How to Install Leopard From an Image on a Local Drive

Leopard is a proprietary UNIX-based Operating System developed by Apple for use on Macintosh computers. Leopard OS, or OS 10.5.x, is the fifth version of OS X and incorporates Apple's software applications. Leopard is an upgrade from Tiger, or OS 10.4, and Apple released it before Snow Leopard, OS 10.6. You can install Leopard from an image of the install disk on a bootable local drive or restore from a complete imaged backup of Leopard on a bootable local drive.

Things You'll Need

• External Firewire Hard Drive Imaged with Leopard
• Firewire cable
• Leopard Install DVD

Instructions

Installing Leopard from an OS Install Disk Image

1. Connect the external drive. Wait until an image of the drive appears. Go to the Apple Menu in the upper left-hand corner and select "Restart." Hold down the "Option" key once the gray startup screen appears. Keep holding down "Option" until images of bootable drives appear.

2. Click on the image of the external hard drive where you have the image of Leopard OS. The green arrow icon should now point to the drive. Double-click the arrow or press "Return." The computer will now boot from this location. After about three minutes, the screen will turn blue and a language selection screen will appear.

3. Click "English" for the main language, and click on the arrow in the lower right-hand corner to continue. The following screen will show icons representing available locations to install Leopard.

4. Click on your computer's hard drive to indicate the location to install Leopard. The hard drive icon resembles a silver rectangle. The default option is to install for the first time. Additional options are "Archive and Install" and "Erase and Install." "Archive and Install" preserves user and system data on systems already running Tiger or Leopard. "Erase and Install" erases all data on the drive before installing Leopard.

5. Click the "Continue" button, and click the "Install" option. A new installation takes about 45 minutes to an hour, but it can take longer based on the speed of the external drive.

Installing Leopard from a System Backup on an External Drive

1. Connect the external drive, and insert the Leopard Install DVD. Inserting and booting from the installation disk when you re-image from a backup is necessary, according Apple Support.

2. Go to the Apple Menu in the upper left-hand corner and select "Restart." Hold down the "Option" key once the gray startup screen appears. Keep holding down "Option" until you see images of your drives and install disk.

3. Click on the image of the Leopard install DVD. The green arrow should now point to the disk icon. Double-click the arrow or press "Return." The computer will now boot from the selected location. After about three minutes, the screen will turn blue and a language selection screen will appear.

4. Click "English" as the main language, and click on the arrow in the lower right-hand corner to continue. Do not continue through the installation. Instead, go to the "Utilities" menu at the top and select "Disk Utility."

5. Click on the image of your computer's internal hard drive on the left-hand side of the application window. Click on "Restore," the option farthest to the right above the main window.

6. Drag the icon representing your computer's hard disk from the left-hand column to the "Destination" field near the bottom of the main window. Click the "Image" button next to the "Source" field. A drop down menu will appear. Highlight your external hard drive in the left-hand column. Navigate to your OS backup and click "Open."

7. Click "Restore" in the lower right-hand corner of the application window. In the window that pops up, click "Restore" a second time to confirm, and enter your administrator name and password. The restore could take several hours, depending on the speed of your external drive and the amount of data you need to restore.

Tips & Warnings

• Back up all data before installing a new OS.

• To reduce the risk of failure, run disk permissions and disk verification before installation.

• If upgrading more than one version of the OS, such as moving from 10.3 to 10.5, back up all data, and perform an erase and install.

• Never install an operating system that you are not licensed to use.

• Check for system compatibility before starting the installation process.

• Never stop the installation process once it has begun.

• Installation from a system backup will replace all data with data from the external drive.

• The Leopard OS is not compatible with UFS-formatted drives.

References

• Apple Support: Mac OS X v10.5, v10.6: How to Back Up and Restore Your Files
• Apple Support: Installing Mac OS X 10.5 Leopard
• Apple: What is Mac OS X?
• Apple Support: Mac OS X 10.4, 10.5: About Installation Options
• Apple Support: Mac OS X 10.5 Leopard: Installing on a UFS-Formatted Volume

Resources

• Apple Support: Requirements for Mac OS X v10.5
• Apple Support: Using Disk Utility to Verify or Repair Disks
• Apple Support: About Disk Utility's Repair Disk Permissions Feature