "cheap" 30 euro DVD to "clean install" Snow Leopard on 5yrs old MacBook running Tiger?
By "clean install" I mean to erase the hard drive and then install the new operating system (Snow Leopard).
I have read that is possible technically but is it legal?
2). Is "Clean Install" and "Upgrading" similar or different from a legal point of view?
A clean install is when you erase your hard drive and then install the operating system. An upgrade is when you just overwrite the operating system and keep other files in place.
Thanks,
D.M.

1. Yes.
2. They are different. The former requires first erasing the drive while the latter upgrades an existing system.

How to Install SNOW LEOPARD by DVD SHARING from WINDOW PLATFORM?

i need to install SNOW LEOPARD on my LEOPARD running macbook, There is no apple store or imagine store in my town... can u guide me the process i have already installed DVD Sharing application on the WINDOW's system and ENABLED it.... but what is the next Step to go about?

my macbook throws out the DVD after few spins.... i think it cannot read DVD's or it has become faulty! it would be really helpful if you guide me the process of installing it via DVD sharing.
Thank you.

Install Snow Leopard without dvd, without another Mac

Hi,
I have a macbook (intel core 2 ) with OS X 10.5.8 and i want to upgrade to Snow Leopard (10.6) but my dvd drive is dead. I do have access to a Mac Book Air with the latest OS.but no dvd-drive.
I have the Snow leopard DVD in hand and i have tried to install it from the dvd-drive of my pc but it didnt work. The instructions seems to be for MacBook Air.
Do you have any suggestion other than buy an external dvd-drive ? I did not use dvd for years, external usb drives are more suitables for my needs..
Thank you,

Kurt Lang wrote:
With OS leopard i will be able to upgrade to newer OS without any optical drive so I won't need the optical drive no more after that install !
And you're going to ignore the important point I made?
Plus it would be needed by whoever uses the older Mac to reinstall the OS
Whoever has that older Mac may at some point, need to reinstall the OS. Since you have no intention of replacing the broken internal drive, they will need the external drive to do that from either the original 10.5.x Leopard disks, or the 10.6.x Snow Leopard disk. You can't install the OS on any computer and presume you are done with it from then until eternity.
I still fill my gas tank without having to buy a new reservoir cap.
So you're going to ignore the incredibly obvious, and completely spelled out point I made that things wear out. Yup, great comeback.
About the incredibely obvious , why ignore the main question ?
"Do you have any suggestion other than buy an external dvd-drive ? I did not use dvd for years, external usb drives are more suitables for my needs."
Also :
There is less and less software avalaible on DVD, it is almost all on download basis. Don't you use Apple Store ?
i do not reinstall my OS every year, when it wil be done, i expect that it will run for the rest of the life of that MacBook.(2 or 3 years) .What do you do with your Mac to have to reinstall your OS, i never had to reinstall OSX Leopard nor do i had to reinstall my Win 7 pc.
I cannot download OSX Lion because i do not have Snow Leopard installed !!! USB bootables for OS Lion are avalaible. Why not for Snow Leopard ?.
The solutions have been made for new MacBook that excluded older customer. I can update my MacBookAir from a PC-drive, why can't i do the same with my old MacBook ?
Finally i will try Drew's solution.

MBP: DVD reader (or workaround) to install Snow Leopard?

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