This is especially true of system specific CDs which have been found to not work on Macs they didn't come with. Copying CDs for others to use may or may not work properly. Remember though use these processes only within the limits of your license agreement. For those who want utilities built together with 10.3 to 10.4.4 that are third party, and the utility maker hasn't made a newer bootable CD, you can get an external firewire drive to clone your system system with those utilities already installed. Some AppleCare CDs may not be updated for their specific model, and need to be replaced by Apple with a newer bootable system. Disk Utility disks that came with an older Mac operating system version will not boot Macs that came with newer operating system versions and need to be updated. As a result if you want to create a bootable CD to boot specific Macs you'll want to make one that has either the operating system that came with the Mac you are trying to boot or newer. 'Update' CDs will not boot at all, and are labelled such on the CD label. Installer CDs made for a specific Mac model, which is indicated by the CD label itself, will only work on the Mac they came with or other Macs of the same model and vintage. To boot those Macs, you need either the version of the operating system which came with their system or a newer retail version. The article in the knowledgebase 255 explain which Macs came with which operating system versions.

This FAQ is divided into the following sectionīefore you go about creating a bootable CD, you need to know that Apple has made some copy protection built-in to various installations of Mac OS CDs. To avoid problems, be sure to have a good backup plan. If in doubt, contact the developer of the utility. Using a disk utility older than the operating system you are diagnosing may yield a system that is unbootable! Be very careful to only use the utility which was designed for your operating system. If you need technical support for issues after reading this FAQ, please visit my Tech Support page, where I offer fee based support. How to create a bootable CD in Mac OS X FAQ? Need computer help? Book now to resolve most computer issues. Download my résumé as a Word compressed zip file and Adobe Acrobat.

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