Os-X Tiger DVD unreadable

I replaced the original CD-RW with a new Lite-on DVDRW SHW-160P6S drive. Works great. I have read CD, DVD, written DVD and successfully tested burned DVDs on another computer. It works with Finder, iTune & Toast.
But I bought OS-X tiger and I can't install the DVD. My Mac will not boot it (even starting while holding 'C' down during boot). If I boot the current version the Tiger DVD will not even mount the DVD, so that I can manually install.
I returned the Tiger DVD assuming that it was defective. But I see the same problem on the new version.
Reading the help I see a PROM update but it says it's only for the Apple Superdrive.
If I load this prom update and it fails can I unload a PROM update?
My current boot prom is 4.2.8f1 .
I can boot from CD using the install CD from a previous version.
I would greatly appreciate any help or suggestion!
G4 533Mhz Digital Audio Mac OS X (10.3.9) 1.128G RAM

Does it work on any of your other machines? If so, which ones? If not, then contact your nearest Apple retailer or call Apple France and request a replacement—have the purchasing information, receipt, and serial number handy.

Similar Messages

How can I convert my Tiger DVD into a CD without spending more money?

How can I convert my Tiger DVD into a CD without spending more money and time? I've spent over seven hours trying to upgrade an iMac 350 Hz OS 9.1 to Tiger. I have changed the iMac firmware to 4.1.9, but found that my Panther disc was only an OSX Upgrade, although the 3 cds are labeled as Installation Discs. Since I have a Tiger disc I thought I would use that. Unfortunately, my iMac only reads CDs, not DVDs. I tried networking the iMac to my G5, but upon shutdown, the OSX disc cannot be accessed. I copied the DVD files to my iMac hard drive, but again, the OSX disc cannot be accessed after shutdown.
Is there a way I can burn a CD from the files of my Tiger DVD to get this task accomplished?

Excuse me, but I never thought of that, nor did I have any intention of trying to rip off your company.
I purchased four iPods for my family this Christmas. I have six iMacs just sitting around not being used. I thought that I would turn one into an iPod work station, so everyone can use one computer to recharge and hook up to iTunes 7.
Unfortunately, iTunes does not work very well in OS9. Apple decided not to continue to support OS9 very well. I’ve spent several hours attempting to upgrade the iMac so I could set up iTunes 7. Unfortunately, my 3 Panther Installation Discs were mislabeled, and did not allow me to install OSX over OS9. My OSX 10.2.7 Installation Disc is a DVD, and my Tiger Installation disc is a DVD. Neither usable to update the iMac.
All I want to do is set up a dumb iMac as a network interface to my G5 because I've use all of the G5's ports for our recording studio and the iPods need external power source if they are plugged directly into the G5.
If you could show me an easier way to run iTunes 7 on the iMac I wouldn't be as ****** off as I am at Apple for not supporting the 9 older computers I own with usable help and upgrades.

