I just bought a second hand mac mini g4 and a second hand imac g4. The mac mini comes with the installation disc while the imac doesn't. It comes with one "Mac OS 9 installation disc "and one "Mac OS X install disc 1 and apple hardware test". I wonder can I use the disc to format my imac? Because my imac is troublesome. The previous seller of the imac did not give me the password and I cannot install pogram. (the guy sells, not owner.) And it is very messy.

thanks.

nope, sorry. when inserted, the installer will detect which Mac you're running on, and if its different from the Mac it expects, it'll eject the disc.

you really should go back to the seller of the iMac and demand the discs. Also, you mentioned Mac OS Install Disc 1. Was there a Mac OS Install Disc 2?

Nop, there was no disc 2. It only has one "Mac OS 9 installation disc "and one "Mac OS X install disc 1 and apple hardware test" But usually, how many disc does the mac mini come with?

I don't think the seller has the disc as the imac does not belong to him. He buy from another owner and sell it to me. Because there are two account. one is the owner which require password. while another is his account which doesn't have password.

BTW, is there any altenative way?

@Iswang

You can fresh install using Mac OS X 10.4 Retail DVD/CDs ...

If your friend have one then pinjam n toast a copy ...

Maybe i can help you, but it between us only, oppps!!!!

Jeya, that version of iMac doesn't come with OS X, it's only OS 9.

Iswang, get a firewire cable, start your iMac by holding "T", when u see the screen turn blue with a floating firewire "Y-shape" icon, plug the firewire cable to the iMac & MacMini. Insert the MacMini installer into your MacMini, start the installation, let it reboot, when OS X installer start choose the iMac HDD as your destination.

This post has been edited by wei: Jun 20 2007, 04:57 PM

The limitation of the OS install discs to a single "family" of macs is a recent "development". Previously, whenever I got a new mac, I'd upgrade all the old macs with the new install discs.

It's one of the (many) things I love about Macs. And the Microsoft Genuine "Advantage" validations is one of the many things I hate about Windows...

I shudder to think of the day OS X demands a serial number at installation.

hmm, even with that, it can be reverted by a simple plist edit.
but this doesnt work for PPC/ Intel only installer.

I mean my MacMini. It comes with one "Mac OS 9 installation disc "and one "Mac OS X install disc 1 and apple hardware test". So, which one should I put?

*I should get myself a firewire. BTW, any idea how much does it cost?

Is that mean I can straight away insert the Mini's installation disc into my Imac? My Imac is PPC G4. And my Mini is PPC G4 too.

I'm sorry. I cannot understand this. What doesn't work with PPC?

Thanks for your help

A FireWire cable should set you back between RM10-20. Make sure you get the right one though. If I am not mistaken it comes in 4 pin (used in Sony products) 8 pin (Apple) variants for the FireWire 400 cables. To make things more complex, there are also the FireWire 800 cables but these are rather difficult to find locally.

I have no idea if your install discs will work on any other machine than the one it was intended for. My earlier post referred to the Mac OS 8 and 9 eras. Prior to System 8 the MacOS believe it or not was FREE.

Today I had to reinstall Tiger on my Titanium PowerBook (G4) as my wife wanted it to use as a Keynote presentation machine. I tried using the discs that came with my MacBookPro 2.4Ghz and my MacPro but both resulted in a kernal panic.

Luckily I had a retail copy of Tiger handy....

All intel system's Tiger installer are system locked, even on Macbook CoreDuo & Core 2 Duo you can't share them.

Threadstarter, disc1 of OSX installer is all you need.

Ok. I'll try it. I mean straight away insert the mini disc into the imac. If cannot then I'll have to look for firewire cable.

I doubt can the Imac handle OS X. Cos my mini with 1.42 clock speed and 256 ram lag far behind when the temperature rise.

I'll try it tonight or tomorrow and keep you all informed.

Thanks.

what? 256MB? even my G3 350Mhz has more RAM...
you should seriously consider to add more RAMs.

256 is barely workable on OSX nowadays. You just need more RAM. OSX can run pretty good on G4; as I'm using one now

yeah... check my signature

I've tried the installation disc yesterday. I mean straight away insert the disc to Imac. However, it doesn't work. The bundled software cannot be installed. I was installing OS X.

Maybe I should try Wei's firewire way. I wonder can I open up the Imac myself and Upgrade the RAM myself. I heard somebody says that it needs special tools.

yeah, mac mini needs special tools. check these links
http://modmini.com/mod/howto/takeapart/index.php
http://www.macintouch.com/macmini/review.html