tjcinnamon Posted July 27, 2008 Share Posted July 27, 2008 I have installed windows via a USB drive. It should be easy but believe me it's not! I used a prgram called USB_multiboot found at the msfn developers forums in order to get it to work. I have been trying to figure out a way to put Kalyway or anyother distro onto a thumbdrive to install Leopard. USB drives tend to be faster, and more convienent. I have a tablet with no CD drive (although I do have an external) and I would like to see if I can try and get this to work. I have tried GRUB4DOS but I am not that good at it yet. Does anyone have any ideas on how install OSX from a thumbdrive? Thanks, JOe K. Link to comment https://www.insanelymac.com/forum/topic/117955-install-from-not-to-a-usb-drive/ Share on other sites More sharing options...
nikonnut Posted July 27, 2008 Share Posted July 27, 2008 Joe, This patcher (http://aquamac.proboards106.com/index.cgi?board=hack1&action=display&thread=496&page=1) gives you the option of creating an ISO sutable for burning to DVD or mounting on a USB drive (4 GB). You'll need a retail copy of Leopard and from there it's easy. Hope this helps. Nik Link to comment https://www.insanelymac.com/forum/topic/117955-install-from-not-to-a-usb-drive/#findComment-835667 Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hagar Posted July 27, 2008 Share Posted July 27, 2008 The difficulty is not in booting the install from a usb stick; the technique of restoring the retail dvd to an 8gb+ stick is well documented. The difficulty is doing it from Windows.. Theoretically, ghosting the contents of the dvd onto a pendrive using something like transmac & ultraISO & then dd'ing the chameleon files to make it bootable should work, but I've never actually tried it. Link to comment https://www.insanelymac.com/forum/topic/117955-install-from-not-to-a-usb-drive/#findComment-835674 Share on other sites More sharing options...
tjcinnamon Posted July 27, 2008 Author Share Posted July 27, 2008 #2 nikonnut This method works great! However, it only works if you already have Leo installed and for someone coming straight out of windows this may not work as well. I am playing around with a sweet program called ultraiso. The newest versions 9+ have the ability to write a bootable image to a USB drive. The problem is getting the my USB drive formatted to HFS and then to be seen in windows. If this program works I will most definitly be buying it. It also looks like you can easily make multiboot install drives as well. The demo is pretty open so experimentation should be easy. If you can figure out how to make it with Leopard let me know. I'll try to post my results ASAP. JOe K. Link to comment https://www.insanelymac.com/forum/topic/117955-install-from-not-to-a-usb-drive/#findComment-835821 Share on other sites More sharing options...
tjcinnamon Posted July 28, 2008 Author Share Posted July 28, 2008 It looks like if I could somehow format my USB drive as UDF (DVD fileSystem) then I could boot any bootable image from a USB drive. I found a piece of software that does this but it's $90 and there is no demo. However, it is the only software to my knowledge that would be able to format a USB drive to UDF. http://www.softarch.com/us/products/ddtu.html Does anyone else have any ideas on how to get a USB key to format to UDF? Link to comment https://www.insanelymac.com/forum/topic/117955-install-from-not-to-a-usb-drive/#findComment-836233 Share on other sites More sharing options...
tjcinnamon Posted July 28, 2008 Author Share Posted July 28, 2008 Thanks! I'll be able to do that once I install OSX. I have a configuration I know that works with OSX. My main mission for all of this is to try and find a way to easily be able to install Vista, XP, and OSX with a USB drive. They each have there own ways of doing it (all of which are complicated, the OSX one being the easiest). I am trying to find a simple unified method. I will definitly use this method though. Installing things off of a fast USB drive is much faster than an DVD drive. As things move forward and the Optical Media is becoming less and less usful particulalry in smaller machines (ie my tablet). JOe K. Link to comment https://www.insanelymac.com/forum/topic/117955-install-from-not-to-a-usb-drive/#findComment-836297 Share on other sites More sharing options...
tjcinnamon Posted July 30, 2008 Author Share Posted July 30, 2008 What I am finding out is that it is highly unlikey that a BIOS would recognize a USB drive formatted in UDF as a DVD. Therefore that idea for a USB install would not work. I am still working on a unified method. Unfortunatley as it stands the only way to make a leopard install via USB is to have access to a mac with OSX already installed I guess I'll try for a multiboot USB. Link to comment https://www.insanelymac.com/forum/topic/117955-install-from-not-to-a-usb-drive/#findComment-839265 Share on other sites More sharing options...
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