Tiger/Panther install problems - won't boot from Tiger DVD or Panther CD

My Mum has an iMac G3 CRT, running at 500MHz, with 1GB RAM, a 20GB HD, & a slot-loading internal CD-RW.
The iMac in question is the model described here: http://www.everymac.com/systems/apple/imac/stats/imac500indigo.html
She only uses the machine for email & web browsing, but because it runs OS 9, it won't run a modern web browser (it's stuck on Internet Explorer 5.1.7) so lots of websites don't load properly or work at all. This is fair enough as IE for the Mac hasn't been updated since 2001.
My idea was to upgrade the machine from OS 9.2.2 to (ideally) 10.4.11, or failing that, 10.3.9, which would then let her use the current version of Safari, or possibly even Firefox. (Any thoughts on which would be easier for a currently IE-using technically-challenged pensioner would be welcome, although I prefer Safari myself, despite its shortcomings).
The iMac only had it's original 128MB of RAM until recently, but I persuaded her that it would be a good idea to spend 70-odd Pounds on 1GB of RAM so that OS X could not only be installed (which would let a modern browser be used) but would run at a useable speed. The minimum requirement for Panther is 128MB of RAM, but I suspected that it would run like treacle on a 128MB G3, and I was hoping to go for Tiger anyway, which requires 256MB.
As Tiger comes on a DVD (I have the retail/generic version) and the iMac has no DVD drive, I borrowed a friends external LaCie FireWire DVD-RW drive (the Porsche styled one). The DVD mounted first time, and the Startup Disk control panel let me select it.
When I restarted, I got the initial OS X pale grey screen with the dark grey Apple logo in the centre, with the spinning circle thing below, but after a minute or so, I could hear the DVD stop spinning in the drive, and a few seconds later the dark grey Apple logo changed into a dark grey "circle with a line through it" logo, with the normal circle thing still spinning below. This is how things stayed for many minutes, so I just restarted with the external drive off, and eventually got back to a normal 9.2.2 boot-up.
Next I tried running the "Mac OS X Install" application on the Tiger DVD from within 9.2.2. This started and came up with a big Tiger logo screen with a button labelled "Restart". Clicking it brought up an OS 9 error dialogue though, which said something along the lines of "the Tiger DVD cannot be selected as the startup disk" with a number 2 in brackets at the end of the error message - like this: (2)
This error occurs both if I select the Tiger DVD in the Startup Disk control panel prior to running the "Mac OS X Install" application, or if I select the internal hard disk. I know the DVD isn't faulty, as I used it to successfully boot my own Mac (a Power Mac G4 Mirror Drive Doors) just the other day, in order to repair permissions on the startup disk.
At this point I gave up on Tiger and tried to use the first of 3 Panther CDs that I have. These 3 CDs are burnt copies that came with my own Mac and contain version 10.3.2.
The CD refused to be selectable in the Startup Disk control panel. It's icon was greyed out, and so I couldn't boot from it. I tried running the "Install Mac OS X" application on the CD from within OS 9, but got the same error with the 2 in brackets when I clicked the "Restart" button, just like with the Tiger DVD.
Initially, I suspected that these Panther discs might be machine-specific, rather than the retail/generic version, because of the first CD being greyed-out in the Startup Disk control panel, but then the error dialogue that matched the one I got when I tried the Tiger DVD makes me think that my Panther CDs might be generic after all. Examining the first CD on my own Mac, it appears to be generic, but I'm not 100% sure, as the CDs are copies and as such don't have the usual identifying information on the labels. There are no machine-specific files that I can find on the first CD, which is dated January 9th 2004.
Various websites mention that when Tiger was current, Apple would swap a retail copy of the DVD for a set of CDs. I've looked on eBay but not been able to find any. This doesn't surprise me though, as there will be very few copies of Tiger on CD out there, and even fewer copies that people would want to sell.
There are a few retail copies of Panther available on CD, but if my current burnt copies of these discs are in fact generic, then buying a new set would make no difference. Besides, I'd prefer to use Tiger.
The Tiger minimum requirements (see http://support.apple.com/kb/HT1514) say:
"To use Mac OS X 10.4 Tiger, your Macintosh needs: DVD drive (DVD-ROM), Combo (CD-RW/DVD-ROM) or SuperDrive (DVD-R) for installation"
What it doesn't say though, is whether the DVD drive has to be an internal one with Apple firmware/modifications, or whether an external 3rd party one will do. However, I know from various websites that it's possible to load Tiger onto this sort of Mac, and sometimes even older non-FireWire Macs, despite what the minimum system requirements say.
If anyone has any suggestions I'd be much obliged!
Thanks.

