I bought an iBook G4 from my neighbor. It is running Leopard, and I would like to factory reset it. How can I do this? If I need a disc then how can I make one?
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There is a pretty easy way to do this without a disk, if you don't mind hanging on to the applications currently on the computer, you can just make a new user account and delete the old one. However, If you truly want a clean install, You can obtain images for both Tiger and Leopard from the Macintosh Garden (a quick google search will get you there). Once you have the images, you can create a bootable USB, or just burn a DVD (Note: Leopard will only fit on a dual layer DVD unless you slim it down). I prefer to create a USB installer because it is much easier, faster, and more reliable.
USB Creation Process, (You will need another Mac for this)
1. Mount the DMG of Mac OS X Installer by double clicking the file.
2. Open "Disk Utility" and plug in your USB Drive.
3. Select your USB Drive from the lefthand side of the window.
4. Go to the Erase tab and select "Mac OS Extended (Journaled)" and name it whatever you want.
5. Uncheck "Mac OS 9 Drivers" and hit Erase.
6. Wait for it to erase and then select the Partition tab.
7. Set "Volume Scheme" as 1 Partition
8. Then select "Options" and select "Apple Partition Map" then hit OK
9. Finally hit Apply.
10. Now go to the "Restore" tab.
11. Drag the partition from the USB Drive into the Destination box.
12. Now Drag "Mac OS X Install DVD" into the Source box.
13. Check "Erase Destination" and hit "Restore". (This will take a VERY long time so be patient).
Once you have booted into the installer, either from the DVD or a USB, you will need to access the "Utilities" menu at the install screen and navigate to Disk Utility. From here you will need to erase the HDD and make sure it is set to "Mac OS Extended" and apply it. Remaining in Disk Utility, you will need to go to the partition tab, and select the "Volume Scheme" pull down tab and choose 1 Partition, after this, you MUST hit the "Options" button and select "Apple Partition Map" and hit Ok. Once this is done, hit apply and you should now be able to install OS X.
Hope this helps!!
Thanks! Making a new account and deleting the old one was what I did at first (I'm actually typing this on it right now), but I would like to reset it anyway. I don't have another Mac so the USB option is impossible and I don't have any dual layer DVDs so I'll probably just buy a copy of Leopard online. I do appreciate the response though, in case I use a friends Mac or something. Again, thanks!
A copy of Leopard is definitely a lifetime investment.
If you should have the chance to get a copy of Leopard-Server that will even give you the opportunity to run Leopard in a virtual machine with VMware Fusion/macOS...
That sir is an understatement considering 10.5.8 is as far as any PowerPC Mac can ever go in it's life.A copy of Leopard is definitely a lifetime investment.
That sir is an understatement considering 10.5.8 is as far as any PowerPC Mac can ever go in it's life.
... so better get Tiger (-Server) too!
If you download the Leopard installer image on your PowerBook itself, you probably won't need another Mac to make the startup USB disk! As Leopard also has Disk Utility, just make it from there.
What are the advantages of Leopard Server over regular Leopard? I don't really intend to use this Mac as a server or anything but as a secondary computer. So far with Leopard it's running fine (actually better than I expected).
I can't believe I didn't think of that. The only problem with that is I need to find a spare USB disk. I'll probably just leave my iBook as is until I find an issue or anything.
For my purpose it's the reason to install Leopard as a VM with Fusion on an intel-mac too, since Fusion asks for the server-version.
So if you spend money on a original Leopard-DVD for your iBook you will have the option to run it on any new Mac too (in my case I run VM-Leopard especially for a group-fax App in combination with the old Apple USB-Modem.)