Power Mac OSX 10.4, OS 9.2 install discs

[Baytonemus]

I’m trying to source a set of these for my Power Mac M8570, preferably OSX 10.4.11 and OS 9.2.2. Any ideas?

 

[TonyAguila]

I’m trying to source a set of these for my Power Mac M8570, preferably OSX 10.4.11 and OS 9.2.2. Any ideas?

If you have internet connection, you can check availability of system installers for your model Mac. Launch Terminal.app and enter this code:

softwareupdate --list-full-installers

Not sure if this works all the way back to OS X Tiger, but if you get a listing of installers including Tiger, make a note of the version number, and then enter this code:

sudo softwareupdate --fetch-full-installer --full-installer-version xx.x.x

The x’s refer to the version number of what you want to download. Enter your admin password and the download should start. When done, you can quit and look for the installer file in your Applications folder. After a restart, preferably in Safe Mode, you can launch the installer file to proceed. But you should probably make a copy first, for future use.

 

[Baytonemus]

Thank you, Tony! This is the exact kind of secret mojo s__t I was hoping to find!

Do you have any idea if a bootable disc can be made from these installers? I was hoping to uber-wipe the drives before installing.

Thanks again!

 

[TonyAguila]

Thank you, Tony! This is the exact kind of secret mojo s__t I was hoping to find!

Do you have any idea if a bootable disc can be made from these installers? I was hoping to uber-wipe the drives before installing.

Thanks again!

Sure! With that external drive connected use Disk Utility to format it. If you are running Tiger you won’t have the ability to use APFS. Anyway, in Disk Utility sidebar, select the device and along the top buttons, choose Erase. Not sure anymore what the Disk Utility interface looks like in Tiger, but use “erase” instead of “partition.” Afterwards assign a name to the drive. Next, and this is the reason why you needed to save a copy of the installer, launch the installer and select the new drive for the installation.

After the installation, use Migration Assistant to migrate the user(s) you want to bring over from your parent drive, or start from scratch and create a new user and install other apps available to you.

Not sure how well I remember the Tiger interface. It’s easy to forget after a while. I’m on macOS 5.1 right now and the oldest version I can run is Monterey. If I had the time, I ought to resurrect my MacPro5,1 to be able to go back further.

 

[Baytonemus]

If I understand correctly, you are describing formatting an external hard drive and migrating to that? I was under the impression that OS 4 required you have installer CDs specific to the type of Mac you were using, so I had imagined burning bootable CDs.

 

[TonyAguila]

If I understand correctly, you are describing formatting an external hard drive and migrating to that? I was under the impression that OS 4 required you have installer CDs specific to the type of Mac you were using, so I had imagined burning bootable CDs.

If you downloaded the OS X installer and made a copy before using it, you should be able to run Disk Utility from your main drive to format/erase the external drive. From there you should be able to run the (copied) installer file for the attached/formatted drive.

 

[Baytonemus]

I finally had a chance to try your c-line in Terminal. It returned ‘installer failed with error: Update not found’

I’m guessing this means the archive doesn’t go back that far.

 

[TonyAguila]

I finally had a chance to try your c-line in Terminal. It returned ‘installer failed with error: Update not found’

I’m guessing this means the archive doesn’t go back that far.

If the “list” command,

softwareupdate --list-full-installers

did not show the version that you are looking for, then the “fetch” command

sudo softwareupdate --fetch-full-installer --full-installer-version xx.x.x

will not work. It will download the version that is shown on the available list.

 

[Baytonemus]

Yeah, 10.13.6 is the oldest OS listed.

Thanks for your help, though!