The problem is now solved, but I'm not sure how I managed it, unfortunately.
Having read the article at http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=75430, I checked both my Tiger DVD and my first Panther CD, and neither had the firmware updater on them, despite what the article said, so I downloaded it. However I was sure I'd applied a firmware update to the iMac a long time ago, and the 4.1.9 version number seemed familiar.
When I checked, I had in fact already applied the firmware update a few years ago!
I tried running the "Mac OS X Install" application on the Tiger DVD from within 9.2.2 again, and got the same error message as before. I was wrong about the error code though. It was minus 2 in brackets, not 2 in brackets.
The full text of the error message is:
An error occurred.
"Startup Disk was unable to select the
install CD as the startup disk. (-2)"
I tried selecting the DVD manually in the Startup Disk control panel (as before) and running the application again gave the same error message (also as before).
I then went into Extensions Manager to see if there was anything there that might be interfering with things. The only thing that caught my eye was the LaCie SilverLining control panel (which I think was version 6.4.5a). This was something that originally came on a floppy disk accompanying an external hard drive that I used to use years ago at a place I worked, and I used to find it invaluable back in the OS 9 G1 Power Mac magneto-optical external drive days!
I couldn't remember what it was doing on the iMac, but I switched it off, and then clicked "Restart", hoping that when I rebooted (in OS 9) the error message wouldn't come up when I ran the "Mac OS X Install" application.
However, I'd forgotten that I'd switched the Startup Disk control panel to the DVD, so when the iMac restarted, the initial OS X dark grey Apple logo screen appeared, and I expected the dark grey "circle with a line through it" logo to appear shortly afterwards, but it didn't! The iMac booted up from the DVD, which then let me install Tiger! I was then able to apply the 10.4.11 update, plus all the others that Software Update provided. About half a dozen restarts and several hours later, the iMac is now fully updated & configured, favourites are copied over to Safari 3.1.2, and all I have to do is teach my Mum how to use the OS X Finder, Mail & Safari, as opposed to the OS 9 Finder, Outlook Express & Internet Explorer...
Switching off the SilverLining control panel seemed to do the trick, but since the iMac then rebooted from the DVD, not the internal hard disk, I don't see how it could have possibly had any bearing on things! Very weird!
Anyway, thanks to Allan Jones & spudnuty for their advice. All's well that ends well!

Not able to access Safe Mode nor boot off of Tiger DVD

I am running an iMac with Tiger 10.4.11. After doing an update of software I cannot boot. I have not been able to access Safe Mode or boot off a Tiger DVD. With DVD inserted I wait till I hear the bong noise then I press the letter C. It thinks for a few seconds then spits the DVD out. I am able to see the contents of the DVD when I insert into my PowerBook running Leopard. This DVD is not the same one that was used to install Tiger. The Tiger DVD is in excellent shape.
I have reset the PRAM.
I was able to access Single User Mode. I ran /sbin/fsck -fy and it found no problems.
I was able to access the iMac in Target Disk Mode. I deleted .plist files that were dated on July 2nd, the last day it worked. But when I restarted it I received the same response. Apple icon with a spinning circular wheel.
I deleted the following files:
* com.apple.kernelcaches (a folder in /System/Library/Caches)
* Extensions.kextcache (a file in /System/Library)
* Extensions.mkext (a file in /System/Library/)
* com.apple.ATS (a folder in /Library/Caches/)
* com.apple.loginwindow.plist (a file in /Library/Preferences/)
* Files that start with com.apple.LaunchServices (in /Library/Caches)
Is there any thing else I could do in Target Disk Mode that would be helpful?
Any suggestion on how I might be able to fix this problem would be appreciated.
Thank you for looking.

Well, kicking out the Disk on boot is generally one of two things... bad optical, or the HD Driver munged early on.
If the Power book boots off that Install Disk, I'd put the iMac into Target mode, try an Archive & Install, which gives you a new OS, but can preserve all your files, pics, music, settings, etc...
http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=107120

PowerBook 17 crashes consistently, even when booted from Tiger DVD

We have a new PowerBook 17 that has started giving us problems in the last day or so. It will hang after running for a few minutes. This is a consistent problem - it doesn't go away for an hour, or a day - if the machine is running, it will hang. There is no kernel panic, no dialogue box, the trackpad, mouse, etc. simply stop responding (the clock freezes too, so I know the system is hanging up - not just input devices).
I've managed to run throught most of the normal trouble-shooting methods, I say "managed" because the machine froze when I was booting into single user mode. So I went to the Tiger DVD that shipped with the laptop. Upon getting to the language selection dialog box - it froze again (no mouse, keyboard activity, etc.). Eventually, the machine did boot from the startup DVD - and I ran disk utility. Of course it found no problems with permissions or the disk because this is apparently hardware related, no?
That being said, an archive and install will probably do us no good. But would Tech Tools (came with our AppleCare) manage to at least spot a Hardware issue? At this point, the only thing I haven't done is removed the third-party RAM we installed (which has been installed for nearly two weeks with no sign of conflict). That will be the next course of action and we'll run Tech Tools. Any ideas or suggestions regarding this issue would be greatly appreciated. We all know that being down one machine is not a good thing - thanks in advance for any assistance.
PowerBook G4 17" 1.67 Ghz Mac OS X (10.4.5) Might Mouse, 1.5 GB RAM, 100 GB HD
PowerMac G4 Mac OS X (10.4) 20" Cinema Display - 2G 20GB iPod - much, much more

