[spinnerlys]

Hello.

Since my iBook's own hard disk is dying (S.M.A.R.T. says failure is imminent), I wanted to install the OS on an external Firewire drive.
But I can't boot the Tiger install DVD, once I got a Kernel Panic, once I had to type "mac-boot" to step further to install, but I never even got to the first screen of the install DVD.

I even made a copy of the install DVD, if the original would be broken.

Has anyone ever run into such problems?

Thanks for reading.

[chucker]

This wouldn't happen to be a white iBook G3? If so, your issue is more likely in the ATA controller, which explains the hard drive breaking and the optical drive not working properly.

[spinnerlys]

It's a white iBook G4 1GHz (April 2004) and already has Tiger installed on it.
The Logic Board failed after the notorious 18 months, but I got it replaced under warranty.
Now it runs fine, I can even boot to the internal OS (on the internal HDD).

To circumvent the internal DVD drive I tried to boot from an external DVD writer, but it's connected via USB. So I think it won't work.
Could I boot via an external firewire DVD drive (I would have to built it)?

Or could I simply start the iBook via Target Disk Mode, and copy all the files on it to the external drive?

I tried once copying the whole internal HDD to an external HDD, but the system was running on the internal HDD, so some file couldn't be copied.

[spinnerlys]

I copied the internal to the external HDD, but Finder couldn't copy everything due to rights and permissions.

When booting from the external drive, I can see it in the "Boot Manager" (by pressing ALT), select it and the it seems to start.
But I get only the grey apple and the spinning wheel is missing.

Has anyone an idea? I don't want to let this iBook just sit in the dark, it can still contribute to my nerdy needs.

PS: While copying the internal HDD via Target Disk Mode, I could see and access the inserted Tiger Install DVD on the iMac, but not when I want to boot via pressing ALT. Strange