David,
I always had a pristine system: no kernel panics, no system hangs. Then, one day I started to have kernel panics and hang ups and when I tried to install XCode it failed, then I couldn't install iWork '06. At first I thought it was a problem with the disk until I decided to run Apple's hardware test. After all, it was just a problem with one of the 512MBs memory DIMMs. Removed the offending DIMM and everything went back to normal.
So, I think you should try the hardware test. To do this just start up from the original installation disk while pressing the option key and then choose Apple Hardware Test from the available startup disks.

Difficulty starting from Tiger DVD on new hard drive for installation

I recently replaced the hard drive on my flatscreen iMac. I am having difficulty starting from the Tiger DVD to install the system software. The disk drive does have DVD-R capabilities, but is not a super drive. I hold down the "c" button as I start up with the Tiger DVD, but the screen appears the same way as it would if nothing were in the disk drive (grey with alternating smiley/"?" folder). I attempted to boot with my old 10.2 system CD, and was again unsuccessful as the CD ejected after a few more hopeful noises from inside the console and returned to my previously mentioned grey screen.
I also attempted to start while holding the option key which produced an uneventful blue screen with 2 arrow buttons that did nothing when I clicked them.
Keyboard and mouse are both working.

Mac Help
Index
Changing your startup disk
You can make your computer start up from a CD, a network volume, a different disk or disk partition, or another operating system (such as Mac OS 9 if your computer supports it). To do so, you change your startup disk.
Open System Preferences and click Startup Disk.
If necessary, click the lock icon and type the name and password for an administrator user.
Click the icon of the system folder or system volume that you want to use, then click Restart.
IMPORTANT: When selecting a network startup volume, be sure you select a valid network startup volume and not a network install image. Choosing a network install image reinstalls your system software and may erase the contents of your hard disk. A standard network volume icon appears as a globe and Mac OS X system folder. When you select a network volume icon, a message appears in the Startup pane describing the volume. A network install icon appears as a globe with downward pointing green arrow.
Another way to select a startup disk is to hold down the Option key as you restart your computer. You'll see the available startup disks and can select one.
If your computer is on a network and a network startup volume is available, you can start up from the network startup volume by holding down the N key as you restart your computer.
If you start up your computer in Mac OS 9, use the Startup Disk control panel in the Apple menu to switch back to your Mac OS X startup disk. Then restart the computer.
If Mac OS 9 is not available, your computer will only start up in Mac OS X. You can still use most Mac OS 9 applications in the Classic environment. To do this, open System Preferences, click Classic, and then click Start.
See also
startup disk
Open this for me
Startup Disk preferences

Possible to make backup copy of Tiger DVD?

I'd like to make a backup copy of my Tiger DVD, just to be safe. I've tried to do this with Toast Titanium and also simply copying the DVD files to my hard drive first. Both don't seem to work.
Isn't this possible? What if this thing gets damaged? Or am I being naive in thinking Apple would allow such a thing?
Thanks for any help!

The disks which came with each Mac are indeed system specific. However, retail disks which are newer than those systems are not system specific.
Some may believe that they are not system specific, and I've seen them post here. Though these links should satisfy most people's need for clarity:
http://discussions.apple.com/thread.jspa?threadID=121839&tstart=0
http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=106176
http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=25497
http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=25784
http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=25517

Why does emac eject tiger DVD?

I am trying to update my OS from 10.2.8 to Tiger. I have an emac G4 with its original DVD CD-RW/DVD-ROM (vendor: HL-DT-ST). When I click restart to run the installation, before the computer shuts down, it shows "you have inserted a disk containing no volume that mac OSX can read" with buttons ignore or eject. Even if I click ignore, the computer ejects Tiger when it restarts and boots up my originial operating system. I can play DVDs w/ no problem. I tried downloading superdrive but I received a message saying my computer didn't need it. I restarted holding the "C" key. I see a file folder with a question mark and the OS logo and then it boots up the OS. I also switched to system 9.0 and that said it didn't recognize the Tiger DVD. Eekk!

There are several backup software titles faster than Disk Copy:
http://www.macmaps.com/backup.html
Disclaimer: Reference to links I make to my Macmaps.com website are a for your information only type reference. I do not get any profit from this page, and it is open to the public.

Updating from 10.2.8, ejects Tiger DVD

I am trying to update my OS from 10.2.8 to Tiger. I have an emac G4 with its original DVD CD-RW/DVD-ROM (vendor: HL-DT-ST). When I click restart to run the installation, before the computer shuts down, it shows "you have inserted a disk containing no volume that mac OSX can read" with buttons ignore or eject. Even if I click ignore, the computer ejects Tiger when it restarts and boots up my originial operating system. I can play DVDs w/ no problem. I tried downloading superdrive but I received a message saying my computer didn't need it. I restarted holding the "C" key. I see a file folder with a question mark and the OS logo and then it boots up the OS. I also switched to system 9.0 and that said it didn't recognize the Tiger DVD. Eekk!
I have 640 mb in memory, 700mhz power pc G4 processor. 16+GB of harddrive space.

ceci,
in this case the boot-rom cannot detect a bootable system on the DVD. There might be different reasons for this behaviour:
1. Bad burn (this happens once in a while)
2. scratches on the DVD
3. hardware problems wwith the DVD-drive
For the cases 1 and 2 you might get a replacement disk from Apple. Contact the Apple Store or go to one.

Another Tiger DVD boot failure

Hi everybody,
I wonder why I didn't stick earlier to this board,
well maybe because I suspected other stuff
of being the problem. After extensive research
and patching hardware I'm almost assured that
the internal DVD drive is the malefactor.
The story:
My intention:
I'd like to install Tiger
OS installed:
OS9.2.2
Panther 10.3.9
Hardware:
G3 B&W with ZIF Processor G4/500Mhz,
896 MB RAM (3 x 256 + 1 x 128),
ATI Rage 128 Graphics (standard),
ACARD 6280m - PCI-to-IDE ATA-133 controller,
60 GB HDD,
standard Matshita DVD-ROM SR-8583 on standard ATA,
external Firewire DVD-R/RW LaCie
generally the machine is running pretty good.
There's just two things that keep me bothering:
- I can't boot from the TigerOS DVD - although - when
inserted during normal system running, it mounts clearly.
- While rebooting from Panther into Panther either the
machine hangs, without even booting the Mac Firmware,
or it succeeds with black screens during the bootup.
Rebooting from Panther to OS9 and back works
just perfectly, just like the System CDs 9.1 and 10.3.
I did a clear install, from scratch.
Overwriting HDD with "0"s, formatting, initialising in
2 partitions, one HFS+ for OS9 and one HFS+ journalled
for XPanther.
Except for the ATA-controller and the ATIgraphics I removed
everything, even not-similar-RAMs.
(I usually use SCSI and an old Audiowerk8 in OS9).
So I left 2 x 256MB similar RAM for the install, enough.
DIMMFirstAid reported good satus.
Next, the system install with complete upgrade to OS10.3.9
(incl. Java update, Safari update, Security update, even
the actual QuickTime update).
... of course, unplugged to anything netlike
The drivers and firmware ROMs are all up to date
(unless I missed something, but I don't think so):
- The Mac boot ROM version is 1.1.1f4 (latest G3 firmware
update, from 04/12/99), installed out of the OS9 partition
active.
- SonnetCache v 1.3.1 for the ZIF G4 500Mhz, suitable
for Panther.
- The actual ACARD ROM update v2.16 installed from
OS9, of course
- The ACARD OSX driver
- The latest ATI graphics ROM update and extensions for
both systems (for a long time not supported anymore)
- The Adatptec SCSI drivers for both systems are installed
but the card is detached (2906)
The jumper settings on both ATA busses are OK, the HDD
and the DVD drive on each bus are masters.
Zapping the PRAM wasn't of any use.
The last thing I tried (already despaired):
Skipped in the terminal (BSD subystem), deactivated OS9 by
renaming "System" and "Finder", made an image out of the
Tiger DVD, "tar"-ed and extracted it over to the insane OS9
partition. The chooser recognises OS10.4 on that partition,
still it reboots in Panther again.
I know, the last exercise was maybe braindead, but I just wanted
to give it a try.
The conclusion:
Both systems, OS9 and Panther are working fine, just:
- Panther has trouble with rebooting in X
- both systems fail to reboot Tiger on DVD
In both systems the Sonnet processor is recognised as a 100%
Power PC G4 500Mhz.
I just couldn't google out a similar
example like this one. Any idea?
best regards
katanga
P.S. I just tried out to boot on a "CD", (NOT DVD) Open Darwin 7.2.1,
it failed the same way, so it probably yet isn't the DVD drive.
Is it however the G4 upgrade? I don't know ... confused.
Unfortunately I haven't got the original processor. I think this would
solve the whole problem.
Maybe "XPostFacto" is the last solution to try, if it fails,I think
I'll give up, fairly ****** with Apple's proprietary bussiness style,
with time it looks more and more like ... I think you know what ...
migrating to INTEL!!
Wouldn't be surprised to see one day: Apple Inc., Redmond, USA.
see thread Mac OS X (10.3.9) see thread

Hi Hussein,
well that was a pretty fast reply,
didn't expect
you're doing a great job in this discussion board.
about:
If so, try removing the LaCie drive from your external case,
and install it in place of the DVD-ROM (B&W's can't boot via
firewire, as I'm sure you know)<
shure, the Firmware doesn't support, and ...
like I said:
<div class="jive-quote">Rebooting from Panther to OS9 and back works
just perfectly, just like the System CDs 9.1 and 10.3.<
... means, the default Matsushita DVD boots from the
OS9.1 CD and the Panther CDs.
So why shouldn't it boot from a Darwin CD or a Tiger DVD?
Makes no sense to me, unless the problem is to be
searched elsewhere.
About the "C" key: I wonder that it's still working
after the last few days :-/
cheers
katanga

Can't find Classic support on Tiger DVD

I need help. I recently purchased a used 17" powerbook. I wiped out the hard drive and installed the Tiger DVD, and everything works fine... but I can't find anything that installs Classic. Can I install the Classic Environment from the Tiger DVD? Or do I have to use my old Panther CDs to install Classic on the laptop. My two other Macs, a G5 (with Tiger) has classic working. However, they originally had Panther and then I just upgraded to Tiger. How can I get Classic back?

Apple does not advise installing OS 9 for Classic support from any source other than either the original disks that came with the Mac or (in some cases) with a retail version of OS 9. If your OS 9.2 disk is a stand alone retail installer (not an updater for OS 9.0 or 9.1) it should work. Your Panther disk will not, unless it is a model specific version for your model.
The exact method of installing OS 9 varies greatly depending on what disks you have. Please be as specific as possible about this -- the source of the disk(s), if they say they are bootable, if they are for a specific model, etc.
By far the easiest way to do the install is with the original disks for the PowerBook. You should try to get them from the seller to avoid a lot of hassles.

Booting From External DVD Drive Thru USB to install OS Tiger DVD

Hi,
I would like to reformat my iBook G4 from Panther to Tiger. I dont have DVD drive internally. I've got the DVD ROM of Tiger and external USB DVD Drive. Tell me the possible ways to do the installation beside Firewire connection.
Please help me.

Hi Nik,
AFAIK you cannot boot from USB devices. You could give it try by inserting the Tiger DVD into the external drive and rebooting your Mac while holding the "alt" key. If your DVD drive was bootable then -after a while- the DVD should come up as an option to boot from. But this is not likely to happen.
The best way to get Tiger on your iBook - unless you have anothet Mac with a DVD drive lying around - is to get the Media Exchange form from this website and to exchange your DVD for a set of CDs (minus a handling fee).
-Petra

HELP - Tiger DVD incompatibility?

Okay, so I just got this used G5 which won't read my Tiger DVD whatsoever. The DVD will not mount on the G5 desktop or boot from it, whereas it will mount on my PowerBook. The G5 will play any other DVDs I put in it. Why might this be happening?
The reason I need to boot from it is to reset the admin password .. is there any way I might be able to do that (i.e. target disk mode?) in the meantime while I wait to troubleshoot the DVD not being recognized?? Really would appreciate some help!

If the G5 is newer than April 29, 2005, it came with its own restore disks which have Tiger on it when it shipped from the store. If the original owner did not give you the original disks, you should ask for them, as they belong with the G5. Macs will not boot from an older operating system than they ship with. If the original owner lost the disks, they should call AppleCare to request an extra copy be shipped to them for a nominal fee. Never buy a used Mac without the original disks. Never sell a Mac to someone else without giving them the original disks.

Backup Tiger DVD to CD?

I have a new iMac G5 20" which came with two install DVD discs. I have an external Firewire CD burner and would like to know if it's possible to back up just the OS install onto a CD (or two). I want to do this in case the internal drive dies. I would then use the external cd to reboot/reinstall.

Then I can always boot from the partition
with the .dmg file and it's as if I booted
from the DVD.
Have you actually tried this? AFAIK, you can't boot from an image file, since it takes an app like DiskImageMounter or Disk Utility to mount an image as a volume ... which obviously can't be done until a supporting OS is running.
What I have done is somewhat similar, except I've used the restore function of Disk Utility to restore the installer disk to a suitably sized partition. (There is no need to bother with image files -- just drag the DVD to the sorce & the partition to the destination in D.U.'s restore.)
This works. Startup Disk system preference recognizes it as a startup volume, as does Startup Manager. The only problem is (as scb more or less noted*) the installer disks that come with Macs are DVD-9 (double layer), so it isn't possible to burn an image of this partition to a standard DVD-R or DVD+R. I haven't tried using a DVD+R DL but from what I read, this doesn't produce a bootable clone. (It works fine for a retail Tiger DVD, since it fits easily on a standard DVD±R or ±RW.)
An additional potential problem is the other DVD(s) that come with Macs may need to be inserted during large installs (like ones that include iLife bundles), so such installs may fail unless the other DVD's are available.
*I think it is incorrect to say that Apple's "jumbo" installer DVD's are on DVD-R DL media, since the ±R & ±RW formats refer to laser-burnable DVD media, not commercially replicated media, which aren't burned but stamped from masters. I think the Apple disks are replicated & are thus technically DVD-ROM's (read only, not write once as in ±R or rewritable as in ±RW). The format is DVD-9 (single sided, double layer) OTP (opposite track path). DVD±R standards support this format, but for some reason nobody seems to be reporting success duplicating the Apple DVD-ROM's to DVD+R DL media, which the latest Superdrives supports.
I'd give it a shot, but I'm too cheap to by any DVD+R DL blanks without some reports of success!

Install/Upgrade Tiger DVD on a non-DVD Mac

Hello everyone.
Please let me know if this works if not, please let me know what are the steps to using a Tiger OS DVD Installer on a non-DVD drive, like an iMac G3:
1.On a DVD-drive Mac like my iMac G5, insert DVD and use Disk Utility to create a disk image out of the DVD
2.I use my iPod to copy the disk image into a iMac G3
3.Double-click on the image, it expands into a 'disk icon' OS X installer
(the iMac will restart and Install Page appears...)
At this point I have not proceed further, will double-clicking on the icon within "Install OS X" (OS X black disc with an red arrow) restart the mac and boot into the Install Page, just like on the DVD?
The reason I ask is because the disk image mounts a disk on the desktop, wouldn't restarting the mac "unmount" the disk??
If this method is not possible, how do I install then??
Thanks and cheers

What you are trying to do will not work because you cannot boot from a disk image. You have two options:
1. Exchange your Tiger DVD for CDs using Apple's disk exchange program. Look for the media exchange ad here: http://www.apple.com/macosx/upgrade/ and download the required form from the link.
2. Find another Mac that has a functional DVD drive. Both computers must support Target Disk Mode meaning they must both have Firewire ports. To verify this read this. This article explains the process.

Os-X Tiger DVD unreadable

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